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Nationalism and Independence in India, c. 1900-47

The Morley-Minto Reforms 1909

The reforms were brought about by the Secretary of State for India, John Morley, and the Viceroy Lord Minto. They were intended to give greater representation to Indian interests

•The Morley-Minto Reforms were the popular name for the Indian Councils Act of 1909

Why were the reforms introduced?

•In 1905 there had been an outbreak of violence in India after the province of Bengal had been divided into two by the Viceroy Lord Curzon There was a massive petition and boycotts of British goods

•In 1906 Congress demanded Home Rule for the first time

•John Morley was a member of the Liberal governments from 1906 to 1914. The Liberals were ready to make changes in India while the Conservatives had not been

•Lord Minto wanted to stamp out the extremism that had erupted after the division of Bengal and had been the subject of an assassination attempt in early 1909.

How did the Morley-Minto reforms change the government of India?

•The number of members of the Imperial Legislative Council was increased to 60 and 27 were to be elected.

•Indians were allowed to sit on the Imperial Legislative Council for the first time.

•Direct elections for seats on provincial legislative councils were introduced. Some now had a majority of elected .members. This gave Indians a much greater voice in Provincial governments.

•Muslim organisations campaigned for special representation of Muslim interests, which led to separate representation for Muslims and other minority groups.

•There were six Muslim representatives on the Imperial Legislative Council, as well as others on some provincial councils. This was the first time that specific representation was given to ‘communal’ or religious groups.

Why were the Morley-Minto reforms criticised?

•They did not give Indians real influence in administration.

•They tended to divide Hindus and Muslims by treating them as separate communities.

•They established the principle of communalism in Indian politics. That is the treating of different religious groups as different political groups.

•Very few Indians could actually vote.

I.

In what ways was the situation in India changed by the First World War?

•There was widespread support for Britain during the war. 1,250,000 Indian volunteers fought in the British army, in the Middle East and on the Western Front. The first Indian division arrived in France in October 1914 and took up position at Ypres.

•In 1915 Mohandas Gandhi arrived back in India from South Africa. He supported the war against Germany and believed that it would lead to Home Rule. Many Indians shared this belief.

•In 1915 the Defence of India Act suspended civil liberties for the duration of the war.

•During the war demand for Indian cotton and other raw materials rose rapidly bringing increased prosperity.

•In 1917 there were outbreaks of violence in the Punjab, which grew worse in 1918 and 1919. These were in response to the failure of the British government to make any statements about Home Rule.

•At the end of the war 13,000,000 Indians died in the world-wide epidemic of Spanish Influenza.

•In 1919 the demand for Indian raw materials fell and prosperity disappeared.

What happened in India after the First World War?

•In April 1918 the Secretary of State for India, E. S. Montagu, and the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford produced a report suggesting reforms of the Indian government.

•The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms were announced in August 1918 and were eventually put into practice by the Government of India Act in December 1919.

•The Reforms were welcomed by many Indians, but also opposed by others who were expecting complete home rule.

•But before the Act was passed, much of the good work promised by the reforms was undermined by events elsewhere.

•In an effort to put down the terrorist outbreaks in the Punjab, the Rowlatt Acts were passed in March 1919.

The Rowlatt Acts

•The Acts extended the Defence of India Act into peacetime.

•They enabled the government of India to arrest and intern troublemakers without trial and allowed judges to try offenders without a jury.

•This was opposed by all the Indian members of the Imperial Legislative Council.

Why were the Rowlatt Acts important?

•They came at a time, just after the end of the First World War, when many Indians were expecting some form of self-government.

•Hopes had been raised and then dashed by the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, which had been announced in August 1918.

•The Rowlatt Acts suggested that the British Government had no intention of relaxing its grip on India.

•When the Acts were passed, Bal Tilak, the leader of the Indian National Congress, was in London. This allowed Mohandas Gandhi to emerge as the real leader of Congress. Tilak died in 1920, leaving Gandhi unchallenged.

•Gandhi announced a hartal, a day of fasting and stoppage of work, and this in turn led to widespread protests and rioting, which culminated in the Amritsar Massacre.

What caused the Amritsar Massacre?

The Amritsar Massacre took place on 13 April 1919. It followed a period of unrest in India brought on by the failure of the British to offer any reward to Indians for their support of Britain during the First World War.

•On March 18 the Rowlatt Acts were passed, which led Gandhi to proclaim a hartal, or day of fasting and stoppage of work.

•Gandhi’s pacifist ideals were ignored and in Amritsar five Britons were killed in a riot.

•Brigadier-General Dyer, the British officer in command of the Punjab, banned all public meetings, but when a meeting was called for 13 April, he made no attempt to cancel it. Dyer apparently decided that the Indians needed to be taught a lesson.

The Massacre

•On 13 April Dyer ordered his Gurkha troops to fire on an unarmed crowd in the Jallianwallah Bagh, an enclosed space in the holy city of Amritsar.

•The troops fired until their ammunition was exhausted, killing 379 people and wounding more than 1200, according to the British authorities. Some historians now put the death toll at more than 2,000, however.

•In the aftermath of the massacre, 500 students and teachers were arrested; some were imprisoned in a cage in the market place.

•A British woman, Marcia Sherwood, was assaulted by youths and knocked off her

bicycle. Dyer ordered all Indians who passed down the street where she had been attacked to crawl on all fours.

What effects did the Amritsar Massacre have?

The main result of the massacre was that many Indians who had previously been loyal to the British lost faith in British justice and joined the campaigns for independence.

•The violence led Gandhi called off his campaign of civil disobedience.

•Dyer was summoned to Britain and his actions were investigated by the Hunter Committee.

•Dyer’s excuse that he believed that he had stopped a rebellion was not accepted and his behaviour was condemned and he was asked to resign.

•But a debate in the House of Lords led to a majority of 121 -86 in his favour and the ‘Morning Post’ raised £23,000 for him, describing him as The man who saved India’.

•Dyer was rewarded for his actions by being presented with a jewelled sword engraved with the words ‘Saviour of the Punjab’.

•The actions of Dyer were bad enough, but the failure of the British authorities to act quickly and censure him convinced many Indians that misrepresented the truth about British policy.

The Government of India Act, 1919 – the Dyarchy

•The first Government of India Act was passed in December 1919 and put into effect the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms. These set up the system, which became known as the ‘Dyarchy’.

•An Executive Council was set up to advise the Viceroy. It included the Viceroy himself and the commander-in-chief and six other members, including three Indians.

•The Imperial Legislative Council was renamed the Imperial Legislative Assembly and was enlarged to 146, with 106 elected members. This was to be the lower house of parliament.

•A Council of State was set up, with 61 members. This was to review legislation passed by the Assembly.

•The British members of the Council dealt with areas such as defence, foreign relations and taxation; the Indian members dealt with education, sanitation and agriculture.

•In the Indian provinces an Executive Council appointed by the Governor would be responsible to a Legislative Council elected by popular vote.

•Provincial governments would now have both Indian and British ministers.

But only 2.8% on Indians could vote and after the Rowlatt Acts and Amritsar, this was too little too late.

The Simon Commission

•In 1927 the Simon Commission was appointed to review the workings of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms. It recommended responsible government for the provinces and a federal India, but no changes in the central government.

Why was the Simon Commission ineffective?

•The Commission included no Indians and led to mass protests. Congress boycotted all of its meetings.

•As a result, in 1928 Jawaharlal Nehru was able to persuade Congress to vote for total independence for the first time.

•21st January 1930 was proclaimed as Independence Day and a Declaration of Independence was drawn up.

Gandhi’s Second Satyagraha Campaign

•Gandhi’s second campaign began in 1930 when he organised a ‘March to the Sea’ to make salt.

The Salt March

•In March and April 1930, Mohandas Gandhi marched to the sea in Gujerat. The journey took twenty-four days. When he arrived, he took a few grains of salt from the sea. In doing so, Gandhi was breaking the law of British India.

•The production of salt was a government monopoly and the march was part of Gandhi’s non-violent campaign against British rule in India.

•The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, and the government had been notified in advance of Gandhi’s intentions, and he was duly arrested and imprisoned from 1930 to 1931.

•In fact to many Indians Gandhi’s actions were puzzling, but he was trying to force the government into a position that became morally more and more indefensible.

•Soon 5,000,000 Indians all over the country were making sea salt and it was being sold in towns and cities everywhere. It became a symbol of defiance against British rule. Boycotts of British cloth and alcohol followed. Within months 60,000 Congress members had been arrested and imprisoned.

The Round Table Conferences

The Round Table Conferences were held in London from 1930 to 1932. They included representatives of all the British political parties and of all political opinion in India.

Why were the Round Table Conferences held?

•The Dyarchy was not working and the Simon Commission had proved a failure.

•Communal differences were becoming increasingly serious in India.

•The Labour Government saw India as a possible victory at a time when it was under pressure at home.

The Government of India Act, 1935

•The result of the Round Table Conferences was the Government of India Act in 1935. For the first time Indians played a significant part in the government of their country, but the British retained real control.

•India was divided into eleven provinces, each of which had a legislative assembly and a provincial government. The provinces would control almost all policies, with the exception of defence and foreign affairs. The Legislative Assemblies would be mostly Indian.

•Each province would have an appointed governor, who retained the power to act in an emergency, for example to protect the interests of minorities, or maintain law and order.

•There would also be a central parliament in Delhi, with two chambers. In both chambers there were elected and appointed members. The Assembly contained 250 seats for Indian constituencies and 125 seats for the Indian princes.

•The Viceroy would still be appointed by Westminster and would be responsible for defence and foreign affairs. But the Viceroy would have to follow the advice of an Executive Committee, which was mostly Indian.

Reactions to the Government of India Act

Congress rejected the Government of India Act because:

•It wanted a complete break from Britain, not a ‘halfway house’ and it did believe that the British intended to give India complete independence.

•It did not want to have to make special provision for minorities, which might limit its power in the future.

Congress in the late 1930s

•Between 1931 and 193 5, Nehru spent most of his time in prison for refusing to obey orders preventing from attending Congress conferences. He then left India for Europe with his wife who was seriously ill.

•Nehru returned in 1937 to lead the campaign in the first elections to the new parliament after the Government of India Act. Nehru wanted Congress to take part in the elections, but then to refuse to participate in the assemblies.

•In the 1937 elections, the first under the Government of India Act, Congress won 715 seats, out of a total of 1,585. This was a massive victory as 938 seats were reserved for minority interests.

•Congress took power in eight states, but only after a statement that there would be no interference from governors. Nehru opposed the decision to take office, but accepted it. When the first parliament met in 1937, Gandhi was replaced as leader of Congress by Jawaharlal Nehru.

The impact of war on India and Britain

In September 1939, Lord Linlithgow, the Viceroy, announced that India had declared war on Germany without consulting the Indian Assembly.

How did the Muslim League react?

•When war broke out in 1939, the Muslim League backed Britain’s declaration of war on Germany and supported the government throughout. This gave Jinnah the opportunity to press his claims for a separate Muslim state.

•In March 1940 Jinnah spoke of a Muslim state for the first time, adopting the name

Pakistan, which meant ‘Land of the Pure’ and which was also an acronym of the names of the four provinces of north-west India.

•MA Jinnah used this situation as a means of winning the support of the British. The League also increased its membership to more than 2,000,000.

How did Congress react?

•In September 1939 Gandhi urged the British government to negotiate with Hitler and to use peaceful methods.

•Nehru had just returned from Europe and believed that India should support Britain against Fascism, but should do it of her own free choice.

•Congress supported Nehru, but was angered by the Viceroy’s announcement that India was at war without any consultation of Indian opinion. The Congress state governments resigned in protest at the Viceroy’s actions.

•In July 1940 Congress asked that a National Government should be set up as a reward for Indian support during the war.

•When the Viceroy failed to give a satisfactory reply, Congress decided to recommence civil disobedience. Nehru and nearly 1700 leading members of Congress were arrested in 1940.

The Cripps’ Mission

•In April Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to India with an offer of full dominion status and the right to secede as soon as the war was over. He also suggested that any province that did not want to join the new India should be allowed to become independent on its own.

•1942 Nehru and Congress rejected the offer of full Dominion status at the end of the war. They demanded immediate cabinet government with full power and decisions taken by Indians in India. Britain refused.

•Congress also wanted a united India and was not prepared to consider independent provinces. Congress decided instead to support Gandhi’s non-violent ‘Quit India’ Campaign.

The Quit India Campaign

•In August 1942, during the Second World War, Gandhi announced the ‘Quit India1 Campaign. He said:

I want freedom immediately, this very night, before dawn, if it can be had. Congress must win freedom or be wiped out in the effort. We shall either free India or die in the

attempt.

•Gandhi demanded immediate independence and threatened mass non-violent action if his demands were not met. He demanded that the British leave India immediately, although the armed forces fighting the Japanese could stay.

•Demonstrations began in many Indian cities, peacefully at first but often turning violent. Police stations, government offices, railways and telephone lines were all attacked. Supplies for the army fighting against the Japanese were held up.

•The disturbances that resulted were only put down by 30,000 troops and resulted in more than 1,000 deaths.

•Many Congress leaders were arrested, including Gandhi and most were held until 1944.

•Congress itself was declared illegal and its funds were seized. For the next two years Congress virtually ceased to exist.

•Nehru was arrested again and imprisoned until 1945. He was released after the Labour Party won the July 1945 general election and immediately announced plans for dominion status.

How did the Second World War change the political situation in India?

•Until 1939 Congress was the dominant force in Indian politics. In 1937 it won a clear victory in the elections after the Government of India Act of 1935.

•The Muslim League was a relatively minor organisation. The war gave the League its first opportunity to win the backing of the British for a separate Muslim state, Pakistan.

•The Muslim League grew in size. By 1945 it had 2,000,000 members.

•These changes made the Muslim League much more important. In provincial elections in 1945 it won 90% of the Muslim seats.

•During the war the Indian Army remained loyal to the British and many middle class Indians supported the British against the Japanese, but once the war ended there was less support for Britain

•Under Japanese rule, Nationalist movements had begun in many areas of South East Asia, troops returning to India brought these ideas back with them

Subhas Chandra Bose

•Bose was an opponent of Gandhi’s non-violent campaigns and had resigned from Congress in 1939. He formed the Forward Bloc, which used militant methods to gain independence.

•When the Second World war broke out Bose supported the Axis, but was then arrested by the British. He escaped and fled to Nazi Germany and then sailed to Singapore, where the Japanese allowed him to recruit Indian prisoners of war to form the Indian National Army.

•20,000 Indians volunteered to join him and fought in the Japanese attempts to invade India from Burma.

•In 1943 Bose formed the Provisional Government of Free India, was killed in a plane crash in Taiwan in 1945.

•There was little real support for The Indian National Army, but Congress was furious when its leaders were put on trial for treason and then sentenced to transportation for life. The sentences were hurriedly changed to dismissal from the army.

Independence and partition: the role of Mountbatten

•From 1939 and 1945 Britain spent more than £1,000,000,000 on India. This expenditure could not be continued. In 1945 Britain was economically exhausted.

•In July 1945 a Labour Government was elected. The members did not believe that Britain had a right to govern the Empire. They wanted to give India independence as quickly as possible.

•In February 1946 there was a mutiny in the Indian navy. The mutiny spread to the Indian army. This made the situation even clearer; it meant that Britain could not govern India.

The Cabinet Mission

•In 1946 the Labour government sent the Cabinet Mission to India to report on the

situation and recommend a structure for an independent India. It recommended a united India with protection for Muslims.

•The provinces would be grouped together so that some areas had a Hindu majority and some had a Muslim majority. These groups would be responsible for all day to day affairs. The central government would only be responsible for foreign affairs, defence and communications.

•Nehru and Congress were still hoping for a united India, but appeared to be ready to accept the Cabinet plan. Gandhi stated that it was ‘the best the British government could have produced’.

•The Muslim League also accepted the Cabinet Mission’s proposals, even though it did not allow for an independent Pakistan.

What went wrong with the Cabinet Mission’s plan?

•Elections for the new Assembly took place, in which Congress won 205 seats and the Muslim League won 73, but after the results were announced Congress went back on its decision and rejected the plan.

•After Congress’s refusal to accept the Cabinet plan, the Muslim League also withdrew support.

•Jinnah was angry that Congress had turned down the Cabinet Mission’s proposals. On 16 August 1946, he called for Direct Action. This was meant to be a series of peaceful demonstrations to put pressure on the British and Congress.

Direct Action

Direct Action was M. A. Jinnah’s policy of trying to force the pace in India after the Congress Party rejected the proposals of the Cabinet Mission in 1946.

•Jinnah wanted a separate Pakistan for Muslims, but had been prepared to accept the Cabinet Mission’s proposals of a united India with built in safe guards for Muslims.

•When Nehru and the Congress leaders rejected this idea, Jinnah decided to try to show how strong feelings were for a Muslim state. He called for nation-wide demonstrations on 16 August 1946. The result was disaster.

•Jinnah had anticipated peaceful demonstrations, but local leaders interpreted his appeals as calling for violence.

•In Calcutta there was fighting between Muslims and Hindus, which resulted in 5,000 deaths. The British were unable to stop it. This was repeated in many parts of India.

•Jinnah was horrified by the results of his actions, but the damage had been done. Direct a£tion showed just how far apart the two communities really were.

•Gandhi tried to stop the violence by visiting the areas and meeting Muslim leaders. He fasted to force Hindus to stop attacking Muslims.

What were the effects of Direct Action?

•Both Congress and the Muslim League were appalled by the violence and agreed to join the Viceroy’s interim government, but were unable to work together. In the meantime violence spread across northern India.

•The Viceroy, Lord Wavell, now told the government in Britain that the situation in India was getting out of control.

•Clement Attlee, the prime minister, decided to fix a date for British withdrawal from India. He announced that they would leave no later than June 1948.

The appointment of Mountbatten

•A new Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten was appointed in February 1947. He was the last Viceroy of India. He took office in February 1947 and advised the prime minister, Clement Attlee, that a date should be fixed for independence. Attlee decided that the British would leave at midnight on 28 August 1947.

Why was India partitioned?

•The consequences of Direct Action were a major factor in the decision of the British government and the last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, to insist on partition and to try to bring about independence as soon as possible.

•Because of the communal violence Mountbatten became convinced that a united India was impossible. He announced that two countries would be created, India and Pakistan.

•The British decision to leave forced Congress to accept the idea of partition. Congress accepted the idea of Pakistan and Jinnah agreed to the division of Bengal and the Punjab, which he had wanted to be entirely within Pakistan.

•To reduce the communal violence and other border squabbles, Mountbatten brought forward the date of Independence by fourteen days to midnight on 14 August.

•Mountbatten set up the Radcliffe Commission to fix the border between the two countries. This drew up a dividing line between India and Pakistan in less than three months

What effects did Partition have upon India and Pakistan in the years from 1947 to 1949?

•The decisions of the Radcliffe Commission left 5,000,000 Muslims in India and 5,000,000 Hindus in Pakistan. Sikhs, who had argued for special treatment were ignored altogether.

•For many people, memories of the events of 1946 to 1947 remained strong. Many people tried to cross the border in the months after independence.

•At least 600,000 people were killed in the Punjab alone. Trains carrying refugees were stopped and thousands were slaughtered.

•Religious differences were difficult to overcome and have become more serious with the emergence of militants Muslim and Hindu parties.

The princely states

•Mountbatten left the Indian princes to decide if they wanted to join India or Pakistan. By 15 August all but three states had chosen. Hyderabad and Junagadh were forcibly occupied by the Indian army, but in Kashmir there was a Hindu ruler of a mainly Muslim state.

•After a Muslim revolt, the ruler appealed to India for help and Kashmir was occupied by both Indian and Pakistani forces. This has been the situation ever since.

Gandhi after the Second World War

•After the Second World War Gandhi’s influence in Congress fell as it became clear that the Labour Government wanted India to become independent as soon as possible and that partition was inevitable.

•Gandhi was totally opposed to partition and wanted to create a united India in which all religions were equal. He even suggested the Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League should become the prime minister of India if that would prevent partition,

•When Direct Action led to violence in August 1946, Gandhi attempted to restore peace by visiting the worst areas, meeting Muslim leaders and fasting.

•On 15 August, Independence Day, Gandhi was in Calcutta in the worst area of violence. He acted as a ‘one man boundary force’ keeping Hindus and Muslims apart.

In January 1948 Gandhi was murdered by an extreme Hindu, Nathuram Godse.

Why was Gandhi murdered?

•He believed in a united India at all costs. He was ready to accept M. A. Jinnah as the prime minister of India, if it would keep India united.

•He did not follow all of the rules Hinduism. He mixed with Untouchables. He worked with Muslims, and some extreme Hindus believed that this was going too far.

•He had intervened in August 1946 to try to stop Hindus attacking Muslims