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Round Table Conferences (India)

The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences , organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutio...

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The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences, organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India.[1] These started in November 1930 and ended in December 1932. They were conducted as per the recommendation of Muhammad Ali Jinnah to ViceroyLord Irwin and Prime MinisterRamsay MacDonald,[2][3] and by the report submitted by the Simon Commission in May 1930. Demands for Swaraj or self-rule in India had been growing increasingly strong. B. R. Ambedkar, Jinnah, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, K. T. Paul and Mirabehn were key participants from India. By the 1930s, many British politicians believed that India needed to move towards dominion status. However, there were significant disagreements between the Indian and the British political parties that the Conferences would not resolve. The key topic was about constitution and India which was mainly discussed in that conference. There were three Round Table Conferences from 1930 to 1932.

First Round Table Conference (November 1930 – January 1931)

La Conferencia de la Mesa Redonda fue inaugurada oficialmente por Jorge V el 12 de noviembre de 1930 en la Galería Real de la Cámara de los Lores en Londres [ 2 ] y presidida por el Primer Ministro. Ramsay MacDonald también presidió un subcomité sobre representación de las minorías, mientras que durante su duración su hijo, Malcolm MacDonald , desempeñó funciones de enlace con el comité constitucional de Lord Sankey . [ 4 ] Uno de los principales asesores fue Sir Malcolm Hailey , un funcionario indio con treinta años de experiencia. El principal liberal del comité, Lord Reading, era «muy consciente de los problemas que podrían surgir si la India se independizaba». [ 5 ] Clement Attlee , quien formó parte de la Comisión Simon , deseaba una pronta resolución, pero los conservadores en el gobierno se lo impidieron hasta 1945. Sir Samuel Hoare escribió un memorando al gabinete recomendando una fórmula federal para el Gobierno de la India que «permitiera dar una apariencia de gobierno responsable y, al mismo tiempo, conservar las realidades y verdades del control británico». [ 6 ] La idea fue propuesta por los estados principescos y otros líderes liberales indios, incluido Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, la acogieron con beneplácito. El gobierno laborista minoritario esperaba ganar el apoyo de sus colegas liberales y conservadores en el parlamento para un gobierno indio "receptivo" a nivel central y provincial, y una legislatura conservadora.

Los ocho partidos políticos británicos estuvieron representados por dieciséis delegados. Había cincuenta y ocho líderes políticos de la India británica y dieciséis delegados de los estados principescos. En total, 74 delegados de la India asistieron a la Conferencia. Sin embargo, el Congreso Nacional Indio , junto con líderes empresariales indios, se ausentaron de la conferencia. Muchos de ellos, incluido Gandhi, estaban encarcelados por su participación en el Movimiento de Desobediencia Civil . [ 7 ] Su boicot condenó la conferencia al fracaso. Lord Irwin hizo una declaración controvertida afirmando que a la India se le debería conceder finalmente el dominio. Los conservadores se mostraron indignados: «Toda la conferencia fue manipulada y maniobrada por el Partido Socialista», dijo Sir Winston Churchill, «para lograr el resultado que se habían propuesto desde el principio, a saber, conferir a los indios un gobierno central responsable». [ 8 ]

Participantes

Proceedings

The conference started with six plenary meetings where delegates put forward their issues nine sub-committees were formed to deal with several different matters including federal structure, provincial constitution, province of Sindh and NWFP, defense services and minorities e.t.c.[9] These were followed by discussions on the reports of the sub-committees on Federal Structure, Provincial Constitution, Minorities, Burma, North West Frontier Province, Franchise, Defense services and Sindh. These were followed by 2 more plenary meetings and a final concluding session.[7] It was difficult for progress to be made in the absence of the Indian National Congress but some advances were made. The Prime Minister wrote his diary "India has not considered. It was communalism and proportions of reserved seats" that exposed the worst side of Indian politics.[10]

The idea of an All-India Federation was moved to the centre of discussion by Tej Bahadur Sapru.[11] All the groups attending the conference supported this concept. The princely states agreed to the proposed federation provided that their internal sovereignty was guaranteed. The Muslim League also supported the federation as it had always been opposed to a strong Centre. The British agreed that representative government should be introduced on provincial level.

Second Round Table Conference (September 1931 – December 1931)

After the failure of the First Round Table Conference, the British recognized they needed the participation of the Indian National Congress. On January 26, 1931, Gandhi and other Congress leaders were freed from prison. The resulting discussions culminated in the Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931) under which the Congress agreed to participate in a Second Round Table Conference. Although MacDonald was still Prime Minister of Britain, he was by this time heading a coalition Government (the "National Government") with a Conservative majority, including Sir Samuel Hoare as a new Secretary of State for India.

Participants

Proceedings

The Second Session opened on September 7, 1931. There were three major differences between the first and second Round Table Conferences. By the second:

The Second Round Table Conference (September 7, 1931)
  • Congress Representation — The Gandhi–Irwin Pact opened the way for Congress participation in this conference. Gandhi was invited from India and attended as the sole official Congress representative accompanied by Sarojini Naidu and also Madan Mohan Malaviya, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Mirza Ismail (Diwan of Mysore), S.K. Dutta and Sir Syed Ali Imam. Gandhi claimed that the Congress alone represented political India; that the Untouchables were Hindus and should not be treated as a “minority”; and that there should be no separate electorates or special safeguards for Muslims or other minorities. These claims were rejected by other Indian participants.
  • National Government — two weeks earlier the Labour government in London had fallen. Ramsay MacDonald now headed a National Government dominated by the Conservative Party.
  • Financial Crisis – During the conference, Britain went off the Gold Standard, further distracting the National Government.

At the end of the conference Ramsay MacDonald undertook to produce a Communal Award for minority representation, with the provision that any free agreement between the parties could be substituted for his award.

Gandhi took particular exception to the suggestion of untouchables as a minority separate from the rest of the Hindu community. Other important discussions were the responsibility of the executive to the legislature and a separate electorate for the Untouchables as demanded by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.[12] Gandhi announced that henceforth he would work only on behalf of the Harijans: he reached a compromise with the leader of depressed classes, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, over this issue; the two eventually resolved the situation with the Poona Pact of 1932.[13] But not before the conference of All-India Depressed Classes had specifically 'denounced the claim made by Mahatma Gandhi.'[14]

Third Round Table Conference (November 1932 – December 1932)

The third and last session assembled on November 17, 1932. Only forty-six delegates attended since most of the main political figures of India were not present. The Labour Party from Britain and the Indian National Congress refused to attend.

From September 1931 until March 1933, under the supervision of the Secretary of State for India, Sir Samuel Hoare, the proposed reforms took the form reflected in the Government of India Act 1935.

Participants

Proceedings

Similar to the first two Round Table Conferences, the Third Round Table Conference did not turn out to be fruitful or inclusive.

Conclusion

A Joint Committee was set up and had to present the recommendations as a Bill, which was eventually enacted as the Government of India Act 1935.[15]

Notes

  1. 123456789101112Attended all three conferences

References

  1. ↑Legg, Stephen (2020). "Imperial Internationalism: The Round Table Conference and the Making of India in London, 1930–1932". Humanity. 11 (1): 32–53. doi:10.1353/hum.2020.0006. ISSN 2151-4372.
  2. 12Wolpert, Stanley (2013). Jinnah of Pakistan (15 ed.). Karachi, Pakistan: University Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-19-577389-7.
  3. ↑Wolpert, Stanley (2012). Shameful Flight (1st ed.). Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-19-906606-3.
  4. ↑Ramsay Macdonald, The Awakening of India (1909) advocated progress towards Indian self-government.
  5. ↑MacDonald Papers file 112/1/67, C Sanger, Malcolm MacDonald: End of Empire (1995), p.79.
  6. ↑12 December 1930, Carl Bridge, Holding India to the Empire: the British Conservative Party and the 1935 Constitution (new Delhi: Sterling, 1988). Hoare was in direct correspondence with Viceroy Lord Irwin and Sir Malcolm Hailey, Governor of United Provinces, where Gandhi lived.
  7. 12Indian Round Table Conference Proceedings. Government of India. 1931.
  8. ↑Speech March 1931, Constitutional Club, W S Churchill
  9. 12Prof M. Ikram, Rabbani. Pakistan studies (2nd ed.). Lahore, Pakistan: Caravan Book house. pp. 100–101.
  10. ↑15 December 1930, Macdonald Diary; David Marquand, Ramsay MacDonald (London: Jonathan Cape, 1977)
  11. ↑Menon, V.P. (1957). Transfer of Power in India. Orient Longman Ltd. p. 44. ISBN 9788125008842. Retrieved 2015-05-29.{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  12. ↑"mr Gandhi demanded that as one of the conditions for his accepting their fourteen points, they should oppose the claims of the Depressed Classes, and the smaller minorities." Dr. Ambedkar letter to The Times of India, 12 October 1931.
  13. ↑Collected Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, 51.; Robin J. Moore, The Crisis of Indian Unity 1917–1940, p.289.
  14. ↑C.Keer, Dr Ambedkar: Life and Mission, (1971) p.178–9.
  15. ↑"Round Table Conferences, 1930-1932 | Making Britain".

Further reading

  • Beatty, Michael J.; Behnke, Ralph R.; Banks, Barbara Jane (1979). Elements of dialogic communication in Gandhi's second round table conference address. pp. 386–398.
  • Menon, V. P. (1995). Integration of the Indian States. Orient Longman Ltd.
  • Ball, Stuart, ed. (2014). Conservative Politics in National and Imperial Crisis: Letters from Britain to the Viceroy of India 1926-1931. Ashgate publishing.
  • Mount, Ferdinand (2015). The Tears of the Rajas. London: Simon & Schuster.
  • Nehru, Jawaharlal (1936). Autobiography (2nd, Delhi: OUP, 1980 ed.). London: Bodley Head.
  • Wood, Edward (1932). Indian Problems. London: Allen & Unwin.
  • Golmej Sammelan in Hindi - गोलमेज सम्मलेन (1931-1932)
  • 70th Anniversary of Indian Independence - 1931 Indian Round Table Conference- UK Parliament Living Heritage
  • Essay on Indian Constitutional Round Table Conferences, London 1931–1933