The Civil Disobedience movement began in 1930 (12 March – 6 April 1930). Mahatma Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement after the British Government failed to respond positively to Gandhi's eleven demands. On March 12, 1930, Gandhi led the famous Dandi March. The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences convened by the British Government and Indian political figures to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These lasted from November 1930 to December 1932. In this article, we will discuss the Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conference, which will be helpful for UPSC exam preparation.

Run up Events Before Civil Disobedience Movement

Calcutta Congress Session (Dec 1928)

• The Nehru Report was approved by the Congress at its Calcutta session in December 1928, but the younger elements led by Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Bose, and Satyamurthy expressed their dissatisfaction with dominion status as Congress's goal.
• Instead, they demanded that the Congress set the goal of purna swaraj, or complete independence.
• The older leaders, such as Gandhi and Motilal Nehru, wished that the dominion status demand not be dropped hastily, as consensus on it had been developed with great difficulty over the years.
• They proposed giving the government a two-year grace period to accept the demand for dominion status. Later, under pressure from the younger generation, this period was reduced to one year.
• Now, the Congress has decided that if the government does not accept a constitution based on dominion status by the end of the year, the Congress will not only demand complete independence, but will also launch a civil disobedience movement to achieve its goal.

Irwin’s Declaration (31st Oct 1929)

• Lord Irwin made his declaration before the Simon Commission report was released.
• It was a joint effort by the Labour government (which was always more sympathetic to Indian aspirations than the Conservatives) and a Conservative viceroy. The declaration's goal was to "restore faith in the ultimate goal of British policy."
• On October 31, 1929, the declaration was made in the form of an official communique published in the Indian Gazette. Irwin's promised dominion status would be unavailable for a long time.
• In reality, the declaration contained nothing new or revolutionary. Lord Irwin also promised a Round Table Conference after the Simon Commission submitted its report.

Delhi Manifesto (Nov 2nd 1929)

• On November 2, 1929, a conference of prominent national leaders issued the 'Delhi Manifesto,' which outlined the conditions for attending the Round Table Conference.
• They sought assurances from the viceroy that the round table conference's purpose was to draft a constitutional scheme for dominion status. That was not the purpose of the conference, according to Irwin.
• Viceroy Irwin rejected the demands outlined in the Delhi Manifesto. The confrontation was about to start.

Lahore Congress Session (Dec 1929)

• Jawaharlal Nehru, who had done more than anyone else to popularise the concept of purna swaraj, was nominated as president of the Congress for the Lahore session (December 1929), primarily because of Gandhi's support.
• Nehru was chosen for the occasion to recognise the surge of youth that had made the anti-Simon campaign a huge success.
• The following major decisions were made during the Lahore session:
  • The Round Table Conference was to be boycotted.
  • The Congress declared total independence as its goal.
  • The Congress Working Committee was authorised to launch a campaign of civil disobedience, including nonpayment of taxes, and all members of legislatures were asked to resign their seats.
  • January 26, 1930, was designated as the first Independence (Swarajya) Day, which was to be observed worldwide.

Civil Disobedience Movement

• Background
  • To carry out the mandate given by the Lahore Congress, Gandhi presented the government with 11 demands and gave a deadline of January 31, 1930 to accept or reject these demands.
  • With no positive response from the government to these demands, Gandhi was given full authority to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement at a time and place of his choosing by the Congress Working Committee.
  • By the end of February, Gandhi had decided to make salt the movement's central formula.
  • The celebration of Independence Day in 1930 was followed by the launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement, led by Gandhi.
• Features
  • The Civil Disobedience Movement began with Gandhi's well-known Dandi March.
  • On March 12, 1930, Gandhi set out on foot from Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Ashram with 78 other Ashram members for Dandi, a village on India's western seacoast about 385 kilometres from Ahmadabad.
  • On April 6, 1930, they arrived in Dandi. Gandhi violated the salt law there. Following the defiance of the salt law, the Civil Disobedience Movement spread across the country.
  • Because salt was a government monopoly, it was illegal for anyone to produce it.
  • Gandhi defied the government by picking up a handful of salt that had formed as a result of sea evaporation.
  • During the first phase of the civil disobedience movement, salt production spread across the country and became a symbol of the people's defiance of the government.
• Causes
  • The unrest in social and political situations aided in the formation of the civil disobedience movement.
  • Simon commission, which was formed by the British government in 1927 to formalise India's constitution and was entirely composed of British members, was rejected by the Indian National Congress and other political and social organisations and was dubbed the all white commission.
  • In 1928, a new constitution was drafted in Calcutta by a committee led by Motilal Nehru. The INC demanded that the British government accept Nehru’s Report in 1928.
  • The main theme of the report was to give India Dominion Status. It warned and blackmailed the British government that if they did not accept the report, they would be threatened and a civil disobedience movement would be launched.
  • The main goal of the constitutional reform, according to the Governor General of India, Lord Irwin, was to Grant India dominion status.
  • Following the declaration, Gandhi and other leaders proposed a round table conference to resolve the constitutional crisis, and when the British government did not respond positively to any of their demands, the civil disobedience movement was launched.

Parallel Events with Civil Disobedience Movement

Dandi March (March-April 1930)

• Gandhi informed the viceroy of his plan of action on March 2, 1930. According to this plan, Gandhi would march for 240 miles from his headquarters in Ahmedabad through Gujarat villages.
• The salt law was to be broken upon reaching the coast at Dandi by collecting salt from the beach.
• The historic march, which marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement, began on March 12, and Gandhi broke the salt law on April 6 by picking up a lump of salt at Dandi.
• The law violation was interpreted as a symbol of the Indian people's determination not to live under British-made laws, and thus under British rule.
• Gandhi openly encouraged people to make salt from seawater in their homes, thus breaking the salt law. Newspapers extensively covered the march, its progress, and its impact on the people.
• In response to Gandhi's appeal, 300 village officials resigned in Gujarat. Workers for the Congress were involved in grass-roots organisational tasks.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Dandi March (1930)

Satyagraha at Different Places

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Satyagraha at Different Places

First Round Table Conference (Nov, 1930)

• The First Round Table Conference was the first of three such conferences organized by the British government between 1930 and 1932 to discuss constitutional reforms in India.
• These conferences were held in accordance with the Simon Commission's report from 1930.
• The British King George V officially inaugurated the First Round Table Conference on November 12, 1930, at the House of Lords in London, and it was chaired by the then-British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.
• This was the first time the British and Indians met as equals.
• The Congress and some prominent business leaders declined to attend, but many other Indian groups were present.
• It was attended by the Princely States, the Muslim League, the Justice Party, the Hindu Mahasabha, and others.
• The conference resulted in little progress. The British government recognised that the Indian National Congress's participation was required in any discussion about India's future constitutional government.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link First Round Table Conference (Nov 1930 - Jan 1931)

Gandhi-Irwin Pact (14th Feb, 1931)

• Gandhi and the other members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) were released unconditionally on January 25, 1931. Gandhi was given permission by the CWC to begin talks with the viceroy.
• As a result of these discussions, on February 14, 1931, a pact was signed in Delhi between the viceroy, representing the British Indian Government, and Gandhi, representing the Indian people.
• The Delhi Pact, also known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, equalised the Congress and the government.
• The pact firmly established the Indian National Congress as a party with the support of millions of Indian nationals.
• The pact paved the way for the Government of India Act 1935, which softened the diarchy system and allowed a greater number of Indian representatives to enter the two houses of the centre legislature.
• Following the successful softening of diarchy in 1935, elections in Indian provinces in 1937 transferred power to elected Indian members.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Gandhi-Irwin Pact (1931)

Karachi Congress Session (March 1931)

• A special session of the Congress was held in Karachi in March 1931 to endorse the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were executed six days before the session (on March 29).
• The Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha met Gandhi on his way to Karachi with black flag demonstrations in protest of his failure to secure a commutation of the death sentence for Bhagat and his comrades.

Second Round Table Conference (Sep 7-Dec 1931)

• On September 7, 1931, the second session of the conference convened in London.
• The conference's main task was accomplished through the two committees on federal structure and minorities.
• To address the ineffectiveness of the First Round Table Conference, the Second Round Table Conference was held in London from September 7th to December 1st, 1931, with the active participation of Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, who were specially invited for the Conference.
• Apart from the Congress, there were a large number of Indian participants. The princely states, Muslims, Hindu groups, Liberals, Justice Party, Sikhs, Parsis, and Indian Christians.
• At the conference, Gandhi (and thus the Congress) claimed to speak for all Indians against imperialism. The other delegates, however, did not agree.
• Because of the large number of groups that participated, the British government claimed that the Congress did not represent the interests of all of India.
• Gandhi emphasised the importance of a partnership between Britain and India based on equality.
• He demanded the immediate establishment of a responsible government at the national and provincial levels.
• He rejected the idea of a separate electorate for untouchables, claiming that they were Hindus and thus should not be treated as a minority.
• He also stated that separate electorates or special safeguards for Muslims or other minorities were unnecessary. Many of the other delegates were opposed to Gandhi.
• The session quickly came to a halt over the issue of minorities. Separate electorates were demanded by Muslims, the poor, Christians, and Anglo-Indians. All of this culminated in the 'Minorities' Pact.'
• Gandhi fought valiantly against this concerted effort to tie all constitutional progress to the resolution of this issue.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Second Round Table Conference (Sep 7-Dec 1931)

Communal Award (August 16, 1932)

• On August 16, 1932, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award. It is also known as the 'McDonald Award’.
• Based on the findings of the Indian Franchise Committee (also known as the Lothian Committee), the Communal Award established separate electorates and reserved seats for minorities, including the depressed classes, who were granted 78 reserved seats.
• Thus, for some seats in Bombay, this award provided separate electorates for Muslims, Europeans, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, depressed classes, and even Marathas.
• The award was viewed as another manifestation of the British policy of divide and rule by national leaders led by the Congress.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Communal Award (1932)

Poona Pact (Sep 24, 1932)

• The Poona pact was signed on September 24, 1932, at the Yerwada Central Jail in Pune by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi.
• The agreement is highlighted by the government as an amendment to the Communal Award.
• The pact represents a solution derived by combining two opposing ideologies (Ambedkar's Political Approach and Gandhi's Social Approach), with the goal of achieving a common goal for the upliftment of one of India's most vulnerable sections of society.
• The Poona Pact, signed by B.R. Ambedkar on behalf of the oppressed classes on September 24, 1932, rejected the idea of separate electorates for the oppressed classes.
• However, the number of seats reserved for the poor was increased from 71 to 147 in provincial legislatures and to 18% of the total in the Central Legislature.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Poona Pact (1932)

Third Round Table Conference (Nov 17-Dec 24, 1932)

• The third Round Table Conference was held on November 17, 1932, and lasted until December 24, 1932.
• The Indian National Congress and Gandhi did not attend the third Round Table Conference and neither did many Indian leaders.
• It was impossible to reach a conclusion without the presence and participation of Congress leaders.
• One of the primary reasons for Congress's absence was that too many of its leaders were once again imprisoned, this time for continuing the Civil Disobedience Movement, undertaking salt Satyagraha.
• Delegates were sent by the Indian states. Aga Khan III, B.R. Ambedkar, Muhammad Iqbal, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, and Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas were among the other Indian representatives.
• As with the previous two conferences, little was accomplished. In March 1933, the recommendations were published in a White Paper and debated in the British Parliament.
• A Joint Select Committee was formed to examine the recommendations and drafted a new Act for India, and the committee produced a draft Bill in February 1935, which became the Government of India Act of 1935 in July 1935.

*For detailed notes of this topic, check this link Third Round Table Conference (Nov 17-Dec 24, 1932)

Gandhi’s Harijan Campaign 1932

• Determined to undo the divisive intentions of the government's divide and rule policy, Gandhi abandoned all other interests and launched a frenzied campaign against untouchability—first from prison and then, after his release in August 1933, from outside jail.
• While imprisoned, he established the All India Anti-Untouchability League in September 1932 and the weekly Harijan in January 1933.
• After his release, he moved to the Satyagraha Ashram in Wardha, vowing not to return to the Sabarmati Ashram until swaraj was won.
• Beginning in Wardha, he conducted a Harijan tour of the country from November 1933 to July 1934, covering 20,000 km while collecting funds for his newly formed Harijan Sevak Sangh and propagating the abolition of untouchability in all its forms.
• He urged political activists to visit villages and work for the Harijans' social, economic, political, and cultural advancement.
• Gandhi was attacked by orthodox and reactionary elements throughout his campaign. These individuals disrupted his meetings, held black flag protests against him, and accused him of attacking Hinduism.

Extent of Mass Participation

• Women - Gandhi had specifically requested that women take the lead in the movement. They quickly became a familiar sight, picketing outside liquor stores, opium dens, and shops selling foreign cloth.
  • For Indian women, the movement was a liberating experience that truly marked their entry into the public sphere.
• Students - Along with women, students and youth played a significant role in the boycott of foreign clothing and liquor.
• Muslims - Muslim participation was nowhere near the 1920-22 level due to appeals from Muslim leaders to stay away from the movement and active government encouragement of communal discord.
  • Nonetheless, some areas, such as the NWFP, saw a high level of participation. Middle-class Muslim participation was high in Senhatta, Tripura, Gaibandha, Bagura, and Noakhali.
  • Muslim leaders, shopkeepers, lower-class people, and upper-class women were all active in Dacca. The Muslim weaving community in Bihar, Delhi, and Lucknow was also effectively mobilised.
• Merchants and petty traders - Traders' associations and commercial bodies were active in carrying out the boycott, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
• Tribals - Tribals were active participants in the Central Provinces, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.
• Workers - Workers from Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, and Sholapur took part.
• Peasants - Peasants were active in the United Provinces, Bihar, and Gujarat.

Conclusion

Following the withdrawal of the Civil Disobedience Movement, there was a two-stage debate on the nationalists' future strategy: the first stage was on what course the national movement should take in the immediate future, i.e., during the non-mass struggle (1934-35); and the second stage, in 1937, considered the issue of office acceptance in the context of provincial elections held under the autonomy provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935.