Why did opposition to British rule in India grow in the years 1919 1933?

In 1919 near the Golden Temple at the Jallianwala Bagh a large crowd gathered together for an illegal meeting to protest against the British. General Dyer marched in and ordered his troops to open fire at the unarmed crowd killing 379 people and over 1200 casualties. The Amritsar Massacre had a dramatic impact and change to view of most Indians forever. It increased opposition rapidly and showed that the British were ready to use any methods to suppress opposition. This led to the Government of India Act in 1919 which gave Indians a majority of the seats in the Provincial Councils and half of the members of the Viceroys Council were Indians. The Indians were now given limited control on the education public health and agricultural sectors while the British would still control the really important sectors such as Defence, Taxation and Foreign Affairs. This system of power sharing was called Dyarchy. The control of India was still very limited as the British still controlled the finances which made it harder for the Indians to make any radical steps with their new power. Indians still felt this was nowhere enough of what they deserved as now they wanted Home Rule.

Congress immediately started a campaign against the new laws and they began to gain major support and started multiple peaceful protests against the British. The Government of India Act was criticised for only giving 2.8 percent of the Indians could vote. The Provincial Assemblies soon found out that they did not have enough money to perform their duties. Congress did not accept this Act and this was a major problem because Congress had now become a national movement and the British in future needed permission of Congress if they decided to make any radical changes to the way India governs itself. Gandhi emerged at this time and began to lead peaceful protests. Congress demanded Home rule and Swaraj (Self control and Self rule). He gathered support and became very popular as he began to involve the lower caste and poorly educated Indians into the Congress Movement for the first time. Gandhi organised a massive non co-operation campaign as Congress members started to boycott British goods and adopted a policy of swadeshi which meant buying Indian goods and encourage Indians to make their own. Gandhi suspended his campaign when some of his followers attacked and killed policemen. Although Gandhi was arrested for two years until he was released and he went to live at an ashram and remained absent from Indian politics. He encouraged people to spin their own cotton as this was illegal because the British laws stated that raw cotton must be sent to Britain to be spun.

The Simon Commission was set up in 1927 to review the workings of the Montagu Chelmsford Reforms. The report recommended a federal India with each province to have its own government and no changes to the central government. This led to mass protests and increased opposition and Congress members boycotted all its meetings. A new constitution was drawn up and Dominion status was demanded by 1929. Only the Untouchables co-operated with the Simon Commission as they thought they would get a better place in Indian society.

Gandhi’s most radical protest was the Salt March where he marched from his ashram to Dandi, where he marched to the coast and made salt which was illegal under the British laws. These encouraged thousands to make their own salt and the British arrested 60,000 members of Congress. The intention of the protest was to make India ungovernable for the British. The unrest in India led to the Round Table Conferences in London to discuss the possible Independence of India which included the representation of the political parties and Gandhi was the sole representation of Congress. The Round Table Conference discussed the possible ways in which India could be granted Independence but no further steps were taken. Many Indians were disappointed when Gandhi returned with no Independence, the protest had been called off and Jinnah began to lose faith in Congress. By this stage Home rule was not what the Indians wanted; they began to demand for full Independence. As the third Round Table Conference again resulted in no further steps the opposition grew with frustration and began to get bigger.

I think that the opposition in India grew because the demands of Indians increased rapidly but the British were always one step behind and did not offer more to the Indians at the right time therefore the opposition increasingly got frustrated with the British. The British also did not make themselves look good because of the Amritsar Massacre and arresting 60,000 Congress members. The Rowlatt Acts also increased anger amongst Indians along with the growing concerns of the recession in the early 1920’s.