Poona Pact

Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"

Meaning

The Poona Pact was an agreement signed on 24 September 1932 between Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar. Under it, the depressed classes gave up separate electorates. In return they got reserved seats in the provincial and central legislative councils, and the whole general electorate voted to fill those seats. [2]

It matters because it settled one of the sharpest fights inside the national movement: Gandhi's idea of dalit freedom against Ambedkar's. It also set the pattern of reserved seats with joint voting that later went into the Indian Constitution.

Explanation

Background: two views on ending untouchability

Gandhi's view: untouchability was a sin inside Hinduism.
He said swaraj would not come for a hundred years if untouchability was not ended.
He called untouchables harijan ("children of God").
He led satyagrahas for temple entry and for the use of public wells, tanks, roads and schools.
For him, the cure was a change of heart among caste Hindus.
Ambedkar's view: untouchability was a problem of power.
He organised dalits into the Depressed Classes Association in 1930.
He demanded separate electorates. These are seats where only dalit voters choose the dalit candidate.
He argued that without them, dalit members would just be men picked by caste Hindu voters.
The clash in London. The two leaders argued openly at the second Round Table Conference (London, 1931).
Why Congress had stayed quiet so long. Congress had avoided the issue because it feared the sanatanis. These were orthodox high-caste Hindus who defended the old caste rules, and they were a large part of Congress's support.

The crisis of 1932: Award and fast

4 August 1932: the Communal Award. The British accepted Ambedkar's demand. The Communal Award set out how legislature seats would be divided among communities, and it gave the depressed classes separate electorates. Ambedkar supported it. [2]
The British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced it, so it is also called the MacDonald Award.
Gandhi's fast unto death.
Gandhi was in prison (in Yerwada Jail, Poona). He announced a fast unto death and began it on 18 September 1932. [2]
His argument was that separate electorates would cut dalits off from the rest of Hindu society and "ensure their bondage in perpetuity" (keep them trapped forever).
Ambedkar's reply.
He held that "some share of political power… is a paramount necessity" for the depressed classes.
He held his ground until Gandhi was near death, and only then accepted a compromise. [2]

Main terms of the Pact (24 September 1932)

Separate electorates were dropped for the depressed classes.
Reserved seats were given instead, in both the provincial and central legislative councils.
Every voter took part. Everyone in the general electorate voted for these seats, not only dalit voters.
More seats than the Award. Standard textbooks say the provincial seats reserved for the depressed classes rose from 71 under the Communal Award to 148 under the Pact.
Ten-year period. The extra representation was fixed for ten years. [2]
Who signed. Ambedkar signed for the depressed classes. Madan Mohan Malaviya was among those who signed for caste Hindus.

Results

Gandhi ended his fast, and the British accepted the changed scheme in place of separate electorates for the depressed classes.
Ambedkar called it blackmail. He said the pact was won by blackmail, because Gandhi's life was used as pressure. [2]
Untouchability became a national cause. The pact also started the movement against untouchability inside the national movement. [2]
Distrust stayed. For years afterwards the dalit movement remained cautious and suspicious of Congress.
A lasting model. Reserved seats filled by joint voting later went into the Constitution.

Time, place and evidence

Period: the Gandhian era of the national movement (1915–1948). The pact came in 1932, while the Civil Disobedience Movement was running again after the second Round Table Conference failed.
Place: Poona (now Pune). Gandhi was held in Yerwada Jail there and fasted inside it.
Key people:
Gandhi, who fasted against separate electorates.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar, leader of the depressed classes and founder of the Depressed Classes Association (1930).
Madan Mohan Malaviya, who signed for the caste Hindus.
Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister who announced the Communal Award.
Key dates:
Second Round Table Conference: 1931
Communal Award: 4 August 1932 [2]
Fast begins: 18 September 1932 [2]
Pact signed: 24 September 1932 [2]
How we know:
The text of the pact itself.
The recorded words of both leaders: Gandhi's "bondage in perpetuity" and Ambedkar's "paramount necessity" of political power.
Our notes rely on the NCERT chapters (Class 10, Ch 2; Class 12 Part 3, Ch 3) and Britannica's entry on the Poona Pact. [2]

Don't confuse with

Communal Award (4 August 1932): This was a British decision that gave the depressed classes separate electorates. The Poona Pact was an Indian agreement, made about seven weeks later, that replaced those separate electorates with reserved seats under joint voting. [2]
Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931): This was between Gandhi and the Viceroy. It paused Civil Disobedience and sent Gandhi to the second Round Table Conference. The Poona Pact was between Gandhi and Ambedkar, and it dealt with dalit representation.
Lucknow Pact (1916): This was between Congress and the Muslim League, and Congress accepted separate electorates for Muslims. The Poona Pact removed separate electorates for the depressed classes.
Jinnah's 1927 offer: Jinnah also offered to drop separate electorates in return for reserved seats for Muslims in the Central Assembly. That deal broke down at the All Parties Conference of 1928, where M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha opposed it. The dalit deal was signed.

Prelims Hooks

Order of events: Depressed Classes Association (1930) → second Round Table Conference (1931) → Communal Award (4 August 1932) → Gandhi's fast begins (18 September 1932) → Poona Pact (24 September 1932). [2]
The Pact's terms: separate electorates dropped; reserved seats in provincial and central legislatures, filled by the general electorate; extra representation fixed for ten years. [2]
Seat numbers: reserved provincial seats for the depressed classes went from 71 (Communal Award) to 148 (Poona Pact).
Gandhi's fast was in Yerwada Jail, Poona. Common trap: the fast was against the Communal Award, not against the Round Table Conference or the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.
Ambedkar backed the Communal Award and later called the Poona Pact a result of blackmail. [2]
The signatories: Ambedkar signed for the depressed classes and Madan Mohan Malaviya for caste Hindus. Gandhi did not sign as a party.

Mains Points

Two theories of dalit freedom.
Gandhi wanted social reform: caste Hindus must give up untouchability.
Ambedkar wanted political power: dalits must have guaranteed seats of their own.
The Poona Pact changed Ambedkar's method, since separate electorates were dropped, but it accepted his diagnosis, since reserved seats stayed. Reserved seats survived into the Constitution. So did the dalit movement's distrust of Congress. [2]
The pact was a gain and a loss at the same time.
Gain: dalits got more seats, and untouchability became a central issue for the national movement. [2]
Loss: the pact was signed under the pressure of a fast unto death, which Ambedkar called blackmail. [2] Also, dalit candidates now depended on caste Hindu votes, which was exactly the risk Ambedkar had warned about.
Exam use: this tension suits any GS-I answer on the Gandhi–Ambedkar debate or on the limits of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Electorates and the minority question. Both the dalit and Muslim questions were fights over electorates and guaranteed seats in a future legislature.
The dalit case ended in agreement. Reserved seats with joint voting were accepted in 1932.
The Muslim case ended in break-up. Jinnah's 1927 formula failed in 1928, and Iqbal restated the demand for separate electorates in 1930. Repeated failure to agree on minority safeguards fed the later Pakistan demand.
The lesson: the result depended on whether the two sides could agree on a share of power.

Related concepts

Participants and limits: classes, women, dalits, Muslims

Sources

1Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India" (primary)
2Poona Pact | History, Significance, & Factsbritannica.com · tier 3