ncert xi indian constitution

8/14/2019 Ncert XI Indian Constitution

1/120

LANDMARKS IN THECONSTITUTIONAL

DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA

The Con stitu tion of In dia, as opt edby the Const i tuent Assembly in1949, was not something absolutely

n e w . I t w a s , t o a g r e a t e x t e n t ,in flu enced b y the Governm ent of Ind ia

Act of 1935 that was passed by theB r i t i s h P a r l i a m e n t . I n o r d e r t o

u n d e r s t a n d a n d a p p r e c i a t e t h eCons titution, it is n ecessa ry to glan cea t t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t

du ring the British ru le in In dia. Someof the landm arks in th e cons titu tional

developm en t ar e given in th e followingpassages.

The fou n dat ion of British au th ority

in Ind ia was laid in down throu gh theestablish men t of Eas t Ind ia Compan y

in England under a Char t e r o f theBrit ish Queen Elizabeth. Under the

Charter the Company was given anexclu sive right of trad ing with In dia. In

the beginn ing the Compa ny was pu relya tra ding organization, bu t later on du eto political circu ms tan ces, it acqu ired

terr itorial p ower.

Regulating Act o f 17 73

With the expansion of political power

of th e Compa ny, it was felt in En glan dtha t th e affairs of the Comp an y neededso m e r e g u l a t i o n . A s a r e su l t , t h e

Regula t ing Ac t o f 1773 came in to

being. Some of th e sa lient featu res ofthe Act were as follows (i) it set up agovernment in Calcut ta Presidency

consisting of a Govern or- Genera l an d

a C o u n c i l o f f o u r m e m b e r s w h o

exercised their authority jointly, (ii)the governments of the Presidencies

o f B o m b a y a n d M a d r a s w e r e su b -o r d i n a t e d t o t h e g o v e r n m e n t i n

Calcutta and (i i i) i t empowered theBrit ish Crown to establish a Su preme

Court in Bengal with ju risdiction overBengal, Biha r an d Orissa.

The Act subjected the legisla t ive

au thority of th e Govern or-Genera l an dCouncil to certain limitations: (i) the

rules and regulations made by themwere not to be repu gnan t to the laws of

En glan d, (ii) th ey requ ired regist ra tionby the Su prem e Court which was giventh e power to veto th em, (iii) th ere cou ld

be an appeal agains t th em to th e BritishGovernment and ( iv) the Governor-

General and the Council were underthe du ty to forward a ll such ru les an d

regu lations to Englan d a nd the King-i n - C o u n c i l w a s c o m p e t e n t t o d i s -a p p r o v e t h e m a t a n y t i m e w i t h i n

two years .

The Charter Act of 1833

To ma ke th e legislative fu n ctions of the

g o v e r n m e n t d i s t i n c t , t h e B r i t i s hGovernm ent en acted th e Char ter Act of1833. It made substantial changes in

th e cons titutiona l set u p of In dia. The

sole legislat ive power in India wasvested in the Governor-General - in-Coun cil. The Cou ncil was to consist of

four m emb ers, of whom on e was t o be

Chapter 1


2/120

INDIAN CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION2

a Law Member, who could attend the

Coun cil meetings, as a m atter of right ,only when it was to p erform legislat ive

fu n ct ions . Th e Cou n ci ls fu n ct ionswere, thu s, divided int o two categories.When it perform ed executive fu n ction s,

it consisted of the Governor-Generalan d th ree members on ly. But, when i t

pe r formed l eg i s l a t ive func t ions , i tcons i s t ed of the Governor -Genera l

an d th e four m embers. In th is way, theAct laid the foundation of the futureCent ra l Legislat u re, also called Im perial

Legislative Cou n cil.

The Charter Act of 1853

In order to strengthen the legislative

ma chinery th e Cha rter Act of 185 3 wasenacted. The Act further extended thema chinery of legislation. Un der th e new

Act, th e Govern or -Gener als Cou n cil,when acting in its legislative capacity,

was en larged by th e ad dition of six newmem bers. Among th ese six mem bers,

one was to be a n official represen tativef r o m e a c h o f t h e f o u r P r o v i n c e s

v iz . , Madras , Bombay, Benga l and

N o r t h W e s t e r n P r o v i n c e s , a n d t h eChief Just ice and a puisne judge of

t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t . B e s i d e s , t h eComm an der -in-Ch ief was a lso given a n

extraordinary membership. Thus, thest rength of the Legisla t ive Counci l

beca m e twelve.

The Act of 1858

The First War of Ind epend ence of 1857

b r o u g h t t h e e r a o f t h e E a s t I n d i a

C o m p a n y t o a n e n d . I n 1 8 5 8 t h e

Bri t i sh Crown took over the r ights

o f t h e C o m p a n y s G o v e r n m e n t i nI n d i a i n i t s o w n h a n d s . T h e A c t

brought subs tan t i a l changes in the

cons t i tu t iona l se t -up . Some of the

importa nt cha n ges were: (i) it abolish edthe Board of Directors and the Board

of Control and vested their powers inone of Her Majes t ys Sec re ta ry (a

Min ister in th e British Cab inet), (ii) h ewas designated a s th e Secretary of Statef o r I n d i a a n d w a s e m p o w e r e d t o

su perinten d, direct an d control all thegovernmental affairs in India, (iii) the

Secretary of State was to be as sisted bya Council of India, (iv) the Governor-

G e n e r a l a n d G o v e r n o r s o f t h ePresidencies were to be appointed by

the Crown and the members of theirCoun cils by th e Secretary of Stat e-in-Coun cil, (v) Lieuten an t Governors were

t o b e a p p o i n t e d b y t h e G o v e r n o r -Genera l, su bject to th e app roval of Her

M a j e s t y a n d a p p o i n t m e n t s t o t h ecovena n ted civil service were to be m ad ethrough open compe t i t ion wi th the

a s s i s t a n c e o f t h e C i v i l S e r v i c eCommission.

Indian Councils Act of 1861

I n 1 8 6 1 t h e B r i t i s h G o v e r n m e n t

d e c i d e d t o e x p a n d t h e l e g i s l a t i v eCouncils. This was done through the

In dian Coun cils Act of 186 1. The m ainpr ovisions of the Act were as follows

(i) th e Govern or -Gener als Cou n cil wasexpanded for legislative purposes by

a d d i n g 6 - 1 2 n e w m e m b e r s , t o b enominated for two years , ( i i ) pr ior

sa nction of th e Govern or-Gen eral wase s s e n t i a l f o r i n t r o d u c i n g s o m em eas u res , (iii) every Act pa ss ed by th e

Legisla ture in India was subject toap proval of Her Majesty act ing thr ough

th e Secreta ry of Sta te-in-Cou n cil, (iv) th eGovernor-General was authorised to

exercise a veto and iss u e ordina n ces in


3/120

3LANDMARKS IN THE CONS TITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA

an emergency and (v) the strength of

th e Govern or -Gener als Cou n cil forexecutive purposes was raised to fiveby add ition of one m ore mem ber.


In 1892 another Act was passed tof u r t h e r e x p a n d a n d s t r e n g t h e n t h elegislative cou n cils. The m ain featu resof the Act were as follows (i) thestrength of the central an d p rovinciall eg i s l a t ive counc i l s was expandedby add ing 820 n ew mem bers , (ii) two-fifth of th ese n ew additiona l memb erswere to be non-of f i c i a l s , ( i i i ) t heG o v e r n o r - G e n e r a l - i n - C o u n c i l w a sau thorized to ma ke rules su bject to thesanction of the Secretary of State-in-C o u n c i l , f o r d i s c u s s i o n o f a n n u a lf inancia l s ta tements and for askingquestions.


Dur ing the begin nin g of th e twentiethcentu ry, the Brit ish Governm ent wasc o n f r o n t e d w i t h t h r e e t y p e s o f pressu res. While on th e one h an d themoderates were appeal ing for more

r e f o r m s a n d t h e e x t r e m i s t s w e r eag i t a t ing for ge t t ing Swara jya , therevolu tiona ries, on th e other ha nd , wereresort ing to terrorist a ctivities t o ach ieveth eir goal, i.e. end of th e alien ru le. Inorder to m ollify the discon ten t, to som eextent , the government enacted theInd ian Coun cils Act of 190 9.Th e sa lient featu res of th e Act were asfollows

(a) The Act provided for the expan sionof the Legislative Councils at botht h e l e v e l s , C e n t r a l a s w e l l a sProvincial.

(b) It m aint ained t he m ajority of officialm emb ers in th e Centra l Legislative

Cou n cil. Th ere were fou r ca tegories

of memb ers i.e. ex-officio m emb ers,nomina ted of f i c i a l s , nomina ted

n on-officials a nd elected m emb ers.

(c) It provided for n on-official ma jority

in the Provincial Legislatures But

t h e n , t h e c o m b i n e d s t r e n g t h o f

official and nominated non-official

m e m b e r s o u t - n u m b e r ed t h e

elected mem bers.

(d) The Act enlarged th e fu nctions of

the Legislative Councils. This Act

( i ) e m p o w e r e d t h e m e m b e r s t o

d i s c u s s t h e b u d g e t a n d m o v e

resolutions before i t was finally

ap pr oved, (ii) they were allowed toask supple-mentary questions, to

m o v e r e s o l u t i o n s o n m a t t e r s

relat ing to loans to local bodies,

addi t ional grants and new taxes

and ( i i i ) i t a lso extended to the

m e m b e r s t h e r i g h t t o d i s c u s smatters of public interest , adopt

resolutions or dem an d a division on

them , but the resolu tions ad opted

by the House were not binding on

the governmen t.(e) O n e of t h e m o s t im p o r t a n t a n d

u nfortun ate featu re of th is Act was

the int roduct ion of separa te and

d i s c r i m i n a t o r y e le c t o r a t e . T h e

e lec tora te fo r re tu rn ing the re -

presentatives to the councils was

d i v i d e d o n t h e b a s i s o f c l a s s ,

community and interests. For the

provincial councils the electorate

provided for three categories, viz.,

genera l, special an d class (such as

l a n d o w n e r s a n d c h a m b e r s o f comm erce). For th e Centra l Coun cil

on e more ca tegory viz. Mu slim was

ad ded to it.


4/120


The qualification of the electorate

b a s e d o n i n c o m e , p r o p e r t y a n dedu cation differed from com mu nity to

community and region to region.

The Government of India Act

of 191 9

Dur ing th e First World War, Gan dh iji

had requested the nation to help theallies in t heir war efforts b ecau se th ey

w e r e f i g h t i n g f o r t h e c a u s e o f dem ocracy. After th e war was over, thepeople were feelin g tha t th ey wou ld also

get democratic reforms. The Govern-

men t of In dia Act of 191 9 was ena ctedto satisfy the people of India to someextent.

The sal ient features of the Act

were as follows : (a) Preamble : Th eAct provided for a Preamble that laid

down th e bas ic principles a n d policiesu pon wh ich it was ba sed. Accordin g toit th e policy of th e British Parliam ent

was (i) to provide for the increasingas sociation of Ind ians in every bran ch

of Indian ad m inistr at ion , (ii) to d evelopself governing institutions with a view

t o t h e p r o g r e s s i v e r e a l i s a t i o n o f respon sible governm ent in British Ind iaas an integral part of the empire; (iii)t h e t i m e a n d m a n n e r o f g r a d u a ladvance towards this goal was to bed e c i d e d b y t h e B r i t i sh P a r l i a m e n tand ( iv) accordingly, the Preamblesu ggested for a decentra lised u nitaryform of govern m en t.(b) Dist ribu tion of Func tion s:The Actdivided th e fu nctions of govern men t intwo categories: centra l an d provincial.The provincial subjects were further

s u b d i v i d e d i n t o t r a n s f e r r e d a n dreserved. In the transferred subjectsthe Governors were to be assisted by

t h e m i n i s t e r s r e s p o n s i b l e t o t h e

l e g i s l a t u r e w h i l e i n t h e r e s e r v e d sub jec t s the Governors were to be

advised by th e coun cillors who were not

accoun table to the legislatu re. Thu s, in

th e provin ces a n ew form of govern m ent,

d ya r ch y , w a s i n t r o d u c e d . D y a r c h y

means dual set of governments, e.g.

accountable and non-accountable.

(c) Categories of Members : The Act

p r o v i d e d f o r t h r e e c a t e g o r i e s o f

mem bers : elected, n omina ted officials

an d n omina ted n on-officials. The firs t

category ha d abou t 70% memb ers, the

second had about 10% and the thi rd

category had about 20%. There was

ma jority of elected m emb ers.

(d ) T h e c o n s t i t u e n c i e s a n d f r a n -

chise :The Act provided for restricted

franchise and communal e lec tora te .

The voting qualification varied from

province to province and within the

sa me p rovince it differed from ru ral to

u rban areas. The cons titu encies were

divided into two ca tegories: gen eral an d

sp ecial. Th e gener al con stitu encies were

demarcated to return Hindu s, Mu slims ,Christians, Anglo-Indians, Sikhs etc.

Special cons tituen cies were devised to

give representation to land holders,

u niversities, ch am bers of commerce etc.

(e) St rengt h of Centra l Legis la ture :

T h e A c t i n t r o d u c e d b i c a m e r a l

legislatu re at th e centre comprising the

C o u n c i l o f S t a t e s a n d t h e C e n t r a l

Legislative Assembly. The former had

60 members, of whom 33 were to be

elected and 27 to be nominated. The

latter consisted of 145 members, ofwhom 10 4 were to be elected a nd 41 to

be nomina ted,


5/120


( f ) Powers of Central Legis la ture :

The centra l legislatu re was emp oweredto cons ider, pass or reject legislation on

an y of the su bjects enu merated in theCentral list. Bu t, th e Govern or-Generalhad the last word on any Bil l passed

by the Legislature. He possessed thepower to prevent th e consideration of a

Bill or an y of its pa rt, on t h e plea th at itw a s i n j u r i o u s t o t h e p e a c e a n d

tranquillity of the country. He coulddisallow a question in the legislature.He had th e power to with hold his ass ent

to any Bill passed by the legislature

with out wh ich it cou ld not become anAct. He also h ad th e power to disa llowan adjournment motion or debate on

an y mat ter. He cou ld en act a law, whichhe considered essential for the safety

an d t ran qu illity of th e emp ire even if thelegislatur e ha d refu sed to pa ss it .

The financial powers of the central

legislatu re were also very mu ch limited.Th e bu dget was t o be divided int o two

categories, votable and non-votable.The votable items covered only one-

th ird of th e total expen ditur e. Even in

this sp here th e Governor -General wasemp owered to restore an y gran t refu sed

or redu ced by th e legislatu re, if in hisopinion th e dema nd was ess ential for

th e discha rge of h is resp ons ibilities.(g) Powers of Provincial Legislatures :

Th e s tren gth of provincial legislatu resdiffered from province to p rovin ce. Th eprovincial legislat ive councils were

empowered to legislate on provincialsubjects. However, the Act armed the

Governor with th e extens ive powers oflegislation. He cou ld stop a t an y stage

t h e c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f a b i l l o n t h egrou nd tha t i t was injurious to s afety

and peace of the province . He was

empowered to return any bil l to the

hou se for recons ideration or reserve itfor th e considera tion of th e Govern or-

General who in h is tu rn cou ld reserveit for the opinion of the Crown. The

Govern or could also veto an y bill pa ss edby the Legi s l a t ive Counc i l . I f t heCoun cil refu sed to introdu ce or failed

to pass a bil l relat ing to a reservedsubject, the Governor by his power of

certification could pass it on the pleatha t i t was essen tial for the d ischa rge

of h is resp ons ibility.The Act ga ve th e legislat ive cou n cils

so m e m e a su r e o f c o n t r o l o v e r t h efinan ce of th e provin ce bu t its fin an cialpowers were very mu ch n arrowed a nd

circu ms cribed by the sp ecial powers ofth e Govern or. The bu dget was divided

into two parts. There were about 70%n o n - v o t a b l e i t e m s o n w h i c h o n l y

d i scuss ion could t ake p lace in theh o u se . T h e r e m a i n i n g 3 0 % o f t h ebudge t inc luded such demands for

wants as could be redu ced or rejectedb y t h e h o u s e , b u t t h e G o v e r n o r

re ta ined the power to re s to re such

d e m a n d s b y c e r t i f y i n g t h a t i t w a se s se n t i a l f o r t h e d i s c h a r g e o f h i sresp ons ibilities. In cas e of emergencythe Governor h ad the power to sa nction

an y expenditure on an y item.(h) The Execut i ve Counci l : It was

respons ible to the Secretary of State an dnot to the cen t ra l l eg i s l a tu re . The

m a x i m u m l i m i t i m p o s e d o n t h emem bers h ip of th e Govern or-Gen eralsExecu tive Coun cil was r emoved. Of th e

six mem bers of th e Govern or-Gen eralsE x e c u t i v e C o u n c i l , o t h e r t h a n t h e

C o m m a n d e r - i n - C h i e f , t h r e e w e r erequ ired to b e Ind ian s. A pleader of th e

I n d i a n H i g h C o u r t w a s a l so m a d e


6/120


eligible for appointment as the Law

member.(i ) Secret a ry of Sta te for Ind ia :Th e

control of the Secretary of State forIndia over the central and provincialadm inistrat ion was redu ced.

T h e G o v e r n m e n t o f I n d i a A c t

of 193 5

The three Round Table Conferences

convened in London during 1930-32h a d m a d e a n u m b e r o f r e c o -mm endations regarding cons titutional

reforms in India. The Government of

In dia Act, 1935 was th e resu lt of th eserecomm enda tions. Main featu res of theAct wer e a s follows:

(a ) It w a s a c o m p r e h e n s i ve a n ddetailed document. It consisted of321 Sections a nd 10 Schedu les. It

described, in detail, not only thema chinery of the centre bu t also of

the un its .(b) It, for the first time, introduced a

federa l form of polity in In dia. Theunits of federation fal l into two

ca tegor ie s : t he (Br i t i sh) Ind ian

provinces and the princely states(also kn own a s n ative sta tes).

(c ) The Act divided t h e fu n ctions of th egovern men t in th ree categories. Th e

federal list contained 59 subjects,th e provincial list ha d 54 su bjects,

while th e concur rent list comprisedof 36 s u bjects. Wh ile the federa l an dp r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t s h a d

e x c l u s i v e j u r i s d i c t i o n o n t h es u b j e c t s i n t h e f e d e r a l a n d

provin cial lists resp ectively, both th efederal an d t h e pr ovincial govern-

m e n t s c o u l d l e g i s l a t e o n t h esu bjects in th e concu rren t list. It isi n t e r e s t i n g t o n o t e t h a t t h e

ju risdiction of th e federa l legislat u re

did not extend to all the subjectsm entioned in th e federal list in th e

n ative st ates . Accordin g to th e Act,th e ru ler of every state was requ iredto sign a n Ins tru men t of Accessionmentioning therein the extent towhich i t cons ented to su rrender i tsau th ority to the federal governm ent.

(d) Th e Act also provided th at s u ch af e d e r a t i o n c o u l d c o m e i n t oexisten ce only if as ma n y princelysta tes (which were given th e optionto join or n ot to join th e federat ion )

would accept to join i t as wereentitled to one-half of the statessea t s in the upper house of thefederal legislatu re an d h avin g one-h alf of th e total sta tes popu lation.

(e) The proposed federal polity was toh ave a bicamer al legislatu re at th ecentre. The u pper hou se was to becalled th e Cou ncil of States. It wasto consist of 260 mem bers , of whom156 were to represent the p rovincesand 104 the native states. Out ofthese 156 representa t ives of the

pr ovinces 1 50 were to be elected oncommunal l ines. While the seatsf ixed for H indus , Musl ims andSikhs were to be filled by directe l e c t i o n s , t h e s e a t s r e s e r v e df o r E u r o p e a n s , A n g l o - I n d i a n

Commu nity an d Ind ian Ch rist ianswere to be f i l led by an indi rectm ethod th rou gh an electoral collegecons istin g of th e mem bers of th eir

c o m m u n i t y i n t h e p r o v i n c i a ll eg i s l a tu res . The remain ing s ix

mem bers were to be nomina ted by

t h e G o v e r n o r - G e n e r a l . I t i sinterest ing to note that the n u mber

of seats allotted to a sta te depend ed


7/120


n ot on th e stren gth of its popu lation

b u t o n t h e r e l a t i v e r a n k a n di m p o r t a n c e o f t h a t s t a t e . T h e

C o u n c i l o f S t a t e s w a s t o b e aperma nen t h ous e. One-third of itsm emb ers were to retire every third

year.The lower h ous e was to b e called th e

Federal Ass emb ly. It was to cons ist of375 memb ers, out of which 25 0 were

to represent th e provinces an d 125 torepresen t th e princely states . While th erepresentatives of the princely states

were to be n ominated by th eir ru lers,

those representing the provinces wereto be elected indirectly by the pr ovin ciallegislative coun cils on comm u n al lines.

It is interest ing to note that the s eatsa l lot ted to the pr incely s ta tes were

disproportionate to their population.S imi la r ly , t he sea t s a l lo t t ed to thevarious communities in the provinces

were a lso disproport ionate to thei rpopu lation. Th e term of the Ass emb ly

was five years bu t it could b e dissolvedear lier a lso.

(f) The federa l legislatu re could ma ke

laws on all th e su bjects includ ed inthe federal and the concu rrent l ist .

It was also em powered to legislateon provincial list in an emergency

or when two or more provincesrequested it to do so. However, its

a u t h o r i t y o v e r p r i n c e l y s t a t e sex tended to those sub jec t s on lyw h i c h w e r e m e n t i o n e d i n t h e i r

In str u men t of Accession.No Bill could become an Act unless

both the houses passed i t and a l soapp roved by th e Govern or-Gen eral. In

case of differences between the twohou ses , provision for a join t ses sion of

b o t h t h e h o u s e s w a s m a d e . T h e

Govern or- General had th e au thority to

ap prove or disa ppr ove an y Bill pas sedby th e federal legislatu re. Thou gh b oth

the h ous es exercised s ome control overthe executive, by putting qu estions an d

p a s s i n g a d j o u r n m e n t m o t i o n s a n dother resolutions, the Assembly alonecould pass a vote of no confidence

agains t the m inisters.Both th e hous es possessed a lmost

equal financial powers excepting thatth e Money Bill cou ld be intr odu ced on ly

in th e Ass emb ly. But , the Act gran tedonly l imited financial powers to the

feder al legislatu re. The Act d ivided th ebudget into two parts. The first partcovered 80% of the expenditure that

was beyond the control of the federall e g i s l a t u r e . T h e r e m a i n i n g 2 0 %

required th e sa nction of the legislatu re,b u t , t h e G o v e r n o r - G e n e r a l w a s

empowered to restore th e redu ctions orsanction any amount rejected by thelegislature.

(g) Th e Act introdu ced dyarch y at t hefedera l level. The federa l su bjects

were divided into two cat egories: th e

r e s e r v e d a n d t h e t r a n s f e r r e d .Th e reserved su b j e c t s i n c l u d e dD e f e n c e ; E x t e r n a l A f f a i r s ;Ecclesiast ical Affairs and Tribal

A r e a s . I n t h e s e m a t t e r s t h eG o v e r n o r G e n e r a l p o s s e s s e d

discretiona ry powers i.e., he a ctedon t h e advice of th e coun cillors to

be appointed by him. He was noteven r equired to cons u lt th e coun cilo f m i n i s t e r s i n t h e s e m a t t e r s .

Su bjects n ot included in the a bovel i s t c o m p r i s e d t h e t r a n s f e r r ed

s u b j e c t s . T h e s e s u b j e c t s w e r eu n d e r t h e c h a r g e o f m i n i s t e r s

r e s p o n s i b l e t o t h e f e d e r a l


8/120


legislatu re. But , there were certain

m a t t e r s w h e r e i n t h e G o v e r n o r -G e n e r a l p o s s e s s e d t h e p o w e r s

relat ing to individual judgement.

Thes e were the powers wherein theGovernor-General was required to

consu lt the coun cil of ministers bu twas n ot boun d by th eir ad vice.

(h ) Th e Act also pr ovided for a Feder alCourt th at was to cons ist of a Ch ief

J u stice and n ot more than six otherjudges. They were to be a ppointedby His Majesty an d retired at t he a ge

o f 6 5 . T h e y c o u l d b e r e m o v e d

e a r l i e r a l s o o n c h a r g e s o f m isb eha viour or infirm ity of mindor body by King of En glan d on th e

recommenda t ion of the Jud ic ia lComm ittee of th e Privy Cou n cil.

The Court had Original, Appellatean d Advisory jurisd iction s. It was alsoa Cou rt of Record. Bu t, the Cou rt was

n ot the h igh est Cou rt of App eal. Appea lcould be filed agains t its ju dgmen ts to

th e Privy Cou n cil of En glan d.

(i) The Act did away with th e dyarchy

introduced by the Government ofInd ia Ac t , 1919 and in t roduced

p r o v i n c i a l a u t o n o m y i n t h ep r o v i n c e s . A c c o r d i n g l y , t h eGovernors were required ordina rily

to act on the advice of council ofm i n i s t e r s r e s p o n s i b l e t o t h e

provincia l legisla ture except ingw h e n t h e y e x e r c i s e d t h e i rdiscretionary pow ers or powers ofindividual judgment.

It is interes ting to note tha t th e Act

did not enumerate the discre t ionary

powers of the Govern or. The Govern or,at his discretion, decided as to whatwere his discretionary pow ers. Thus,

t h e G o v e r n o r c o u l d m i s u s e h i s

a u t h o r i t y a n d m a k e t h e p r o v i n c i a l

au tonomy a mockery.( j ) The Act provided for bicameral

legislatures in six provinces andunicameral in five provinces. The

l o w e r h o u s e w a s t o b e c a l l e dLegislative Ass emb ly an d th e up perhouse , Legisla t ive Counci l . The

st rength of the upper and lowerhouses va r i ed f rom province to

province.While the Act completely abolished

t h e c a t e g o r i e s o f t h e n o m i n a t e dm e m b e r s f r o m A s s e m b l i e s , i t

cont inued to have a few nominatedmem bers in the Coun cils.

The Act su ggest ed direct elections for

b o t h t h e h o u se s . T h e b a s i s o f t h ea l l o t m e n t o f t h e s e a t s t o v a r i o u s

communi t i e s was on the no tor iouscommunal award, given by Ramsay

Macdonald, as am ended b y Poona Pact.Th e bas ic principle of th e sch eme wastha t the s eats reserved for a commu nity

were to be contested only by personsbelonging to that comm u nity an d th ey

were to be elected by mem bers of th at

communi tyalone.(k) The provincial legislatures were

emp owered t o legislate n ot on ly on

t h e s u b j e c t s i n c l u d e d i n t h e

provincia l l i s t but a lso on those

inclu ded in th e concu rren t list. But

a provincial law on a concurrent

su bject held good in so far a s it did

n ot go against a federal law on th e

subject. In case of a conflict, the

federa l law was to pr evail.

Th ere were certain limitat ion s on th e

legislat ive powers of the provinciall e g i s l a t u r e s . I n s o m e c a s e s p r i o r

permission of the Governor-General

was needed be fore a Bi l l cou ld be


9/120


introd u ced in a legislatu re. Bills relatin g

to an Act of th e British Parliam ent ort h a t o f t h e G o v e r n o r - G e n e r a l o r

Govern or or affecting th e discretionarypow ers of the Governor fal l in thiscategory.

Both the h ous es could exercise somec o n t r o l o v e r t h e e x e c u t i v e o f t h e

p r o v i n c e b y p u t t i n g q u e s t i o n s ,supplementary quest ions or moving

adjou rnm ent m otions etc. The controlo f t h e A s s e m b l y , h o w e v e r , w a ssubstantial in the sense that i t could

pass a vo te o f censure aga ins t the

coun cil of ministers .The legislatures also enjoyed some

lim ited fina n cial powers. The bu dget of

th e pr ovince was divided in to votableand non-votable categories. Votable

i t e m s c o n s t i t u t e d 3 0 % o f t h eexpenditure while non-votable itemscomprised 7 0% of th e bu dget. Even in

the votable ca tegory, the Governorcould re s to re any reduc t ion or cu t

p a s s e d b y t h e l e g i s l a t u r e i f h econsidered i t necessary for efficient

ad ministr ation of th e province,

(1) Besides the above, the Act alsoprovided for the abol i t ion of India

Counci l , separa t ion of Burma fromIndia , creat ion of Federal Rai lway,

appointments of an Advocate Generalan d a Fina n cial Adviser.

Cabinet Mission Plan

After the War (i.e. Second World War)

w a s o v e r , e l e c t i o n s w e r e h e l d i nEn glan d. Lab our Party cam e to power.

It was sympa thetic towards the cau seof In dia. Th e British Governm ent sen t

a Par liamen tar y delegation to India toget first hand information about thepolitical situation in India. After its

report , the Brit ish Governm ent s ent a

commit tee of three members of theBrit ish Cabinet tha t was a u thorized to

evolve a formula acceptable to theprom in ent political pa rties of In dia.

The Cabinet Comm ittee, a ccordin gly,met differen t leader s of differen t politicalp a r t i e s a n d t h e n o f f e r e d i t s r e -

comm endations in two ins talments. OnM a y 1 6 , 1 9 4 6 i t a n n o u n c e d i t s

proposals for a long-term settlementand on June 16, 1946 i t out l ined a

procedu re for th e forma tion of In terimGovernment.

Proposals for long- term: The mainprovisions of the long-term proposalswere a s follows:

(a) There sh ould be a Union of Ind iac o m p r i s i n g p r o v i n c e s a n d t h e

princely sta tes.(b) Th e Union sh ould have ju risdiction

on Foreign Affairs, Defence andCommunicat ion and should haven ecess ary powers to raisefinances.

(c) The Union s hou ld h ave an execu tivea n d a l e g i s l a t u r e c o n s i s t i n g o f Represent atives of both th e provin-

ces an d princely states.(d) An y qu estion relat ing to a m ajor

comm u na l issu e in the legisla turesh ould be decided by a m ajority ofm e m b e r s p r e s e n t a n d v o t i n gbelonging to that communi ty as

w e l l a s a m a j o r i t y o f a l l t h emem bers of the legislatu re presen tan d voting.

(e) Provinces sh ould be free to formg r o u p s a n d e a c h g r o u p c o u l ddeterm in e the provincial su bjects to

be taken in comm on.(f) Th e Con stitu tion of th e Un ion a nd

of the groups should conta in a

provision whereby any province


10/120

INDIAN CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION1 0

could, by a majori ty vote of the

Legisla t ive Assembly cal l for arecons ideration of th e terms of th e

Cons titution a fter a n in itial period

o f t e n y e a r s a n d a t t e n y e a r l y

intervals ther eafter.

Proposa l s fo r Cons t i tu t ion ma k ing

machinery : Th e ma in provisions of th e

p r o p o sa l s f o r C o n s t i t u t i o n m a k i n g

ma chinery were a s follows:

(a) A const i tuent Assembly should

b e c o n s t i t u t e d c o n s i s t i n g 3 8 9

m e m b e r s , 2 9 6 r e p r e se n t i n g t h e

p r o v i n c e s a n d 9 3 t h e p r i n c e l y

sta tes . Each province was to bea l l o t t e d a n u m b e r o f s e a t s

proportiona l to its popu lation . The

total number of seats allotted to a

province was to be divided among

the main communi t ies (General ,

Muslims and Sikhs) in proportion

to their population a nd were to be

elected by members of the same

c o m m u n i t y i n t h e L e g i s l a t i v e

Assembly. The number of seats

allotted to each princely sta te was

also to be f ixed on the basis of p o p u l a t i o n b u t t h e m o d e o f

choosing their represen tatives was

to be settled in con su ltation with a

Negotiat ing Comm ittee.

(b) The members of the Consti tuent

Ass embly, so cons titu ted, would be

divided into the following three

groups :

(i) Provinces not claimed for and

represen t ing Hindu major i ty

regions viz., Madras , Bomba y,

th e United Provinces, Bih ar a nd

Orissa.

(ii) Terr itories cla imed for Pakis ta n

a n d r e p r e se n t i n g t h e N o r t h -

W e s t e r n M u s l i m m a j o r i t y

reg ions v iz . , Punjab , Nor th-W e s t e r n F r o n t i e r P r o v i n c e ,

Sindh an d Brit ish Balu chistan.

(iii) Territories claim ed for Pakist an

a n d r e p r e se n t i n g t h e N o r t h -

E a s t e r n Mu s l im m a jo r it y

regions viz., Bengal an d Ass am .( c ) E a c h g r o u p w a s t o s e t t l e t h e

c o n s t i t u t i o n o f t h e p r o v i n c e sincluded in i t and also wheth er anycons t i tu t ion for the g roup as awhole to be set up and, if so, theexten t of its powers.

(d) After the group cons titu tions weres e t t l e d , t h e g r o u p s w e r e t oa s se m b l e t o g e t h e r t o s e t t l e t h eUnion Constitution.

(e) After the first genera l election u nd erthe new constitution, it was to beopen to any province to come outo f a n y g r o u p , i n w h i c h i t w a sp l a c e d , b y a r e s o l u t i o n o f i t slegislature.

Bri t i sh Indian Treaty: A treaty willbe n egotiated b etween th e Consti tuentAssembly and the United Kingdom to

provide for certain m atters arising outof th e tra n sfer of power. It was , h owever,h o p e d t h a t I n d i a w o u l d d e c i d eto remain a member of the Common-wealth. But at th e sam e t ime, sh e wasgiven the right to go out of Common-

wealth , if so des ired.

R e c o m m e n d a t i o n f o r S h o r t - T e r m

Plan : The Plan envisaged immediate

sett ing up of an Interim Government

in order to carry on administ ra t ion

while the constitution making was in

progress. The int erim govern men t was

to have 14 m embers: 6 Congressm en,

5 Leagu ers, 1 In dian Ch ristian, 1 Sikh

an d 1 Parsee.


11/120

1 1LANDMARKS IN THE CONS TITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA

In the Interim Government al l the

portfolios were to be held by Indiansan d th e British Govern m ent was to give

full co-operation in the accomplish-ment of the tasks that confronted theIn terim Governm ent E v a l u a t i o n o f t h e P l a n s: All themajor poli t ical part ies accepted the

P l a n , w i t h a l l i t s d r a w b a c k s ; a n delections were held for a Constituent

A s s e m b l y . B u t d i f f e r e n c e s a r o s ebetween th e Congress a nd the Leagueregarding the interpr etation of th e Plan .

Thou gh the Plan ru led out Pakistan in

n a m e , i t d e f i n i t e l y c o n c e d e d i nsu bstan ce. This caus ed trouble an d onJ u ly 10, 19 46 th e League with drew its

acceptance. I n t e r i m G o v e r n m e n t a n d D i r e c t

Action :On Au gust 1 4, 1946 a n InterimGovernment was formed under theleadership of Jawahar Lal Nehru. The

Muslim League did not join i t . TheLeague declared August 16, 1946 as

Direct Act ion Da y. On th at da y asystematic killing and looting of the

Hindus began which lasted for four

days . About th ree thousand peoplewere ki l led and thousands worth of

property dest royed. Wh ile th e carn agecontinu ed in Calcutta, Noakha li, Biha r

a n d o t h e r p l a c e s , a t t e m p t s w e r econtinued to bring the League in the

I n t e r i m G o v e r n m e n t . A s a r e s u l t ,League join ed th e In terim Govern men ton October 13, 1946 . This Governm ent

remained in office till the partition of

India in August 1947.

Mountbatten Plan

A s p e r C a b i n e t M i s s i o n P l a n , t h e

Cons t i tuen t Assembly was a t work f r a m i n g t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n , b u t t h e

League members boycot ted i t . This

ma de the British Govern men ts tas k oft ransferr ing power to Indian hands

difficu lt. Thou gh it declared J u ne 194 8to be the deadline for the transfer of

power, it was felt th at it would n ot beappropriate for it to transfer power toa n A s s e m b l y t h a t w a s n o t f u l l y

representative. In order to workout aformula, acceptable to all sections of

people, for res olving th is pr oblem th eB r i t i s h G o v e r n m e n t a p p o i n t e d

Moun tbatten as the Govern or-Generalof Ind ia, wh o reach ed India on March

2 4 , 1 9 4 7 . W h i l e o n t h e o n e h a n dMoun tbatten was n egotiat ing with theleaders of differen t p ar ties for evolving

a f o r m u l a , a s t r o n g a g i t a t i o n w a ssta rted for th e par tition of Bengal and

Pun jab in the wake of commu na l riotsan d violence a t a vast s cale. Th is gave

a n o p p o r t u n i t y t o M o u n t b a t t e n t oa n n o u n c e h i s p l a n f o r so l v i n g t h eproblem.

It declared th at p ar tition of Ind ia wasth e only possible solution of the Indian

problem. Th e thr ee disp u ted Provin ces

viz., Ass am , Bengal an d Pu n jab woulda l so be pa r t i t i oned . A re fe rendumwould be held in the North-WesternFrontier Province to decide whether

t h a t P r o v i n c e w o u l d l i k e t o j o i nPakistan or Ind ia. A referend u m wou ld

be h eld in th e Syllhat division of Ass amalso to determ ine wheth er it wou ld like

to remain part of Assam or join EastB e n g a l t h a t w o u l d b e a p a r t o f Pakistan.

The Plan indicated a willingn ess of th eBritish Government to transfer power

before June 1948. As the Plan wasaccepted by all th e ma jor pa rities of Ind ia,

a Bill was intr odu ced in the Par liam ent


12/120


13/120

1 3LANDMARKS IN THE CONS TITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA

Ind ia be fore 15 t h A u g u s t 1 9 4 7 ,

wou ld cont inu e in th at service afterindependence and enjoy the same

privileges and rights in respect of

1. What are the sa lien t fea tures of the Indian Counci ls Act of 1909?

2. Describe the sa lien t fea tures of the Government of India Act of 1919.

3 . Expla in the meaning of Dyarchy. When was it in t roduced firs t in India?

4 . What are the main fea tures of the Government of India Act of 1935?

5. Enum erate the main provis ions of the Indian Independence Act of 1947.

6 . Writ e sho r t no te s on t he following :

(a ) Cabine t Miss ion P lan(b ) Mou n t b a tt en P la n

Exercises

l e a v e , r e m u n e r a t i o n , p e n s i o n ,

disciplina ry matters a nd tenu re ofoffice which had been enjoyed by

them before Ind ependence.


14/120

INDIAN NATIONALMOVEMENT AND

ITS HERITAGE

Introduction

In d i a g o t I n d e p e n d e n c e o n 1 5 t hAugust 1947. It was primarily theresu lt of th e Ind ian Nationa l Movemen tled by the Indian National Congress.

Besides the Indian National Congress,there were other organ izations also tha t

m a d e t h e i r c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h i sMovemen t. The following pa ss ages givea b rief su rvey of all thos e forces.

Indian National Congress

Though the Indian National Congresswas foun ded in 188 5; its genesis can

be traced from the various forces atwork since the mid-nineteenth centu ry.Th ey can be su mm arized as follows:( a ) E f f e c t s o f t h e F i r s t W a r o f Ind ian Ind epend ence (18 57 ): In t his

s t r u g g l e f o r t h e f i r s t t i m e r u l e r s ,soldiers and leaders f rom different

parts of India came in close contactwith each other. Though it failed in

ach ieving its m ain goal du e to lack ofr e s o u r c e s , c o o r d i n a t i o n a n dappropr ia t e p lanning , i t he lped in

b r i n g i n g n a t i o n a l c o n s c i o u s n e s sthroughout India.(b) Impact of the Socio-Rel ig ious M o v e m e n t s : T h e s o c i o r e l i g i o u s

movements of the n ineteenth centu ry,su ch as Arya Sama j foun ded by Swam i

Dayana nd Saraswat i, Brahmo Sam ajf o u n d e d b y R a j a R a m m o h a n R o y ,R a m a k r i s h n a M i s s i o n f o u n d e d b y

S w a m i V i v e k a n a n d , T h e o s o p h i c a l

Society foun ded b y Mad am e Blavatsk y

an d Olcott, played a very imp ortan t role

in creating a n ew awakening am ongst

tile people of In dia. They becam e prou d

of th eir glorious pas t an d looked ah ead

for a n ew resu rgence in Ind ia.

( c ) E f f e c t s o f t h e B r i t i s h R u l e:Thou gh th e alien r u le of the British was

indifferent to the sent iments of the

people, it proved to be a blessing in

disguise. The network of railways an d

t e l e g r a p h s a r o u se d a n d f o s t e r e d a

feeling of unity amongst the people

h ailin g from d ifferen t pa rts of India.

(d) Western Educat ion : The spread

o f w e s t e r n e d u c a t i o n b r o u g h t t h e

people in touch with the philosophies

of the wes te rn th inkers w i th the i r

emphasis on nationalism, democracyan d scientific ou tlook.

( e ) E c o n o m i c E x p l o i t a t i o n : Th e

e c o n o m i c p o l i c y o f t h e B r i t i s h

Government in India was based on

economic exploitat ion. They pur cha sed

raw m aterials from Ind ia a t very cheap

rates a nd sent it to Englan d to feed the

needs of the Brit ish industries. Ther e a d y m a d e g o o d s o f t h e B r i t i s h

i n d u s t r i e s w e r e s o l d i n I n d i a a t

v e r y h i g h r a t e s . T h e g o v e r n m e n t

d i s c o u r a g e d c o t t a g e i n d u s t r i e s o f

I n d i a a n d d u m p e d t h e I n d i a nmarket wi th goods manufactured inEngland.

Chapter 2


15/120

1 5INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT AND ITS HERITAGE

(f) Oppressive Agricul tural Pol icy:

The British Governm ent char ged h eavylan d revenu es on the poor peasa nts of

India who heavi ly depended on thevagaries of na tu re. This cau sed a lot ofresentm ent am ongst Indian peasa nts

agains t th e Brit ish ru le.(g) Severe Fam ines :In th e first h alf of

the nineteenth centu ry there occurredseven famines, with an est ima ted total

o f one mi l l ion dea ths whi l e in thesecond half, there were twenty-fourfamines result ing in twenty mill ion

death s. The British Governm ent did not

come ou t with a ny su bsta ntial help torelieve the s u ffering p eople.(h) Th e Role of Vernacular Press:

When the p eople of Ind ia n oted tha t th eEn glish newspa pers were hostile to the

c a u s e o f I n d i a n s , t h e y s t a r t e dnewspap ers in Ind ian lan guages. Thesenewspap ers began to expose the an ti-

p e o p l e p o l i c i e s o f t h e B r i t i s hGovernm ent. Th is led the Govern men t

to enac t Vern acu la r P ress Ac t th a trest ricted the freedom of Vern acu lar

Press. This provoked a lot of resen tmen t

both in India and in England. Thisres u lted in its r evocation. However, the

B r i t i sh G o v e r n m e n t a d o p t e d o t h e rmeasures to deny freedom of speech

an d express ion t o the people of Ind ia.( i ) R e p r e s s i v e M e a s u r e s o f L o r d

L y t t o n : D u r i n g t h e G o v e r n o r -Genera lsh ip of Lord Lytton s teps weretaken which caused b i t t e r fee l ings

agains t th e British Govern men t. Wh ileth ere was a severe fam ine in In dia, in

1 8 7 6 , w h i c h t o o k a w a y t o l l o f thousands of Indian life, Lord Lytton

he ld a d u r b a r a t D e l h i i n 1 8 7 7 t oannounce tha t Queen Vic tor i a had

assumed the t i t le of the empress of

India which drained the Indian treas ury

of m illions of ru pees . Lord Lytton dr ewIndia which drained the Indian treas ury

of m illions of ru pees . Lord Lytton dr ewIndia into an Afghan war tha t cau sed

enormou s loss to India in the form ofmen an d m oney. While on th e one han dhe imposed h eavy pen alties on Ind ians

for bearing ar ms with out licence, th erew a s n o s u c h r e s t r i c t i o n o n t h e

Europeans. The people of India tookthis as an insu lt .(j) Ilbert Bill Cont rover sy :Accordingto the then exist ing law, an Indian

Magistrate was not empowered to tryan d pu nish European s. The Bill wan tedto remove this discrimination against

the Indians . The Eu ropean Comm un ityorganized such a s t rong opposi t ion

a g a i n s t i t t h a t i t w a s u l t i m a t e l ywithd rawn. This ca u sed a feeling in th e

mind s of th e people tha t th ey could notget ju stice from th e British Govern men tan d tha t agitation was a mean s throu gh

which one cou ld get ones a dvanceredressed.

Birth of Indian National CongressIt is obviou s from th e above th at th ere

was a lot of discontent against the

British Govern m ent in In dia. It was felt

b y s o m e o b s e r v e r s t h a t i f t h i s

discontent was not conta ined in time it

might lead to an other outbu rst l ike the

uprising of 1857. They felt that there

was a need of a counter part of His

Majes tys Oppos i t ion in Ind ia th a t

could give the discontent an outlet .

Mr. A.O. Hu m e belonged to th is sch ool

of thought. He felt that it would be a

g r e a t a d v a n t a g e t o t h e c o u n t r y i f

leading Indian pol i t ic ians could be

brou ght together once a year on friend ly


16/120


footing to discuss social matters. He

discus sed th is idea with Lord Du fferin,th e then Govern or-Genera l of In dia an d

g o t a n e n c o u r a g i n g r e s p o n s e .

Accordingly, a meeting was convened

in Bomba y on Decemb er 28, 1885 th at

was presided over by W.C. Bonnerji.

This meeting decided to form an All

Ind ia o rgan iza t ion by the name of

Indian National Congress. In the very

f i r s t mee t ing , the Congress passed

resolutions dem an ding various political

an d economic reforms in Ind ia. Th ough

Mr. Hume wanted the Congress to

confin e itself to social reform s only, yetit emphasized political and economic

r e f o r m s . T h u s , i n 1 8 8 5 a f i r m

foundation was laid for an organised

In dian Nationa l Movemen t.

Extremist Movement

The policies that were followed by the

Ind ian Nationa l Congress du ring 188 5-

1918 are ca l led moderate or l ibera l

policies. Some of the members of the

Indian National Congress, however,

were not sa tisfied with th ese p olicies.

They wanted to give the policies an

aggressive colour. They are kn own by

the n am e of extremists.

Di f ference be tween the l iberals or

m o d e r a t e s a n d t h e e x t r em i s t s :Th e

moderates believed in th e just sens e of

the British people. They felt that the

British people were not aware of the

mise rab le condi t ions o f the Ind ian

people and felt that once the British

people cam e to kn ow of th eir prob lems,

they would be solved. They, therefore,

b e l i e v e d i n s u b m i t t i n g p e t i t i o n s ,prayers, sending delegations, writing

a r t i c l e s i n n e w s p a p e r s e t c . T h e

extremists , on th e other h an d, believed

that when a foreign power rules overan other people, it is not in th e int erest

o f t h e p e o p l e r u l e d b u t t h e r u l e r sthemselves. According to them, thef o u n d a t i o n o f a f o r e i g n r u l e w a s

exploitation. It is th rou gh pr ocession s,protest meetings, boycott of foreign

g o o d s , s t r i k e s , p i c k e t i n g , u s e o f S w a d e s h i g o o d s a n d d e m a n d i n gSwarajya that a foreign governmentc o u l d b e f o r c e d t o c o n c e d e t h e i rdemands .

G o p a l K r i s h n a G o k h a l e l e d t h e

moderates, Bal Gangadhar Tilak thee x t r e m i s t s . T h e d i f f e r e n c e i n t h e

a p p r o a c h b e t w e e n t h e t w o c l e a r l y

brings out the difference between the

moderates and the extremists. In the

w o r d s o f P a t t a b h i S i t a r a m a y y a ,

Gokha les p lan was to im prove the

ex i s t ing cond i t ion , T il aks was to

recons tru ct it ; Gokh ale had necessity

to work with the bureaucracy, Tilak

ha d n ecessity to fight it; Gokha le stood

for co-operation, wherever poss ible an d

opposition wherever necessary, Tilak

inclin ed toward s a p olicy of obs tru ction ;

Gokh ales idea l was love an d s ervice,

Tilaks w a s se r v i c e a n d su f f e r i n g ;

Gokh ales meth od sou ght to win the

f o r e i g n e r , T i l a k s t o r e p l a c e h i m ;

G o k h a l e s o b j e c t i v e w a s s e l f -

govern men t for which th e people h ave

to fi t themselves by answering tests

pres c r ibed by th e En gli sh , T i lak s

objective was Swara j which was the

birthright of every Ind ian a nd which he

should have without let or hindrance

from t he foreigner; Gokhale was on th elevel of h is age, Tilak was in a dvan ce of

his time.


17/120


Caus e for the Bir th a nd Growth o f

Extremist Movement: The birth andgrowth of extremism in th e first decade

of the twentieth centu ry was the resu ltof so many factors which could besummarizedas follows:Disconten t over the Counci ls Act of

1 8 9 2 : Th e reforms introdu ced by this

Act were ina dequ ate an d disap point in g.The Councils were still dominated by

the of f i c i a l nominees who se ldomo p p o s e d g ov er n m e n t s r e p r e s s i vemeasures. Even the elected members

were ineffective a s th ey were elected by

the vested interests . R e v i v a l o f H i n d u i s m: T h e t h r e ee x t r e m i s t l e a d e r s v i z . B a l ( B a l

Gan gadh ar Tilak ), Pal (Vipin Cha n draPal), Lal (Lala Lajpat Rai) inspired

rev iva l o f H indui sm. Ba l in i t i a t edt h e w o r s h i p o f L o r d G a n e s hi n M a h a r a s h t r a a n d c e l e b r a t e dG a n es h o t s a v fo r about a fo r tn igh tw h e r e i n i n t h e g u i se o f r e l i g i o u s

worship speeches and debates wereorganized to inculcate the spi r i t of

na tionalism . The s am e was th e case in

B e n g a l w h e r e V i p i n C h a n d r a P a lin itiated th e worsh ip of Kali and Dur ga

an d celebrated Durgotsav for about af o r t n i g h t w h e r e i n i n t h e g u i s e o f

r e l i g i o u s w o r s h i p d e b a t e s a n ddiscours es were organ ized to encou rage

th e feeling of n ationa lism a mon gst th epeople o f Benga l , pa r t i cu la r ly theyouth. These activities created a new

awakening in the coun try. E c o n o m i c E x p l o i t a t i o n: Th e

e c o n o m i c p o l i c i e s o f t h e B r i t i s hGovernm ent in Ind ia were such tha t the

poor people of In dia beca m e poorer da yby day . The l eaders l ike Dadabha i

Naoroji and Ramesh Chandra Dutta,

through thei r wri t ings, exposed the

exploi ta t ive pol ic ies of the Bri t i shGovernm ent. This ar ous ed disconten t

agains t th e Brit ish Governm ent.

Famine : A big famine occurred in

India in 1896-97. I t a ffec ted about

twenty million people spread over in

different par ts of In dia. The govern men t

did nothing to provide rel ief to the

starving masses. This also created a

severe discontent in the m ind s of the

people of Ind ia against th e British ru le.

Plague : When famine was taking its

tolls, there spread a severe plague in

Poona . The failure to check th e sprea dof plague infuriated t he p eople to su ch

a n e x t e n t t h a t o n e D a m o d a r H a r i

C h a p e k a r s h o t d e a d R a n d , t h e

Commissioner of Poona. Ch apeka r was

ha nged an d m an y inn ocent people were

bru tally pun ish ed. This cau sed a lot of

resentm ent in th e minds of the people

of India.

The Repres sive Policy of Lord Curzon

a n d o t h e r G o v e r n o r - G e n e r a l s:

During the Governor-Generalship of

Elgin several un popular m easu res wereenacted to harass the people. During

his regime a great famine broke out.

Ins t ead of he lp ing the people , t he

treasu ry was emptied in expand ing the

f o r c e s a n d o n h o l d i n g a s p l e n d i d

Darbar in Delhi . According to one

author if even half of the vast sum

spent in connec t ion wi th the De lh i

Darbar had been made over for the

pu rpos e of fam ine relief, it might ha ve

been the means of saving millions of

men , women a nd children from death

by starvation.

The events , which occurred d u ring

the Governor -Genera l sh ip of Lord


18/120


Curzon, added ins u lt to injury. During

his regime Calcutta Corporation Act,th e Official Secrets Act an d th e In dian

Univers i ty Ac t were passed which

cu rtailed t he freedom of th e people of

Ind ia. His opinions regarding the Ind ian

culture were highly insult ing to the

p e o p l e o f I n d i a . H i s d e r o g a t o r y

sp eeches cau sed a lot of disconten t in

th e mind s of th e In dian People.

Par t i t i on o f Bengal and Swadeshi

Movement :Dur in g Lord Cu rzons ru le

th e Province of Benga l was p ar titioned .

Th ere was a s inister motive behind it.

He wanted to favour the Muslims bycreatin g a Mu slim ma jority provin ce by

p a r t i t i o n i n g B e n g a l . T h e r e w a s a

spontaneous reaction against i t . The

people decided to boycott the foreign

goods an d u se Swadesh i goods. They

also organized bonfi re of imported

goods. Th e Govern m ent a dopted s evere

repressive measures to suppress the

agitations . Th is resu lted in a lot of an ger

agains t th e British Regime.

Foreign Events: Several events that

occurred in Eu rope in the later part ofthe n ineteenth centu ry also inspired th e

y o u t h o f I n d i a t o w o r k f o r t h e

emancipation of India. The defeat of

Italy at th e ha n ds of Abyss in ia in 1 896

an d Russ ia by Ja pan in 19 05 also gave

a n ew stimu lu s to Indian Nationalism .

Th e factors men tion ed ab ove gave birth

to a ra dical wing in th e Congress par ty.

They wan ted a cha nge in th e moderate

policy of th e Congres s. To som e extent

they succeeded. For instance, Gopal

Krishna Gokhale, in his presidential

a d d r e s s a t B a n a r a s i n 1 9 0 5 , c o n -demned the part i t ion of Bengal and

supported the Swadeshi Movement .

But th en, the moderates could not go

too far in th is d irection. As a resu lt, th eCongress was divided int o two groups :the extremist a nd the m oderates. At the

Surat session of the Indian NationalCongress in 1907 there was a formal

sp lit in th e Congress . Th e extremists leftt h e C o n g r e s s a n d c a r r i e d o n t h e i r

program mes ind ependently.

Revolutionaries

T h e y o u t h o f t h e c o u n t r y w a s n o ts a t i s f i e d w i t h t h e p o l i c i e s o f t h e

extremists also. Th ey had a firm belief

th at even th ese policies were n ot goingto get them Swar ajya, For the s u ccess

of th eir m iss ion th ey believed in th e cu lto f p i s t o l a n d b o m b . H e n c e t h e y

organ ized th emselves into a nu mb er ofs o c i e t i e s o n t h e m o d e l o f S e c r e t

Socie t ies of I ta ly and Russia . Theysecretly trained the young recruits in

ph ysical exercises, u se of weapons an dreligiou s pr act ices of Sh ak ti Cu lt. Theyalso tried to m ake inroa ds into military

camps an d sow seeds of ha tred agains tthe Brit ish bu reau cracy.

The Brit ish authorit ies dubbed therevolutiona ries as t errorists . Th ey were

terrorists only in th e sens e that th ey didterrorise th ose En glish officers who h adadopted severe repressive measures

an d committed bru talit ies on inn ocentpeople. Their activities did serve eye-

openers to the British imp erialists . Therevolutionaries retal iated only when

their nationa l pride was h u rt or whenth e lad ies were ins u lted. Th eir goal wasv e r y n o b l e . T h e y h a d f a i t h i n

dem ocracy. Th eir ideal was to setu p th e

ru le of the farm ers an d workers and tor e m o v e a l l s o c i a l a n d e c o n o m i c

disparities.


19/120


S o m e o f t h e p r o m i n e n t l e a d e r s

o f t h e r e v o l u t i o n a r y m o v e m e n tw e r e : B a r i n d r a K u m a r G h o s h ,B h u p e n d r a n a t h D u t t a , S h y a m j i

Krish na Verma , Chapekar b rothers ,S a v a r k a r b r o t h e r s , H a r d a y a l , B h a i

P a r r n a n a n d , R a m P r a s a d B i s m i l ,S a r d a r B h a g a t S i n g h , C h a n d r a

Shekh ar Azad, Yeshpa l and Rashb ehariGhosh.

The outburst of activities of these

revolut ionar ies great ly a larmed theBri t i sh Government who adopted a

three-fold policy of repression, reform

an d d ivision. Repress ion t ook the formo f c o m m i t t i n g b r u t a l i t i e s o n t h erevolutionaries. Reform took the form

o f c o n s t i t u t i o n a l r e f o r m s s u c h a sMorley-Min to Reform s (In dian Cou n cilsA c t , 1 9 0 9 ) , M o n t a g u - C h e l m s f o r d

Reforms (Government of India Act,191 9) an d th e Govern men t of In dia Act,

1 9 3 5 . D i v i s i o n t o o k t h e f o r m o f e n c o u r a g i n g t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f

M u s l i m L e a g u e a n d i n t r o d u c i n gcommunal electorate.

Muslim CommunalismWhen the Indian National Congress was

esta blish ed in 1 885 , it not on ly enjoyedthe blessings of the powers that be,t h o se d a y s . T h e G o v e r n o r s o f t h e

provinces , where its s essions were held,used to grace the occasions by their

presence. But when the Indian NationalCongress began to lay emphasis on

var ious proposa l s o f po l i t i ca l andeconomic reforms, the attitude of the

British Officials changed. They begant o f r o w n o n t h e I n d i a n N a t i o n a l

Congress. But, in spite of the hostileattitude of the officials, the Congressgained influ ence amongst th e mas ses.

Th is led th e British officials to cons pire

agains t th e Indian Nationa l Congress.Th ey ad opted th e policy of divide an d

ru le an d en coura ged the lead ers of th eMu slim comm u n ity to keep away from

th e activities of th e Congres s. They wereencouraged in th is m atter by Sir SyedA h m e d K h a n a n d h i s A l i g a r h

M o v e m e n t , w h i c h w a s t r y i n g t oestablish a ra pport between th e Mu slim

c o m m u n i t y a n d t h e B r i t i s hGovernm ent in Ind ia. It is to be n oted

th at th e British officials u sed to look tothe Mus lim comm u nity with su spicion.

Th ey felt th at th e u prising of 185 7 wasp r i m a r i l y a n a c t o f t h e M u s l i mcommuni ty because the Bri t i sh had

sn atched a way power from th e Mu ghalrulers. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan wanted

to remove this stigma from th e Mu slimc o m m u n i t y . T h i s w a s a g o l d e n

o p p o r t u n i t y t o t h e B r i t i s h . T h e yencou raged h im an d th e officials of th eAnglo-Indian-Mohammedan College,

Aligarh, founded by him, to make arepresentation to the Government for

separate electorate for the Muslims.

Accordingly, a delegation, under theleaders hip of Agha Khan , met th e thenGovernor -Genera l and pu t fo rwardth eir dem an d for sepa rat e electorate fort h e M u s l i m s i n t h e p r o p o s e dcons titutiona l reforms . Th e attitud e ofthe Governor -General was s ympath eticto their deman ds. Birth of All India Muslim League:Th e su ccess of th e Mu slim dep u tationt h a t m e t t h e G o v e r n o r - G e n e r a le n t h u s e d t h e M u s l i m s t o s t a r t asepa rat e political organ isation of theirown. Accordingly, on 30th December190 6, the Mus lim League was form ed.The object ives of the League were


20/120


defin ed a s follows: (i) to pr om ote am ong

th e Mus lim s of India a feeling of loyaltyt o t h e B r i t i sh G o v e r n m e n t a n d t o

remove any misconception that may

a r i s e a s t o t h e i n t e n t i o n o f t h e

government with regard to any of its

measures, (ii) to protect and advance

th e political rights an d interest s of th e

Muslims of India and to respectfully

represent their needs and aspirat ions

to th e Govern m ent an d (iii) to prevent

th e rise am ong the Mus lims of Ind ia of

any feelings of hostility towards other

comm u nities withou t prejudice to the

aforemen tion ed objects of the League.I t i s c l ea r f rom the above tha t the

primary objective of the League was

an ti-Congress a nd pro-British. It stood

for sepa rate repr esen tation for Mu slims

in th e Legislat ive Coun cils a n d weigh t-

a g e i n t h e a p p o i n t m e n t s i n t h e

govern men t jobs.

Changes in the Po l i cy o f Musl im

League :Th e Mus lim Leagu e, however,

could not command support from the

entire Mu slim Com mu n ity. Some of th e

top leaders l ike Mr Jinnah, MaulanaM o h m m a d A l i a n d M a u l a n a A b u l

Kalam Azad did not agree wi th the

communal character of the League.

Under the pressure of these eminent

M u s l i m l e a d e r s t h e L e a g u e w a s

compelled to modify its constitution

and effect certain changes in its aims

an d objectives. Th e Mus lim Leagu e gave

u p i ts dogmatism an d d rifted closer to

the Congress creed. I t inc luded the

pr omotion of goodwill between th e two

major commu nities an d th e at tainm ent

of Swarajya un der th e patron age of th e

British Crown in its a im s an d objects.

An other r eas on res pon sible for th e drift

of the Leagu e toward s th e Congress wastha t Turkey had jo ined hands wi th

German y an d fought a gains t the British

during the First World War. Indian

Mu slims , who accepted th e Emp eror of

Tu rkey as th eir Kh alifa (religiou s gu ru )

began to look u pon th e Brit ish as their

enemies. Thu s began a new chapter in

the history of the League. Both the

Congress and the League held their

a n n u a l s e s s i o n s a t L u c k n o w a n d

f o r m u l a t e d a s c h e m e f o r p o s t - w a r

reforms known as Congress-League

Schem e or Lu ckn ow Pact. Musl im Leagues At t i tude towards

Khi lafa t Quest ion :In th e First World

War the Sultan of Turkey sided with

Germany. The Muslims of India were

afraid that in case of defeat of Axis

powers, Tu rkey might b e disintegrated.

As th e Su ltan of Tu rkey was t h e Kh alifa,

the Muslims of India were opposed to

th e British efforts in th e War. After th e

War was over the susp ic ion of the

Musl ims proved t rue . The Turk i sh

Emp ire was disint egrated . This cau seda l o t o f d i s c o n t e n t a m o n g s t t h e

M u s l i m s . A s t h e I n d i a n N a t i o n a l

C o n g r e s s s u p p o r t e d t h e c a u s e o f

Khilafat a nd ma de i t an iss u e for the

N o n - C o o p e r a t i o n M o v e m e n t , t h e

Muslims came closer to the Congress.

But this did not last for a long time.

Comm u n al riots in th e Malaba r District

spoiled the whole atmosphere. When

the Non-Cooperation Movement was

w i t h d r a w n b e c a u s e o f t h e C h a u r i

Chau ra incident, th e comm u na l forces

became very active in the politics of

India.


21/120


Musl im Leagues At t i tude towards

S i m o n C o m m i s s i o n : I n t h eGovern m en t of India Act of 19 19 , ther e

was a provision for the review of theworking of the Act after a lapse of teny e a r s . T h e G o v e r n m e n t , h o w e v e r ,

appointed a Commission, viz. SimonCommission, two years earlier tha n the

due time. As all the members of theCommission were English people, the

In dian Nationa l Congres s felt th at it wasan insu l t t o the Ind ian people anddecided to boycott it. In the League,

h owever, th ere were t wo views, on e in

favour of cooperat ing with it, an d oth erstood for its opp osition.Mus lim Leag ue on Nehru Rep ort :In

192 8 an All Parties Conferen ce washe ld which appoin ted a commi t t ee

under the cha i rmansh ip of Mot i l a lNehru to draft a consti tution for thefu tu re political set u p in Ind ia. Its report

(th e Nehru Comm ittee Report) providedfor joint electorate with reservation of

sea ts for th e Mu slim s. The League wasdivided on th e join t electorate. However,

t h o s e w h o w e r e o p p o s e d t o i t

dominated th e League. J i n n a h s F o u r t e e n P o i n t s:

Mr Jinnah, who did not agree wi thN e h r u R e p o r t , p u t f o r w a r d h i s

demands, which he called minimum,for any political settlement in India.

Thes e deman ds a re called J inn ah sfour teen points , wh ich were pres entedbefore and ra t i f i ed by the Musl im

League. Some of th e ma in points were:(i) the form of any Constitution to be

dra wn for free Ind ia sh ould be federa lwith the residu ary powers vested in th e

p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n m e n t , ( i i ) t h e

m i n o r i t i e s s h o u l d b e a d e q u a t e l y

r e p r e se n t e d i n a l l t h e L e g i s l a t i v e

Ass em blies a n d Local Bodies, (iii) on e-

third of the total seats in the CentralAssembly should be reserved for the

Muslims, (iv) representation of all the

comm u nities sh ould be on the bas is of

sep ar ate electorat e; it sh ould, however,

be open to any group to abandon the

system of sepa rat e electorate in favour

of joint electorate, (v) n o legislat u re or

an elected body sh ould ad opt a Bill or

a resolut ion which was opposed by

three-fourths of the members of that

comm u nity in th at body on th e groun d

tha t it was injuriou s to th e interests of

that community, (vi) adequate sharef o r M u s l i m s s h o u l d b e p r o v i d e d

in the cons t i tu t ion of a l l se rv ices ,

subject to requirements of efficiency,

(vii) adequ ate s afegua rds an d st ate h elp

sh ould be given for the protection a nd

promotion of Muslim culture, religion,

lan gua ge, edu cation, laws a n d religious

institutions, (viii) at least one-third of

total nu mb er of ministers in the centrala n d p r o v i n c i a l c a b i n e t s sh o u l d b edrawn from Muslim community and

( ix) no change in the Cons t i tu t ionsh ould be ma de by Central Ass emblyexcept with the concu rrence of the u nitscons tituting the Ind ian federation.Leagu es Dema nd for Pak is t an :Th eidea of Pak i s t an was conce ived byMohd. Iqbal in 1930. He dreamt of ac o n s o l i d a t e d N o r t h - W e s t I n d i a nMu slim State. However, it was Rahm atAli who gave th e idea a pr ecise form . InMarch 1 940 th e Mu slim League pa sseda resolut ion, a t i t s Lahore session,which stated that no consti tutional

s c h e m e w o u l d b e w o r k a b l e i nt h i s c o u n t r y o r a c c e p t a b l e t oMuslims unless i t is designed on thefollowing basic principles, viz., that


22/120


geographical ly cont iguous uni ts are

demar cated into regions which sh ouldbe const i tuted wi th such terr i tor ia l

readjustments as may be necessary;that the areas, in which the Muslimsare n u m erically in m ajority, sh ould be

grou ped to consti tute an ind ependentsta te . The League resolved that the

Bri t i sh Government , before leavingIndia, must effect the partition of the

c o u n t r y i n t o I n d i a n U n i o n a n dPakistan . The b as is of Leagues dema ndw a s i t s m i sc h i e vo u s T wo - Na t i o n

Theory. According to this theory the

Hindus and the Muslims are not twocomm u nities bu t two na tions.

I n 1 9 4 2 , w h e n t h e C o n g r e s s

lau nch ed th e Quit Ind ia Movement, th eMu slim Leagu e, ins tead of su pporting

it, co-opera ted with th e govern m ent t ocrush it. In the general elections heldin 1946 , the League captu red m ajority

of Mu slim s eats . It is to be noted t h atin the elections of 1937, the Muslim

Leagu es per form an ce was n ot so good.Encoura ged by its enormou s su ccess,

t h e M u s l i m L e a g u e l a u n c h e d i t s

cam paign for th e forma tion of Pakistanwi th grea te r en thus iasm. When the

Cabinet Miss ion Plan d id not indicateth e forma tion of Pak ista n , the Mus lim

Leagu e resorted to direct a ction wh ichresulted in commu na l riots throughout

India and chaos was created to suchan extent th at th e Congress, which wastotally opposed to th e idea of partition,

accepted th e Moun tbatten Plan for thepartition of India into two dominions

viz., In dia an d Pakista n .

Non-Cooperation Movem ent (192 0-22 )In 1920 the Indian National Congressdecided to lau nch a m ovement a gains t

the Brit ish Governm ent kn own a s th e

Non-Co-operation Movement. Therewere several reason s for it. Th ey can be

su mm arised as follows:Disapp ointment a nd Dissat i sfa c t ion

of the p eople : Du ring th e First World

War (1914-18) the people of India

helped the Brit ish Government with

men an d m oney both. After the war was

over th e people of In dia expected th at

they wou ld a lso get their du e rights a nd

democracy would be in t roduced in

In dia. But wha t th ey got was Dyarchy

wherein th e real powers belonged to the

irrespon sible executive cou n cillors a n dt h e r e s p o n s i b l e m i n i s t e r s w e r e

handicapped by paucity of funds. Not

only th is, before th e war was over the

process of retrenchment in the army

h a d a l r e a d y s t a r t e d . I n o r d e r t o

su ppress the poss ible agitat ion d u e to

the u nem ploymen t to be caused by the

policy of retren chm ent th e Govern men t

int rod u ced t wo Bills viz. Rowla tt Bills

which aimed a t ar resting th e people for

u nlimited period withou t as signing an y

reason and without giving them anyprotect ion of defense through legal

e x p e r t s . T h i s c a u s e d a l o t o f

disappointm ent an d dissatisfaction in

th e min ds of th e people of In dia.

The Tragedy o f Ja l l i anwala Bagh :

When Gand hiji started a cou ntrywide

agitation against the Rowlatt Act, the

people of Punjab organised a public

m e e t i n g a t J a l li a n w a l a B a g h i n

Amr itsar t o su pport Gan dh ijis m ove.

Th e place was enclosed on a ll sides b y

the ba ck walls of th e hou ses. It had on ly

one entran ce gate tha t was s o narrow

tha t no carriage cou ld pas s th rough i t .

The ma rtial law ad ministrator General


23/120


Dyer a llowed th e people to ass emb le at

the place and when i t was packed tofu ll capacity, he a long with a contingent

of hundred Indian and f i f ty Bri t i shso l d i e r s r e a c h e d t h e v e n u e o f t h emeetin g. He order ed th e soldiers to open

fire with out givin g an y warn in g to th ecrowd to disperse. The firing stopped

o n l y w h e n t h e a m m u n i t i o n w a sexha u sted. This ma ssa cre cau sed a lot

of h atr ed in th e mind s of th e people ofIndia.Hunt er Comm itt ee Report : Due to the

p r e s s u r e o f p u b l i c o p i n i o n t h e

G o v e r n m e n t o f I n d i a a p p o i n t e d acommittee, viz. Hunter Committee toinvestigate in to th e J allianwala Bagh

Tragedy. Even before the submissionof the report of this Committee the

G o v e r n m e n t o f I n d i a p a s s e d a nIndemnity Act that absolved all theofficials of any trial an d p u nish men t in

conn ection with th e tragedy. The rep ortof the committee also tried to white-

wash th e condu ct of th e British officers.This cau sed a lot of resentm ent in th e

mind s of the p eople of Ind ia.

K h i l a f a t Q u e s t i o n: T h e S u l t a n o f Tu rkey was r ecognized b y the Mu slims

of Ind ia a s th eir sp iritu al hea d. In th eFirst World War, Turkey had joined

ha nd s with Axis p owers. The Mus limsha d a su spicion th at in cas e of defeato f A x i s p o w e r s T u r k e y c o u l d b edismembered. In order to secure thesupport of the Muslims of India theBrit ish Government h ad a ssu red thatno chan ge wou ld be ma de in th e statu sof th e Kha lifa (th e sp iritua l head of th eMu slim s). But when th e war was over

the British Governm ent did not h onourits pr omise an d dismem bered Tu rkey.Th is cau sed a lot of dissa tisfaction inth e mind s of th e Mu slims of Ind ia.

As a result of the above-mentioned

r e a s o n s , t h e C o n g r e s s d e c i d e d t olaunch a political agitation viz., Non-

co-operation Movement, against theBritish Governm ent. Policies and Programme of Non-co-opera t ion Movement : The a im andobjec t ive of the Non-co-opera t ion

M o v e m e n t w a s t o b o y c o t t a l l t h ep o l i t i c a l , e c o n o m i c a n d s o c i a l

in stitu tions conn ected with th e BritishG o v e r n m e n t i n I n d i a a n d i n s t e a d ,

estab lish par allel na tiona l ins titu tions .S o m e o f t h e m a i n i t e m s o f t h e

program m e are a s follows: (i) su rren derof the titles and honorary offices andres igna t ion of members occupying

nominated seats in local bodies, ( i i)boycot t of governmental and semi-

governmental educational institutionsa n d e s t a b l i sh i n g p a r a l l e l n a t i o n a ledu cation al ins titu tions , (iii) boycott of

election to the new coun cils and r efu sa lby the voters to vote at the elections,

(iv) boycott of foreign goods a n d u se ofswadeshi goods, (v) refusal to attend

official durbars, (vi) boycott of British

courts by lawyers and l i t igants andins tead esta blish Pancha yats to solvethe disputes, (vii) refusal by soldiers,c l e r k s a n d w o r k e r s t o s e r v e i n

Mesopotamia, (viii) popularisation ofChar kh a-plying a nd yarn-sp inn ing, (ix)

promotion of comm u na l ha rmon y an d

(x) th e rem oval of u n tou ch ab ility. P r o g r e s s o f t h e M o v e m e n t: Th e

respon se to the program me of th e Non-

c o o p e r a t i o n M o v e m e n t w a s v e r y

enthusiast ic . Thousands of s tudents

b o y c o t t e d t h e i r e d u c a t i o n a l i n s t i -t u t i o n s . F o r t h e i r b e n e f i t s e v e r a l

na tional edu cational inst i tut ions were

es tab l i shed . Even l awyers o f g rea t


24/120


stan ding and lu crative practice gave up

t h e i r p r o f e s s i o n a n d d e d i c a t e dth ems elves to political work. A n u m ber

of people su rren der ed th eir official titlesan d res ign ed from th e hon orary offices.Boycott of the elections for the newly

consti tuted legislat ive councils wasa l so , to a g rea t ex ten t , successfu l ,

t h o u g h s o m e m o d e r a t e l e a d e r s ,Zamindars and J agirdars contested the

elections . Th e progra m m e of boycott offoreign goods was very popular andpeople organised bonfire of foreign

clothes and garmen ts.

Thou gh the m ovement , by an d large,was p eacefu l, yet a few stra y incident sof violence a lso took place. For ins ta n ce,

the Moplahs in Malabar district tooklaw in their own ha nd s a nd killed n ot

only Europeans but a lso thousa nds of Hind u s. Similarly, wh en t he Prince ofW a l e s l a n d e d i n B o m b a y o n 1 7 t h

N o v e m b e r 1 9 2 1 t h e r e w a s a c l a shbetween the loyalists, wh o tu rned u p

to receive th e Prin ce an d th e boycotterswhich resul ted in br ick-bat t ing and

outbreak of violence . But , violence

reached at i ts zenith in Ch au ri Chau rain U.P. wh en a n excited m ob atta cked

a police ou tpost on Febru ary 5th, 192 2an d k illed a few cons tab les. Gan dh iji,

app rehen ding similar trou bles in oth erpar ts of the country, announced the

suspension of the Movement. Thoughthis cau sed a lot of resentmen t am ongstt h e l e a d e r s a n d w o r k e r s o f t h e

Congress , nothing sub stan tial could bedone in th e matter an d th e Movement

came to an end.

Swarajist PartyThe remova l o f Gandhi j i f rom thepolitical scene because of his arrest,

caused a gap left in the leadership of

the Congress. The failure of the Non-c o - o p e r a t i o n M o v e m e n t c r e a t e d

b i t t e r n e s s i n t h e m i n d s o f t h eCongressmen. There was confusion

an d gloominess. The n ation wanted ac o n c r e t e p r o g r a m m e a n d p o l i t i c a lguidan ce tha t were finally su pplied by

a se t o f l e a d e r s w h o h a d o p p o se dGan dh ijis b oycott of cou n cils. The

Congress wa s s plit in two sections . Onesection was opposed to an y chan ge in

the programme of Non-co-operationwhile the oth er section wan ted to ma ke

a cha nge in it. Their argum ent was th atthe b oycott of the cou ncils was an u tterf a i l u r e . T h e m o d e r a t e s a n d t h e

reactionaries contested the electionsan d occupied seats in the coun cils. As

a resul t , the Congress fa i led in i t sobjective. Th is group , ther efore, wan ted

t o c h a n g e i t s s t r a t e g y . I n s t e a d o f boycott, it want ed to cont est elections ,reach in the coun cils an d obstru ct its

activities from with in. In t h e begin n ingthe no-chan gers dominated th e scene,

but la ter on Gandhi j i gave a green

sign al to th e chan gers on th e cond itiontha t th ey would contest th e election a sa p art of th e Congress organ isa tion. Asa r e s u l t , t h e S w a r a j i s t P a r t y w a s

founded. Principles and Programmes of the

S w a r a ji s t Pa r t y : The p arty wanted tocontest elections, en ter th e cou ncils a nd

non-co-operate with the Governmentfrom within the councils. If the partywou ld get m ajority in th e coun cils th ey

would reject th e Govern m ent Bills, a s aresult of which, the Governors would

be forced to use their extraordinarypowers of certification a n d p u t t h e

r e j e c t e d B i l l s o n s t a t u t o r y b o o k s .


25/120


Similarly, they would reject the bu dget

an d th ereby force the Governors to us eth eir extraordin ar y power ofrestoration

whereby the rejected bu dget would berestored. In this way the party wouldbe able to expose the non-democratic

provisions of the Government of IndiaAct, 1919. In case they would not get

majori ty in the councils they wouldcreate obstructions in the passage of

Bil ls and in the passing of Budgets.They fe l t t ha t a s a re su l t o f the i ra c t i v i t i e s t h e m o d e r a t e s a n d t h e

reactionar ies would fail in th eir m iss ion

to co-operate with t he Govern men t.S u c c e s s a n d W o r k o f S w a r a j i s tParty :Th e Par ty con test ed th e election s

in 1923 an d s ecured clear m ajority inth e Cent ra l Legislat ive Ass em bly an d in

th e Legislat ive Cou n cils of Bengal an dCentra l Provinces. In severa l otherprovinces, although it failed to get a

c lea r ma jor i ty , t hey formed s t rongo p p o s i t i o n g r o u p s . U n d e r t h e

leadership of Moti Lal Nehru and C.R.Das, th e party played a very imp ortant

role in the Councils and the Central

Assembly. The party, in co-operationwith other groups in the Ass embly, was

able to secure the post of presidingofficer of the Central Assembly for

Vitthal Bhai Patel. As a result of theactivities of th e par ty, the Congress men

got a good diversion an d th e Congressrema in ed in th e lime light of people ofIndia.

Simon Commiss ion and i t s Repor t

In th e Governm ent of In dia Act, 191 9,th ere was a provision for th e review of

th e work ing of th e Act after th e lap se often years. The Government, however,appointed a Commission, viz. Simon

Commission, two years earlier tha n the

due time. As all the members of theCommission were English people, the

In dian Nationa l Congres s felt th at it wasan insu l t t o the Ind ian people and

decided to boycott it.T h e C o m m i s s i o n w a s a s k e d t o

e n q u i r e i n t o t h e w o r k i n g o f t h e

Governm ent of Ind ia Act, 1919 an d tofind ou t h ow su ccessfully or oth erwise

t h e d y a r c h y w a s w o r k i n g i n t h eprovin ces. It was a lso to report on th e

f u n c t i o n i n g o f r e p r e s e n t a t i v ei n s t i t u t i o n s a n d w h e t h e r i t w a s

d e s i r a b l e o r n o t t o m a k e f u r t h e rprogress towards a fully responsiblegovernment.

When the Commiss ion l anded inBomb ay on Februar y 7th, 1928 it was

gree ted wi th b lack f l ags and wi ldd e m o n s t r a t i o n s . T h e s a m e w a s

repeated at every place th e Comm iss ionvisited. In view of th e distu rba n ces a llover the coun try, the governm ent m ade

an announcement to the effect tha tcommittees elected by central as wellas provin cial legislatu res wou ld also be

as sociated with th e Comm iss ion. This,however, did n ot s atisfy the p eople.

T h e C o m m i s s i o n s u b m i t t e d i t sr e p o r t i n M a y , 1 9 3 0 . I t s m a i nre-commendat ions were as fol lows:(i) ab olition of dyar ch y an d int rodu ction

o f p r o v i n c i a l a u t o n o m y ; ( i i ) t h eGovern ors an d th e Governor -Generals h o u l d b e g i v e n s p e c i a l p o w e r s

ncert xi indian constitution

Documents