Round Table Conferences

Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"

Meaning

The Round Table Conferences were three meetings held in London between 1930 and 1932. At them, the British government met Indian leaders to discuss a new constitution for India. They matter because Congress was treated as a party to talks with the British for the first time. They also showed that the Muslim League, the Princes and the Depressed Classes did not accept Congress as the voice of all India.

Explanation

Background: why the British called the conferences

• The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) began in 1930. It started with the Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930).
• Indians broke the salt law, boycotted foreign cloth and refused to pay taxes.

• About 60,000 people were arrested in the months after the march. About 100,000 were arrested across the whole movement. [2][4]

• The British realised force alone would not work. They saw that they would have to devolve power (hand over some power to Indians).

• The question was now how much power and when.
• A "round table" meant everyone sitting as equals to talk. In this case that meant British ministers, Indian parties, the Princes and minority groups.

The three conferences, in order

• First Round Table Conference, November 1930, London
• It was held without Congress. Congress was running the CDM and its leaders were in jail.

• Without the largest national party, it went nowhere.

• The Gandhi–Irwin Pact, 5 March 1931, opened the door to the second conference.

• Gandhi was released from jail in January 1931, and talks with Viceroy Lord Irwin followed. [2]
• Gandhi called off the CDM. The government released political prisoners and let Indians make salt along the coast for their own use. [2][3]

• Congress agreed to attend the next conference. But there was no promise of independence.

• Second Round Table Conference, September–December 1931, London

• Gandhi attended as the sole Congress representative. Sarojini Naidu was also present. [3][4]
• Gandhi said Congress spoke for all of India. Three groups challenged this claim:
  • the Muslim League said Congress did not speak for Muslims;
  • the Princes said Congress had no say in the princely states;
  • Dr B.R. Ambedkar said Congress did not speak for the Depressed Classes (the castes treated as "untouchable").

• It failed. There was no agreement on the constitution. There was also none on communal representation (which community gets reserved seats, and how many). [3]

• Third Round Table Conference, late 1932, London

• Congress did not attend. By then it had been declared illegal and its leaders were in jail.
• It was a small meeting with little importance.

Results

• Repression after the second conference. Gandhi came back empty-handed. Viceroy Lord Willingdon hit back hard:
• Congress was declared illegal;
• its leaders were jailed;

• meetings were banned.

• The CDM was relaunched, but it faded. It lost momentum by 1934 and was withdrawn.

• The communal question stayed open. The British gave their own answer on seats in the Communal Award (1932). This led to the Poona Pact (1932) between Gandhi and Ambedkar.
• The road to 1935. The proposals discussed across the three conferences fed into the Government of India Act, 1935.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 1930–1932, in the Gandhian phase of the national movement. It falls during the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34).
• Place: London. Talks inside India, such as the Gandhi–Irwin talks, took place before the second conference.
• Viceroys: Lord Irwin (Gandhi–Irwin Pact, 1931) and Lord Willingdon (crackdown after the second conference).
• Key Indian figures:
• Mahatma Gandhi was the only Congress representative at the second conference.
• Sarojini Naidu was also present at the second conference.
• Dr B.R. Ambedkar spoke for the Depressed Classes.

• The Muslim League and the Princes also took part.

• How we know: NCERT Class 10 (Ch 2, "Nationalism in India") and Class 12 (Ch 3, "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"). Other evidence includes the official text of the Gandhi–Irwin Pact, British government records of the conference sessions, and reference accounts such as Britannica. [3][4]

Don't confuse with

• Gandhi–Irwin Pact (5 March 1931): This was a deal signed in India between Gandhi and the Viceroy. It ended the first phase of the CDM. It was not one of the conferences, but it is the reason Congress attended the second one.
• First vs Second Round Table Conference: The first (Nov 1930) had no Congress. The second (Sept–Dec 1931) is the only one Congress attended, with Gandhi as its sole representative. [3][4]
• Poona Pact (1932): This was an agreement between Gandhi and Ambedkar on seats for the Depressed Classes. It was signed in India after the conferences. It was a result of the communal deadlock at the second conference, not part of it.
• Simon Commission (1927–28): This was an all-British commission that came to India and was boycotted for having no Indian member. The Round Table Conferences were held in London and Indian groups were invited.

Prelims Hooks

• First RTC, November 1930: held without Congress, whose leaders were in jail during the CDM.
• Second RTC, September–December 1931: Gandhi attended as the sole Congress representative, and Sarojini Naidu was also present. [3][4]
• Three groups challenged Gandhi's claim at the second conference: the Muslim League, the Princes and Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
• Why the second conference failed: there was no agreement on communal representation. [3]
• Correct order: Dandi March (1930) → First RTC (Nov 1930) → Gandhi–Irwin Pact (5 March 1931) → Second RTC (Sept–Dec 1931) → Willingdon declares Congress illegal → CDM withdrawn (1934).
• Trap: Lord Willingdon, not Lord Irwin, was the Viceroy who declared Congress illegal after the second conference.

Mains Points

• Recognition, but no results. The Gandhi–Irwin Pact and the second conference made Congress a negotiating party with the British for the first time. That was a real gain. But Congress got no promise of independence and no agreed constitution. Its movement also lost momentum. This makes the conferences a good example for the question "victory or retreat?"
• The claim to speak for everyone failed. At the second conference, Gandhi's claim that Congress spoke for all India was challenged by the League, the Princes and Ambedkar. This showed that unity against the British did not mean agreement on who would get power after the British left.
• Ambedkar's challenge leads directly to the Communal Award and the Poona Pact (1932).

• The League's challenge is an early step towards the Pakistan demand.

• The colonial method of "divide and negotiate." The British invited every separate interest to the table: communities, Princes and castes. This made it easy to present Congress as just one voice among many. The disagreements could then be used to delay self-rule. The pattern continued into the Government of India Act, 1935, with its separate electorates and its plan for a federation that included the Princes.

Related concepts

• Eleven demands of Gandhi 1930
• Salt monopoly
• Salt satyagraha
• Sabarmati Ashram
• Civil disobedience movement
• Vedaranyam salt march
• Dharasana satyagraha 1930
• Sarojini Naidu
• Abdul Ghaffar Khan
• Khudai Khidmatgar

Read more

• Civil Disobedience and the Salt Satyagraha, 1930–34