SIMON COMMISSION AND THE NEHRU REPORT Flashcards
The Indian Statutory Commission?
An all white, seven member Indian Statutory Commission, popularly known as the Simon Commission was set up on November 8, 1927.
The Commission was to recommend to the British goverment whether India was ready for further constitutional reforms and along what lines.
The Conservative Secretary of State for India, Lord Birkenhead, who had constantly talked of the inability of Indians to formulate a concrete scheme of constitutional reforms which had the support of wide sections of Indian political opinion, was responsible for the appointment of the Simon Commission.
Congress response to Simon Commission?
The Congress session in Madras (December 1927) meeting under the Presidency of M.A. Ansari decided to boycott the Commission at every stage and in every form. Meanwhile Nehru succeeded in getting a snap resolution passed at the session, declaring complete independence as the goal of the Congress.
Response of groups other than Congress to Simon Commission?
- Those who decided to support the Congress call of boycott of the Simon Commission included the Iiberals of the Hindu Mahasabha and the majority faction of the Muslim League under Jinnah.
- The Muslim league had two sessions in 1927 one under Jinnah at Calcutta where It was decided to oppose the Simon Commission, and another at Lahore under Muhammad Shafi, who supported the government.
- Some others, such as the Unionists in Punjab and the Justice Party in the south, decided not to boycott the commission.
Slogan Simon Go Back was given by?
Yusuf Meherally.
Dr Ambedkar and the Simon Commission?
- Dr Ambedkar was appointed by the Bombay Legislative Council to work with the Simon Commission. In October 1928, Ambedkar went before the commission.
- He argued for ‘universal adult franchise’ for both male and female alike; for provincial autonomy in the provinces and dyrarchy at Centre.
- Significantly, universal adult franchise was at the time yet to be guaranteed in most of European countries.
- The report of the Simon Commission did grant reserved seats to the depressed classes, but the condition was that candidates who would take part in the elections would have, first of all, to, get their competence endorsed by the goveror of the province.
Police repression after Simon Commission?
Jawaharlal Nehru and G.B. Pant were beaten up in Lucknow. Lala Lajpat Rai recieved severe blows on his chest in October 1928 which proved to be fatal and he died on November 17, 1928.
The blows, which fell me on today, are the last nails driven into the coffin of British Imperialism.
Who said this?
Lala Lajpat Rai.
Recommendations of Simon Commission?
- It proposed the abolition of dyarchy and the establishment of representative government in the provinces which should be given autonomy.
- It said that the governor should have discretionary power in relation to internal security and administrative powers to protect the difrerent communities.
- Contains no mention of Dominion status.
- The report rejected parliamentary responsibility at the centre. The governor-general was to have complete power to appoint the members of the cabinet. And the Government of India “ would have complete control over the high court.
- It also recommended that separate communal electorates be retained (and extended such electorates to other communities) but only until tensions between Hindus and Muslims had died down. There was to be no universal franchise.
- It accepted the idea of federalism but not in the near future: it suggested that a Consultative Council of Greater India should be established which should include representatives of both the British provinces as well as princely states.
- It suggested that the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan should get local legislatures, and both NWFP and Baluchistan should have the right to be represented at the centre.
- It recommended that Sindh should be separated from Bombay, and Burma should be separated from India because it was not a natural part of the Indian subcontinent.
- It also suggested that the Indian army should be Indianised though British forces must be retained. India got fully equipped.
Who were the members of the sub committee appointed to draft a constitution (Nehru Report)?
- An All India Parties Conference met in February 1928 and appointed a sub committee under the chairmanship of Motilal Nehru.
- Other members were:-
1. Tej Bahadur Sapru
2. Subhash Bose
3. M.S. Aney
4. Mangal Singh
5. Ali Imam
6. Shuab Qureshi
7. G.R. Pradhan
The report was finalized by August 1928. The recommendations of the Nehru Committee were unanimous except in one respect— while the majority favoured the “Dominion Status” as the basis of the Constitution, a section of it wanted complete independence as the basis.
Main Recommendations of the Nehru Report?
- Dominion status on the lines of self governing dominions.
- Rejection of separate electorates. A demand for joint electorates with reservation of seats for Muslims at the centre and in provinces in which they were in minority (and not in those where Muslims were in majority, such as Punjab and Bengal).
- Linguistic Provinces.
- Nineteen fundamental rights including equal rights for women, right to form unions, and universal adult suffrage.
- Responsible government at the Centre and in provinces.
- the central government to be headed by a governor General, appointed by the British government but paid out of Indian revenues, who would act on the advice of the central executive council responsible to the Parliament.
- Provincial councils to have a 5 year tenure. - Full protection to cultural and religious interests of Muslims.
- Complete dissociation of State from religion.
What were the Delhi proposals of the Muslim League?
- proposals, which were accepted by the Madras session of the Congress (December 1927) came to be known as the Delhi Proposals’, These were:
1. Joint electorates in place of separate electorates with reserved seats for Muslims.
2. One third representation to Muslims in Central legislative Assembly.
3. Representation to Muslims in Punjab and Bengal in proportion to their population.
4. Formation of three new Muslim majority provinces— Sindh, Baluchistan and North- West Frontier Province.
Hindu Mahasabha demands and response to Delhi Proposals?
- The Hindu Mahasabha was vehemently opposed to the proposals for creating new Muslim majority provinces and reservation of seats for Muslims majorities in Punjab and Bengal.
- It also demanded a strictly unitary structure.
What were the concessions made in the Nehru Report to Hindu communalists?
- Joint electorates proposed everywhere but reservation for Muslims only in minority.
- Sindh to be detached from Bombay only after Dominion status was granted and subject to weightage given to Hindu minority in Sindh.
- Political structure proposed broadly unitary, as residual powers rested with the centre.
At the All Parties Conference held at Calcutta in December 1928 to consider the Nehru Report, Jinnah, on behalf of the Muslim League, proposed three amendments to the report: What were the amendments?
- One-third representation to Muslims in the central legislature.
- Reservation to Muslims in Bengal and Punjab legislatures proportionate to their population, till adult suffrage was established.
- Residual powers to provinces.
These demands were not accommodated.
Jinnah’s Fourteen Points?
- Federal Constitution with residual powers to provinces.
- Provincial autonomy.
- No constitutional amendment by the centre without the concurrence of the states constituting the Indian federation.
- All legislatures and elected bodies to have adequate representation of Muslims in every province without reducing a majority of Muslims in a province to a minority or equality.
- Adequate representation to Muslims in the services and in self-governing bodies.
- One-third Muslim representation in the central legislature.
- In any cabinet at the centre or in the provinces, one-third to be Muslims.
- Separate electorates.
- No bill or resolution in any legislature to be passed if three-fourths of a minority community consider such a bill of resolution to be against their interests.
- Any territorial redistribution not to affect, the Muslim majority in Punjab, Bengal and NWFP
- Separation of Sindh from Bombay.
- Constitutional reforms in the NWFP and Baluchistan
- Full religious freedom to all communities.
- Protection of Muslim rights in religion, culture, education and language.
