TOPIC 6.5 INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT 1935 TO 1947
Government of India Act, 1935
The discussion of the Third Round Table conference and Simon Commission report eventually led to the passing of the Government of India Act of 1935. The act provided for the establishment of an All India Federation and a new system of government for the Provinces on the basis of provincial autonomy.
It abolished the Council of India, established by the Government of India Act, 1858.
The act provided for a Federal Court and a Federal Bank.
The Congress rejected the 1935 Act and demanded the convening of a constitutional assembly elected on the basis of adult franchise to frame a Constitution for independent India.
Second World War
Lord Lithgow declared India to be at war without the prior assent of the Central Legislature The Congress Ministry resigned in the wake of the war.
Congress agreed to support Britain only in return for independence being granted. The viceroy could promise this only after the war. In October-November 1939, the Congress Ministries resigned in protest. The Muslim League observed this as the Deliverance Day (22nd December. 1939). The Satyagraha was kept limited so as not to embarrass Britain’s war effort by a mass upheaval in India.
The viceroy refused to accept preconditions set by the Congress. (Constituent Assembly for establishment of Responsible Government at the Centre). But, the British Government desperately wanted the active cooperation of Indians in the war effort. To secure this cooperation it sent to India in March, 1942, a mission headed by a Cabinet Minister Sir Stafford Cripps and before that the August Offer.
August Offer (1940)
The Viceroy Linlithgow put forward a proposal that included
Dominion status in the unspecified future
A post war body to enact the Constitution.
Expansion of the Governor General's council with representation of the minorities.
Establishment of a War Advisory Council.
Congress rejected this offer as there was no suggestion for a National Government. Muslim League accepted it.
Individual Satyagraha
Congress rejected the August offer because Congress was convinced that the British would not modify their policy in India. Gandhi decided to start the Individual Satyagraha in September 1940.
Vinoba Bhave was the first to offer Individual Satyagraha, followed by Jawaharlal Nehru and Brahmna Dutt.
Delhi Chub Movement began.
Quit India Movement, 1942
The All India Congress Committee met at Bombay on 8th August, 1942. It passed the famous Quit India resolution and proposed to start off a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhi’s leadership.
It is also called the Wardha proposal and leaderless revolt.
Gandhi told the British to quit and leave India in God’s hand. His message was Do or Die.
Repressive policy of the government and indiscriminate arrest of the leaders provoked people to violence.
Nehru was lodged in Almora jail, Maulana Azad in Bankura and Gandhi was kept in Aga Khan’s palace, Poona. In many areas, the government lost control and the people established Swaraj. Parallel governments were established.
In Satara, Pratisarkar was set up under Nana Patil and in Baliva under Chittu Pande. Others were in Talcher and Bihar. In Bengal, Tamluk Jatiya Sarkar functioned in Midnapore.
Underground revolutionary activity also started by Jaipraka.sh Narain and Ramanandan Mlshra escaped from Hazaribagh Jail and organised an underground movement.
In Bombay, the socialist leaders continued their underground activities under leaders like Aruna Asaf All. Congress radio was established with Usha Mehta as its announcer and Rammanohar Lohia in Bihar.
School and college students and women actively participated. Workers went on strikes. There were no communal clashes during the movement.
The merchant community and capitalist did not participate. Muslim League kept aloof and the Hindu Mahasabha condemned the movement. Communist party did not support the movement. Rajagopalachari also did not participate.
Demand for Pakistan
In 1930, Md Iqbal for the first time suggested that the Frontier Province, Sind, Balochistan and Kashmir be made a Muslim state within the federation.
Chaudharv Rehmat Ali coined the term 'Pakistan' (later Pakistan).
The fear of Muslims to be subjugated by Hindus in free India was realised by Jinnah and he demanded for the creation of Pakistan.
Pakistan Resolution Muslim League first passed the proposal of Separate Pakistan in its Lahore Session in 1940 (called Jinnah’s Two-Nation theory). It was drafted by Sikandar Hayat Khan, moved by Fazlul Haq and seconded by Khaliquzzaman. It rejected the federal scheme envisaged in the Government of India Act, 1935. In December 1943, the Karachi Session of the Muslim League adopted the slogan—Divide and Quit’.
Rajagopalachari Formula (1944)
Also known as Rajaji formula (1944) Rajagopalachari proposed that a commission could be appointed for demarcating districts in the North-West and East, where Muslims were in absolute majority. Plebiscite would be held on the basis of adult suffrage that would ultimately decide the issue of separation from Hindustan.
If the majority decides in favour of forming a separate sovereign state then such could be accepted.
Jinnah objected to this as he wanted Congress to accept the two-nation theory and wanted only Muslims of the North-West and East to vote in the plebiscite.
The Desai-Liaquat Pact reached no settlement between the league and Congress.
Shimla Conference or Wavell Plan (1945)
Proposed by Lord Wavell.
Suggested to set up a new executive council with only Indian members. The viceroy and commander in chief would be the only non-Indian members of the council.
It would work under the existing Constitution. But the door was open for discussion of the new Constitution.
Hindus and Muslims would have equal representation. Jinnah demanded the Muslim League to have absolute choice by choosing the Muslim members, so he rejected the plan.
The Indian National Army
The idea of Indian National Army (INA) was first conceived in Malaya by Mohan Singh, an Indian officer of the British Indian Army.
The Japanese handed over the Indian prisoners of war to Mohan Singh, who tried to recruit them into an Indian National Army. By the end of 1942, 40000 men were ready to join the INA. The outbreak of the Quit India Movement gave a fillip to the INA.
In March, 1942, a conference of India was held in Tokyo and the Indian Independence League was formed. At the Bangkok Conference, Ras Bihari Bose was elected as President of the league.
Subhash Bose escaped to Berlin in 1941 and set-up the Indian League there.
In 1943, he arrived in Singapore. Earlier, he had left the Congress after having differences with Gandhi and formed the Forward Bloc in 1939.
In Singapore, he was assisted by Ras Bihari Bose. In October, 1943, he set up a provisional Indian Government with headquarters at Rangoon and Singapore.
The Cabinet Mission (1946)
The Attlee Government announced in February 1946, the decision to send a high powered mission of three British Cabinet members (Patrick Lawrence, secretary of state for India, Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade and AV Mexander, first Lord of Admiralty) to India to find out ways and means for a negotiated and peaceful transfer of power to India.
The British bid for a united and friendly India and they rejected the demand for a full-fledged Pakistan.
The Congress demanded that power should be transferred to one centre and that minorities' demands would be worked out only after the British left the country. Congress and league differed on the issue of the nature of grouping. Congress wanted the grouping to be optional till the formation of Constituent Assembly, but Jmnah was in the favour of compulsory grouping.
Attlee’s Statement (20th February, 1947)
A deadline of 30th June, 1948 was fixed for transfer of power, even if the Indian politicians had not agreed by that time on the Constitution.
British power and obligations vis-a-vis the princely states would lapse with transfer of power but these would not be given to any successor government.
Mountbatten was to replace Wavell as the Viceroy.
Partition of the country was implicit in the provision that if the Constituent Assembly was not fully representative, then power would be transferred to more than one Central Government.
Mountbatten Plan (3rd June, 1947)
As Viceroy, Mountbatten proved more decisive and quick in taking decisions than his predecessors.
His task was to explore the option of unity or division till October, 1947 and then advise the British Government on the form of transfer of power.
3rd June Plan In case of partition, two dominions and two Constituent Assemblies would be created. The plan declared that power would be handed over by 15th August, 1947.
The referendum in NWFP decided in favour of Pakistan.
Princely states were given the option to join either of the two dominions or remain independent.
Boundary Commission was to be set up if partition was affected.
Mountbatten’s formula was to divide India, but retain maximum unity.
Punjab and Bengal Assemblies would meet in two groups, Hindus and Muslims, to vote for partition.
The Legislative Assemblies of Punjab and Bengal decided in favour of partition of these two provinces. Thus, East Bengal and West Punjab joined Pakistan. West Bengal and East Punjab remained with India. Referendum in Sylhet resulted in the incorporation of that district in East Bengal.
Indian Independence Act, 1947
At the time of the British withdrawal, 565 princely states were officially recognised in the Indian subcontinent, apart from thousands of zamindari estates and jagirs.
In 1947, princely states covered 40% of the area of pre-independence India and constituted 23% of its population.
The most important states had their own British political residencies: Hyderabad of the Nizams, Mysore and Travancore in the South, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim in the Himalayas, and Indore in Central India
