Simon Commission

Also called: Indian Statutory Commission · 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 Simon Commission, officially the Indian Statutory Commission, was a group of British members, all of them white, set up on 8 November 1927 under Sir John Simon. Its job was to check how India's constitutional system was working and to suggest changes. [2] It arrived in India in 1928. Not one of its members was Indian. [2]

It matters because this insult brought Indians back into mass protest. Congress and the Muslim League boycotted it together. It led to the death of Lala Lajpat Rai and then to the revolutionary action of Bhagat Singh's group. It also opened the road to Purna Swaraj (complete independence) and to Civil Disobedience in 1930.

Explanation

Background: why a commission, and why in 1927

• A "statutory" commission. "Statutory" means it was required by a law.
• The Government of India Act 1919 had promised a review of the reforms after ten years.

• The Tory (Conservative) government in Britain set up the review early, in 1927.

• The national movement was in a quiet phase.

• Gandhi had called off Non-Cooperation after Chauri Chaura (Feb 1922).
• The Swaraj Party of C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru was working inside the councils. [4]

• Gandhi was busy with "constructive work": khadi (hand-spun, hand-woven cloth) and the fight against untouchability.

• The countryside was under strain.

• Agricultural prices began to fall from 1926.
• The land revenue demand stayed the same, so peasants had less cash to pay it.
• People were already angry. The Commission gave that anger a political target.

The main grievance: an all-white commission

• The Commission was chaired by Sir John Simon. There was not a single Indian member. [2]
• Why this hurt: a body with no Indian in it would decide whether Indians were fit to rule themselves. [2]
• Indians saw this as an insult to their self-respect. It was not just a matter of procedure.

The boycott and protests, 1928

• Arrival, 1928. The Commission was met everywhere with black flags and the slogan "Go back Simon".
• Joint boycott. Congress and the Muslim League boycotted it together. This was a rare moment of joint action in that decade.
• Lahore, 30 October 1928.
• Lala Lajpat Rai led a non-violent march against the Commission.
• Police under Superintendent James A. Scott beat him.

• He died of his injuries in November 1928. [2]

• A chain of revenge.

• His death pushed Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad to plan revenge on Scott.
• They shot Assistant Superintendent John Saunders by mistake. [2]
• So in these years, revolutionary action and mass politics ran side by side.

Results: from protest to Purna Swaraj

• Irwin's offer, October 1929. Viceroy Lord Irwin made a vague promise of "dominion status" (self-rule inside the British Empire) at some future date, along with a Round Table Conference.

• He gave no date, so the offer failed.

• Lahore Congress, December 1929.

• Jawaharlal Nehru became president at the age of 40.
• Congress declared Purna Swaraj (complete independence) as its goal.

• It allowed the launch of Civil Disobedience. [5]

• 26 January 1930. India held its first Independence Day. People hoisted the tricolour and read the pledge aloud. [5]

• The big picture. The Simon Commission was the political spark. The Depression supplied the economic grievance. Together they led to the Dandi March of March 1930.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Gandhian era, between Non-Cooperation (1920–22) and Civil Disobedience (1930).

• It was appointed on 8 November 1927 and arrived in 1928. [2]

• Who sent it: the British government in London. Lord Irwin was the Viceroy in India at the time.

• Key places:
• Protests took place across India.

• Lahore, in Punjab, was where Lajpat Rai was assaulted on 30 October 1928. [2]

• Key people:

• Sir John Simon (chairman)
• Lala Lajpat Rai (leader of the Lahore protest)
• James A. Scott (police superintendent)
• John Saunders (the officer shot by mistake)

• Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad [2]

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 10, Ch 2 "Nationalism in India" and Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"
• Reference accounts of the Commission and of Lajpat Rai's life [2]
• Congress records of the Lahore session and the Purna Swaraj resolution [5]

Don't confuse with

• John Saunders vs James A. Scott: Scott was the superintendent who led the assault on Lajpat Rai. Saunders was the assistant superintendent whom the revolutionaries shot by mistake. [2]
• Irwin's "dominion status" offer (October 1929): this was a vague British promise made after the Simon protests. It was not the Commission's own report.
• Bardoli Satyagraha (1928): it took place in the same year but was a separate peasant campaign. It was against a ~22% revenue hike in the Bombay Presidency and was led by Vallabhbhai Patel. [3] It had nothing to do with the Simon boycott.
• Swaraj Party (1923): it worked inside the councils through council entry. [4] The Simon Commission was boycotted from outside, with street protest.

Prelims Hooks

• Simon Commission = Indian Statutory Commission. It was appointed on 8 November 1927 and arrived in 1928. It is a trap to say it was "set up in 1928". [2]
• Chairman: Sir John Simon. Indian members: none. [2]
• Slogan: "Go back Simon". It was boycotted jointly by Congress and the Muslim League.
• Lala Lajpat Rai was assaulted at Lahore on 30 October 1928 by police under James A. Scott. He died in November 1928. [2]
• Saunders' killing by Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Azad was revenge for Lajpat Rai's death. Scott was the real target. [2]
• Chronological order: Simon Commission appointed (Nov 1927) → Lajpat Rai assaulted (Oct 1928) → Irwin's offer (Oct 1929) → Lahore Congress and Purna Swaraj (Dec 1929) → first Independence Day (26 Jan 1930).

Mains Points

• Insult as a trigger for mass politics: Indians saw the Commission's all-white make-up as a denial of their right to shape their own constitution.
• It ended the quiet phase after 1922.
• It even brought Congress and the Muslim League together for a time.

• It shows that national self-respect, not only economics, could move people.

• Economics and insult worked together: the Depression supplied the grievance in the countryside, with prices falling from 1926 while revenue stayed fixed.

• The Simon Commission and Lajpat Rai's death supplied the political and emotional spark.

• Neither one alone explains how big Civil Disobedience became in 1930.

• Two streams of nationalism: the same event produced a non-violent mass boycott and also revolutionary violence (the Saunders killing). [2]

• The British reply, Irwin's vague offer, was too weak to satisfy either stream.
• It pushed Congress from asking for dominion status to demanding Purna Swaraj at Lahore in 1929. [5]

Related concepts

• Swaraj Party
• C.R. Das
• Motilal Nehru
• No-changers
• Constructive programme
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Subhas Chandra Bose
• Bardoli satyagraha 1928
• Vallabhbhai Patel
• Dominion status

Read more

• The road back to mass politics, 1922–30