The Round Table Conferences

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The three Round Table Conferences (1930–32) were convened by the British Government to discuss constitutional reform in India, following the recommendation contained in the Simon Commission’s report, submitted in May 1930. Held against the backdrop of the Civil Disobedience Movement, these conferences brought Congress and non-Congress leaders alike into direct negotiation with the British Government, and their eventual outcome shaped the Government of India Act, 1935.

Even before the Simon Commission’s report, Viceroy Lord Irwin, in October 1929, had announced on behalf of the British Government a vague offer of “dominion status” for India at some unspecified future date, along with a proposed Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution.
Congress leaders were dissatisfied with the limited purpose and scope of this proposed conference — what they actually sought was the convening of a Constituent Assembly.
- An interview between the Viceroy and Gandhiji failed to produce any fruitful agreement.
- The Congress, meeting at Lahore under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, resolved to boycott the Round Table Conference, declared complete independence as the nation’s goal, and authorised the All India Congress Committee to launch a Civil Disobedience Movement, which was actually launched in March 1930.

First Round Table Conference (November 1930 – January 1931)

The conference was formally opened by Lord Irwin on 12 November 1930 in London, and chaired by British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.
- It was the first-ever conference arranged between the British and Indians as equals — though it was boycotted by the Congress.
Nominated representatives of British India and the princely states discussed the need for a federal government of India free of British control.
- With Congress leaders behind bars, the Government nominated “safe” men from other parties, communities, and services to represent British India, alongside figures such as Sir Mirza Ismail, Sir Akbar Hydari, and the Maharaja of Bikaner representing the Indian States.
- The three British political parties were represented by sixteen delegates.
- In total, 89 delegates from India attended — 57 political leaders from British India and 16 delegates from the princely states.
While the Congress and most business leaders boycotted the First RTC, the Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, Liberals, and the princes participated. Many Congress leaders were in jail for their role in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Key members of the British-Indian delegation included:
- Muslims: Aga Khan III, Maulana Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
- Hindus: B.S. Moonje, M.R. Jayakar
- Justice Party: Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar
- Liberals: Tej Bahadur Sapru
- Depressed Classes: B.R. Ambedkar, Rettamalai Srinivasan
- Women: Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, Radhabai Subbarayan
The idea of an All-India Federation moved to the centre of discussion, and was supported by all groups present at the conference.
- The responsibility of the executive to the legislature was discussed, and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar demanded a separate electorate for the Depressed Classes (“Untouchables”).
After extensive discussion, three basic principles were agreed upon by the conference and accepted by the British Government:
1. The new Government of India would take the form of an All-India Federation;
2. The Federal Government, subject to certain reservations, would be responsible to the Federal Legislature; and
3. The Provinces were to enjoy autonomy.
At the conclusion of the conference, Ramsay MacDonald made a significant declaration: “The view of His Majesty’s Government is that responsibility for the Government of India should be placed upon legislatures, Central and Provincial, with such provisions as may be considered necessary… and also with guarantees… required by minorities.”
Virtually every delegate reiterated that a constitutional discussion without Congress participation was meaningless; the Prime Minister also extended an olive branch to the Congress, expressing hope that it would attend the next RTC.
Ultimately, the First Round Table Conference yielded no fruitful result, owing both to the absence of the Congress and to the reluctance of the Conservative-dominated National Government in London to take the federal idea seriously.
The absence of Congress representation prompted the decision to convene a second conference, in the hope that Congress representatives would participate this time.
- Efforts toward this end by Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Sir M.R. Jayakar led to the historic Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

The Gandhi-Irwin Pact

The Government subsequently sought to persuade the Congress to participate in the Second Round Table Conference.
- On 25 January 1931, Gandhi and all other members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) were released unconditionally, and the CWC authorised Gandhi to open discussions with the Viceroy.
- Gandhiji and Lord Irwin met on 19 February 1931, and as a result of these discussions, a pact was signed in Delhi between the Viceroy (representing the British Indian Government) and Gandhi (representing the Indian people).
- This Delhi Pact, also known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, placed the Congress on an equal footing with the Government.
- It was formally endorsed by the Congress at its Karachi Session on 29 March 1931, which also reiterated the goal of Purna Swaraj.
The terms of the pact fell noticeably short of the minimum Gandhi had originally prescribed for a truce, and British officials were outraged at the very idea of negotiating with a party whose stated purpose was the dismantling of the British Raj.
- Winston Churchill publicly voiced his disgust at “the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious fakir, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy’s palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor.”
Conditions proposed by the Congress:
- Discontinuation of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Congress participation in the Round Table Conference.
- Withdrawal of all ordinances curbing Congress activities.
- Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to various offences, except those involving violence.
- Release of prisoners arrested for participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Removal of the salt tax, permitting Indians to legally produce, trade, and sell salt for private use.
Terms accepted by Irwin on behalf of the Government:
- Immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted of violence.
- Remission of all fines not yet collected.
- Return of all lands not yet sold to third parties.
- Lenient treatment for government servants who had resigned.
- The right to make salt in coastal villages for personal consumption (not for sale).
- The right to peaceful, non-aggressive picketing.
- Withdrawal of the emergency ordinances.
The Viceroy, however, rejected two of Gandhi’s demands:
- A public inquiry into police excesses, and
- Commutation of the death sentences of Bhagat Singh and his comrades to life imprisonment.
Gandhi, on behalf of the Congress, agreed to:
1. Suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement, and
2. Participate in the next Round Table Conference on the constitutional question, centred on the three “lynch-pins” of federation, Indian responsibility, and reservations and safeguards deemed necessary in India’s interest — covering areas such as defence, external affairs, the position of minorities, India’s financial credit, and the discharge of other obligations.

Second Round Table Conference (September–December 1931) and the Second Civil Disobedience Movement

The Second Round Table Conference, which the Congress agreed to attend under the terms of the Delhi Pact, was held in London from September to December 1931.
Gandhi participated on the basis of three broad, admittedly vague principles: federation, responsible government, and reservations and safeguards.
Three major differences distinguished the Second RTC from the First:
- Congress representation: The Gandhi-Irwin Pact opened the way for Congress participation. Gandhi attended as the sole official Congress representative, accompanied by Sarojini Naidu, along with Madan Mohan Malaviya, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Mirza Ismail (Diwan of Mysore), S.K. Dutta, and Sir Syed Ali Imam.
  - Gandhi maintained that the Congress alone represented political India; that the Untouchables were Hindus and should not be treated as a separate “minority”; and that there should be no separate electorates or special safeguards for Muslims or other minorities.
- National Government: Two weeks before the conference, the Labour government in London had fallen, and 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.
Little was expected of the conference, for several reasons:
- The British right wing, led by Churchill, strongly objected to negotiating with the Congress on equal terms and instead demanded a strong government in India.
- Prime Minister MacDonald headed a Conservative-dominated cabinet with a weak and reactionary Secretary of State, Samuel Hoare.
- An overwhelming majority of RTC delegates were conservative, loyalist, reactionary, and communal — men whom the colonial government relied upon to argue that the Congress did not represent all Indians and to counter Gandhi’s efforts.
The session soon became deadlocked over the question of minorities: separate electorates were demanded by Muslims, the Depressed Classes, Christians, and Anglo-Indians, who came together in a “Minorities’ Pact.”
- Gandhi fought hard against efforts to make all constitutional progress conditional on resolving this issue.
- The princes grew less enthusiastic about federation, especially once the prospect of a Congress government at the centre had receded following the suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Gandhi was unable to reach agreement with Muslim representatives on the question of representation and safeguards.
- Negotiations at the Minorities Committee broke down entirely over separate electorates — now demanded not only by Muslims, but also by the Depressed Classes, Anglo-Indians, Indian Christians, and Europeans.
- With a Tory ministry coming to power in Britain in September 1931, official British attitudes hardened further.
The session concluded with MacDonald’s announcement of:
1. Two new Muslim-majority provinces — the NWFP and Sindh;
2. The setting up of an Indian Consultative Committee;
3. Three expert committees — on finance, franchise, and states; and
4. The prospect of a unilateral British Communal Award, should Indians fail to reach agreement among themselves.
The Government ultimately failed to concede India’s basic demand for freedom.
- Gandhi returned to India on 28 December 1931, and on 29 December, the CWC decided to resume the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Activity During the Truce Period (March–December 1931)

Certain activities during the truce period kept the spirit of defiance alive:
- In the United Provinces, the Congress led a movement for rent reduction and against summary evictions.
- In the NWFP, severe repression was unleashed against the Khudai Khidmatgars and peasants agitating against brutal tax-collection methods.
- In Bengal, draconian ordinances and mass detentions were deployed in the name of countering terrorism; in September 1931, political prisoners were fired upon in a notorious incident at Hijli Jail.

Changed Government Attitude and Renewed Repression

Senior British officials drew their own lessons from the Delhi Pact, which they felt had raised Congress’s political prestige and public morale while undermining British authority — and they were determined to reverse this trend.
- Three considerations now guided British policy:
  1. Gandhi would not be permitted to build up momentum for another mass movement.
  2. Congress’s goodwill was not essential — but the confidence of loyalists, government functionaries, and other British supporters was.
  3. The national movement would not be allowed to consolidate itself in rural areas.
After the CWC’s decision to resume civil disobedience, the new Viceroy, Willingdon, refused to meet Gandhi on 31 December, and on 4 January 1932, Gandhi was arrested.
Government action that followed amounted to a virtual martial law under civilian control — sometimes termed “Civil Martial Law”:
- Congress organisations at all levels were banned; activists, leaders, and sympathisers were arrested; properties were confiscated; and Gandhi’s ashrams were occupied.
- Repression was particularly harsh on women; the press was gagged and nationalist literature banned.
Popular response was massive despite being largely unprepared — in the first four months alone, about 80,000 satyagrahis, mostly urban and rural poor, were jailed.
- Other forms of protest included picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops, illegal gatherings, non-violent demonstrations, celebration of national days, symbolic hoisting of the national flag, non-payment of chowkidari tax, renewed salt satyagraha, violation of forest laws, and even the installation of a secret radio transmitter near Bombay.
- This phase of the movement coincided with parallel upsurges in two princely states — Kashmir and Alwar.
This renewed phase of civil disobedience, however, could not be sustained for long, because:
1. Gandhi and other leaders had no time to build up momentum, and
2. The masses themselves were not adequately prepared.

Third Round Table Conference (November–December 1932)

The third and final session assembled on 17 November 1932, attended by only 46 delegates, as most of India’s principal political figures were absent.
- Both the Labour Party from Britain and the Indian National Congress refused to attend.
Following the Third RTC, a White Paper was issued in March 1933, detailing the working basis of India’s new constitution — dyarchy at the Centre and responsible government in the provinces.
In February 1935, a Bill was introduced in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for India, Sir Samuel Hoare; upon passage, this became the Government of India Act, 1935.