The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, on 5 March 1931 before the Second

Round Table Conference The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in Dec ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Before this, Irwin, the Viceroy, had announced in October 1929 a vague offer of ' dominion status' for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in an unspecified future and a

to discuss a future constitution. The Second Round Table Conference was held from September to December 1931 in London. This movement marked the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement in India. Gandhi and Lord Irwin had eight meetings that totalled 24 hours. Although Gandhi was impressed by Irwin's sincerity, the terms of the pact fell manifestly short of those Gandhi had prescribed as the minimum for a truce. The proposed conditions consisted of the: * Discontinuation of the

Salt March The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

by the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

* Participation by the Indian National Congress in the Second Round Table Conference * Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the Government of India imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress * Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of political offenses (

Rowlatt Act The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, was a law that applied in British India. It was a legislative council act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on 18 March 1919, indefinitel ...

) except those involving violence * Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the Salt March; and * Removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use. Many British officials in India, and in

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, were outraged by the idea of a pact with a party whose avowed purpose was the destruction of the British Raj.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

publicly expressed his disgust "...at the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious '' fakir'', striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy’s palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor." In reply,

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agreed to: * Withdraw all ordinances and end prosecutions * Release all political prisoners, except those guilty of violence * Permit peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops * Restore confiscated properties of the satyagrahis * Permit free collection or manufacture of salt by persons near the sea-coast * Lift the ban over the Congress The not agreed-to terms were: * The Congress demand of enquiring into police excess * The Mahtma Gandhi demand of converting death penalty of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to lesser punishment. Lord Irwin at this time headed the repression of Indian nationalism, but did not relish the role, with British-run

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

and the commercial community then favouring even harsher measures. Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and William Benn, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, were eager for peace so long as it didn't weaken the position of the Labour government. As such, they wished for the success of the Round Table Conference and knew that it would carry little weight without the presence of Gandhi. In January 1931, at the closing session of the Round Table Conference, Ramsay MacDonald expressed hope that the Congress would be represented at the next session. The Viceroy, taking the hint, promptly ordered the unconditional release of Gandhi and all members of the Congress Working Committee. In response, Gandhi agreed to meet the Viceroy. This was the second high-level meeting between Gandhi and a Viceroy in 13 years and should be read in the context of the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms that were the basis of the Government of India Act, 1919.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandhi-Irwin Pact Indian independence movement 1931 in British India Indian documents 1931 in India 1931 documents Mahatma Gandhi March 1931 events 1931 in politics

See also

References