Indian Subcontinent

in the 1930s
Serial No.
Table Content
of Contents Page Number
1 Introduction 3
2 The Round Table Conferences, 1930-32 4-6
3 The Communal Award, 1932 7
4 ‘Now Or Never’ By Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, 1933 8
5 The Government Of India Act, 1935 9
6 The Election Of 1937 10
7 The Wardha Scheme, 1937 11
8 The Reorganization Of The Muslim League, 1937-39 12
9 The Pirpur Report, 1938 13
10 The Day Of Deliverance, 1939 14

2
 Introduction
• From 1930s onwards, the British Government was losing patience with the
Congress and Muslim League as both continued to reject their proposals for a
constitutional settlement. They decided to call all the representatives of the
parties and princely states to London for consultations for a constitutional
proposal. In the three Round Table Conferences held in London (1930-32),
Indian leaders were asked to come to an agreement on a future constitution
for India.

3
 The First Round Table Conference, 1930
• When the first Round Table Conference took place in 1930, the Congress
Party was absent because Mr Gandhi and other Congress members were in
jail. The Conference successfully agreed that India must be given dominion
status and participation of Indians in the government of British India. The
Conference also recognized that the rights of the minority communities
should be safeguarded.

4
The Second Round Table Conference, 1931
• For participation in the second Round Table Conference in 1931, Mr Gandhi
and other members of the Congress were released from jail under the Gandhi-
Irwin Pact. In the Conference, Mr Gandhi represented the Congress; Allama
Iqbal, the Aga Khan and Mr Jinnah represented the Muslim League; Master
Tara Singh represented the Sikhs, and Dr Ambedkar the Untouchables. The
issue was the suitability of separate electorates but Mr Gandhi’s stubborn
attitude in rejecting other parties and insisting that only Congress represented
all of India led to the failure of the Conference in coming to an agreement on
constitutional matters.

5
The Third Round Table Conference, 1932
• The third Round Table Conference in 1932 was poorly attended as there were
hardly any delegates. Mr Gandhi and Mr Jinnah did not attend and
representatives of the Labour Party were not there either. The conference
produced no results.
• The British government decided to work with those parties who were willing,
and on his return from London, Mr Gandhi and Congress members were
jailed again.

6
 The Communal Award, 1932
• Right after the Round Table Conferences were over, the Prime Minister of
Britain, Ramsay MacDonald, announced the Communal Award in August
1932. This meant that all minority communities in India—Untouchables—
would be given separate electorates in a future constitution. However, the
Award was not popular with the Hindus who did not accept the Untouchables
as a separate minority; and Muslims were not happy because it reduced their
majority in Punjab and Bengal to a minority. Yet they were ready to accept it.

7
 ‘Now Or Never’ By Chaudhry Rehmat
Ali,1933
• In January 1933, four students studying at Cambridge University in Britain
led by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali brought out a pamphlet titled ‘Now or Never’.
In the pamphlet, he said that the time had come to demand a separate Muslim
state called Pakistan. The time was now or it may never happen.
• He had come up with a name for this state and gave an explanation of it:
‘Pakistan is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It means the lands of the ‘Pak’,
the spiritually pure and clean. It is composed of the letters of all our
homelands i.e. Punjab, Afghania (NWFP), Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan.
When the word is written in Urdu the I is not used in the Urdu alphabet.’

8
 The Government Of India Act, 1935
• The Labour Prime Minister of Britain, Stanley Baldwin, was ready now to give
as much self-government to the Indians as possible. There were many among
the cabinet such as Winston Churchill who still felt that the Indians were not
ready for it. However, the bill was put through the House of Commons and
became law in 1935.
• The Congress rejected the Act because it did not give Swaraj or self-rule to
Indians and the British were still in control at the federal level. The Muslim
League also rejected the Act because it did not give enough autonomy to the
Muslims to run their own affairs in the provinces. The Muslim League also felt
that in the Hindu majority provinces, Muslims might not be treated fairly and
justly.
9
 The Election Of 1937
• In the elections, the federal part of the 1935 Act was not put into practice. The
elections were won by the Congress Party. It had total majority in seven out
of eleven provinces and formed governments in both Muslim majority and
Muslim minority provinces. For the first time under British rule, Indians
gained full authority to run the provincial governments as they wished. This
put a lot of power in the hands of the Congress politicians who focused on a
programme of Hindu Raj, which meant that Muslims needed to safeguard
their culture and traditions.

10
 The Wardha Scheme, 1937
• Congress rule (1937-39) brought in the Wardha education scheme which focused
on Hindu religion and culture in schools.
1. All children had to sing Bande Mataram as the anthem and bow to the portrait of
Gandhi which Muslim religious teachings disallowed.
2. The Vidya Mandir scheme was introduced in Central Provinces at the primary level of
schooling; it encouraged the use of Hindi as the medium of instruction.
3. The Congress flag was hoisted on public buildings and policies were adopted which
harmed the interests of the Muslim landowners.
4. In Bihar, cow slaughter was banned.

11
The Reorganization Of The Muslim League, 1937-
39
• Mr Jinnah turned the oppressive Congress rule to his advantage and began a
mass campaign to take his message to the Muslims of India. Not only
ordinary Muslims but landowners too had suffered under the rule of Congress
ministries. Mr Jinnah personally led the campaign and was able to unite all
Muslim parties under the Muslim League flag. He came to symbolize the
Muslims’ dreams and hopes for a distinct identity. Mr Jinnah’s popularity as a
leader gave him the title of ‘Quaid-e-Azam’ or Great Leader. The next year,
1940, the Lahore Resolution would demand Pakistan as a separate state
within India.

12
 The Pirpur Report, 1938
• The Muslim League appointed a committee under Raja Muhammad Mehdi of
Pirpur to record the injustices done to the Muslims under Congress rule. The
Pirpur Committee Report of 1938 listed all the measures that were unfair for
the Muslim community under Congress rule.
• Around the same time, two other reports were also written—one was the
Sharif Report (1939) and the second titled ‘Muslim Suffering under Congress
Rule’ by Mr Fazl-ul-Haq.

13
 The Day Of Deliverance, 1939
• In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany and the Second World War began.
The Congress Ministries resigned as they had not been consulted when the
decision was made to include India in the war. At the resignation of the
Congress ministries, Mr Jinnah declared a ‘Day of Deliverance’ from the
tyrannical rule of the Congress under which the Muslim minorities had
suffered.

14
Thank You For
Your Kind
Attention
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