Swaraj Party and Simon commission -part 12

Swaraj Party

  • The suspension of the non- cooperative movement led to a split within congress in the Gaya session of the congress in December 1922.
  • Leaders like Motilal Nehru and Chittranjan Das formed a separate group within the congress known as Swaraj party on 1 January 1923.
  • The Swarajists wanted to contest the council elections and wreck the government from within.
  • Elections to Legislative councils were held in November 1923.
  • In this, the Swaraj party gained impressive successes.
  • In the central legislative council Motilal Nehru became the leader of the party whereas in Bengal the party was headed by C.R.Das.
  • The Swaraj party did several significant things in the Legislative council.
  • It demanded the setting up of responsible government in India with the necessary changes in the government of India act of 1919.
  • The party could pass important resolutions against the repressive laws of the government.
  • When a committee chaired by the Home member, Alexander Muddiman considered the system of Dyarchy as proper, a resolution was passes against it in the central legislative council.
  • After the passing away of C.R.Das in June 1925, the Swaraj party started weakening.

Simon commission (1927)

  • The Act of 1919 included a provision for its review after a lapse of ten years.
  • However, the review commission was appointed by the British government two years earlier of its schedule in 1927.
  • It came to be known as Simon commission after the name of its chairman, Sir Joh Simon.
  • All its seven members were Englishmen.
  • As there was no Indian member in it, the commission faced a lot of criticism even before its landing in India.
  • Almost all the political parties including the congress decided to oppose the commission.
  • On the fateful day of 3 February 1928 when the commission reached Bombay, a general hartal was observed all over the country.
  • Everywhere it was greeted with black flags and the cries of ‘Simon go back’.
  • At Lahore, the students took out a large anti- Simon commission demonstration on 30 October 1928 under the leadership of Lala Lajput Rai.
  • In this demonstration, Lala Lajput Rai was seriously injured in the police lathi charge and he passes away after one month.
  • The report of the Simon commission was published in May 1930.
  • It was stated that the constitutional experiment with Dyarchy was unsuccessful and in its place the export recommended the establishment of autonomous government.
  • There is no doubt that the Simon commission’s report became the basis for enacting the government of India Act of 1935.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *