Indian hopes were raised even more when the Secretary of State, Sir Edwin Montagu, made the Montague Declaration. This stated that home rule was not far away and that the British accepted Home Rule in India. Indians dreams of Home Rule were increased furthermore when Sir Edwin Montague and Viceroy Lord Chelmsford toured India listening to local views on the British Government and other political matters.
But in 1915 the British put forward the Defence of India Act, which made it possible for an Indian to be arrested for no charge. This was only to be for the duration of the war. And to make things worse there was a high rise in prices and shortages after the increase in government expenditures and the strain on the economy. These new changes lead to violence especially in the Northern area of Punjab which had a large community of Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who distrusted each other. Now the Indian Government relied entirely on the Indian Army to keep the peace as the British had been forced to fight elsewhere in World War One.
In 1918 Sir Edwin-Montague and Viceroy Chelmsford suggested ways of reforming the Government of India. These reforms were known as the Montague-Chelmsford Report. In the report it stated that India was not ready for Home Rule which annoyed many Indians after they had supported the war effort and hoped to receive home rule. This made many people unhappy and the rioting started over again. The Indian Government, scared that the British would loose control of India, decided to extend the Defence of India Act into peacetime after the War had ended. This extension of the Defence of India Act was called the Rowlett Act.
The Rowlett Act was a big mistake and was opposed by all the Indian members of the Imperial Legislative Council. Because of the Rowlett Acts most Indian views on the British was changed and a new method was taken up to get Home Rule. Instead of supporting the British and showing them their loyalty, the Indians decided to boycott and take non-violent actions to get their goal. Their leader in their movement was Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi believed in non-violence. He thought this because if the world saw the British throwing innocent civilians into prison, the other countries would see the injustice that was taking place.
However, The Rowlett Act was never put into place. But, the damage had been done and many Indian views on the British had been changed for the worse. The Rowlett Act had made the Montague-Chelmsford report look like a lie. It showed that the British Government has no intention of giving India any choice in Home Rule.
Another main stirring point in the British Raj was the Amritsar Massacre. In April 1919 a British officer in command of the Punjab region in the North of India, Brigadier-General Dyer, took strict action on a protest meeting that was to take place in the holy Sikh city of Amritsar. Dyer had banned all public meetings in the Punjab region due to the civil disobedience that had occurred after World War 1. Dyer believed that the only way to stop civil disobedience was to eliminate it before it started and he also thought that the use of force was the only way to stop unrest in the area. Dyer marched in Nepalese troops who then, on Dyers orders, opened fire on over 5000 innocent people killing 379, which included women and children. This massacre showed that the British meant business and would use any means necessary to gain control over India. Due to this massacre any Indians who still had a little bit of loyalty to the British joined the movement for independence.
The events at Amritsar led to the passing of the Government of India Act in 1919 which was originally thought up by the Montague-Chelmsford Act. The Government of India Act would completely change the way India was governed however, many Indians now didn’t trust the British and didn’t believe that the reforms would last. The whole of India now seemed to want the British to leave. The Government of India Act would have been a good idea before but now after the Rowlett Act and the Amritsar Massacre it really was too little too late.
The Government of India Act was known as a Dyarchy as it would have power shared by two countries, India and Britain. The Government of India Act stated that the Viceroy was to be advised by an Executive Council. The Executive Council also included the Viceroy, the commander-in-chief of the army and 6 representatives of which 3 were Indian. The Indian representatives were to be called the transferred ministries and overlook agriculture, education and health. The Executive Council was to have 3 reserved ministers who were to look after defence, foreign policies, tax, law and order. The Government of India Act also renamed the Imperial Legislative Council to the Imperial Legislative Assembly and enlarged its members to 146 with 106 of them being elected.
The newly formed Imperial Legislative Assembly was also to be the lower House of Parliament. A new Council of State was set up to review laws that were made by the Assembly. The Council had 61 members. The British members of the Council were known as the reserved ministers and dealt with defence, foreign affairs relations and taxation. The Indian ministers in the Council of State were known as the transferred ministers who dealt with educations, sanitation and agriculture. The Governor of each Indian province was to appoint an Executive Council which would have to be responsible to the Legislative Council and would be elected by a popular vote. However the provincial government of each province would be led by both Indians and British ministers.
There were many weaknesses in this Government of India Act. Firstly there were about 5 million Indians could vote which is only 2.8% of the country’s population and only included the richest. The Provincial Assemblies also soon found out that they did not have enough money to carry out their duties. Gandhi told the Indian people not to co-operate with the British through non-violence. This included strikes, fasting and boycotts. The British had no idea how to punish these people. If they beat them the Indian public would loose more faith in the British and the non-violent campaigns would gain more support. The most important weakness of the Government of India Act was that Congress did not accept it and believed that it did not go far enough and it was too little too late. Congress had become a major new movement in India and if the British wanted to make any changes in the way India was governed then they would have to be accepted by Congress.
One of the terms of the Government of India Act was that the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms had to be reviewed. So, in 1927 a commission was led by Sir John Simon to see that the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms were working well. After the review had been finished, the Simon Commission advised there be a government for each individual province but there were to be no changes to the central government.
Again there were many weaknesses in this act. The main reason that there were mass protests was that there were no Indians in the commission. Congress boycotted all meetings and a man called Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the idea of an Independent India. So, Congress rejected the recommendation of the Simon Commission and voted for a total dominion status in December 1929. This meant that India would govern herself. However, it was still part of the Commonwealth and inside the British Empire. A Declaration of Independence was drawn up and 21st January 1930 was proclaimed Independence Day. Gandhi found another way to prove that India was ungovernable. In March 1930 Gandhi embarked on his famous Salt March from Ahmedabad to Dandi. In this march Gandhi proved to all the British that India was not governable and that they stood united. Whilst many Indians were not co-operating with the Simon Commission one group of Indians were. The Untouchables were outside the Hindu cast system. They hoped that the Simon Commission would give them a better representation in the Indian society in the future.
Another group of people that decided to befriend the British were the Muslim League. The Muslim League was led by M.A. Jinnah. At fist Jinnah decided to boycott the Simon Commission but later on co-operated with the British as he believed that through co-operation the British would eventually leave India.
The British were in trouble. The Simon Commission had been a failure. They needed the support of the Congress to have any major effect on India. As they did not, it had proven very difficult to get their views across. Now the British tried a different approach to getting their views across by trying to get all the leading members of each party to talk to each other. This method was used in the Round Table Conferences.
In November 1930 the First Round Table Conference took place. This was mostly because a new labour cabinet had been elected and the believed in a political victory rather then looking after an empire. The conference was to take place in London with representatives from all political views in India. The conference agreed to make an All India Federation where all the Indian States would take control of most matters except for Defence, Foreign Affairs and Finance. However, the major problem was the Congress did not attend as most of its leaders, including Gandhi were in prison, so this made the Conference stand for nothing.
The Second Round Table Conference started of with better prospects as this time there were representatives from all political views. However, the Second Round Table Conference was no more significant as the first as this time Gandhi proposed a constitution without the agreement of the minorities (Muslims, Hindu Depressed Classes, Christians etc.). His ideas were rejected and the Conference started again at square one.
The Third Round Table Conference was held without any representatives from the Labor Party or Congress. The Conference decided to talk about the right to vote (franchise) and the role of the Indian States but, could not reach any agreement and broke up in 1933. The National Government in Britain that had taken over from the collapsed Labour Party was less ready to make any real changes to India and so decided to form another Government of India Act.
The failures of the Roundtable conferences were due to the fact that Congress and the other political parties could not agree on most of the reforms that were to be made on India. This is because the three main parties in the Round Table Conferences, Congress Muslim League and the British Government, all had different views on the future of India. Congress wanted the British to leave India and give the Indians full Dominion Status. The Muslim League wanted the British to also leave but wanted a separate state for the Muslims where Congress wanted to stay as a united India. The British on the other hand did not want to leave and thought of India as a good country to have in its empire ‘Jewel in the Crown’. Because of all these mixed views, it was always going to be difficult for there to be any compromise.
The new Government of India Act was a direct result of the failure of the Round Table Conferences. The new Government of India Act said that India would have a Central Government in Delhi. This Central Government had two chambers that were all elected and all of them were Indian. Of the seats 250 were reserved for Indians and the other 125 were for the Indian Princes. India was divided in to 11 provincial states. Each province had its own legislative assembly and its own provincial government. Each province would control all policies except defence and foreign affairs. The legislative Council for each province would be mostly Indian. The Viceroy would still be elected by the British Government. He would be responsible for defence and foreign affairs. He also followed advice from executive committee members who were again mostly Indian. Also, the new Government of India Act allowed 938 out of 1525 seat to be reserved for minorities which included Muslims.
However this new Government of India Act did not solve everything. In September 1939 Viceroy Lord Linlithgow, declared India at war with Germany. This was a very bad thing to do as he was supposed to first consult the Executive Committee before making important decisions on defence and foreign affairs according to the Government of India Act. The Muslims backed the war effort and supported Britain throughout. This gave Jinnah further claims for a Muslim State. In March 1914 Jinnah made a speech about his idea of all Muslim state. It was to be called Pakistan (land of the pure). During the war the League became more popular and increased its support by more then 2 million people.
The reaction of Congress was different. In September 1939 Gandhi urged Britain to negotiate with Hitler by peaceful methods. Those with knowledge of European events knew that it was not a practical method to negotiate peacefully. Jawaharlal Nehru believed India should support Britain against fascism but should do so under its own free will.
Congress supported Nehru and refused to accept the Viceroy’s announcement that India was at war without the Indian Assembly being consulted. All the Congress state Governments resigned in protest at the Viceroy’s action.
In July 1940 Congress asked that a National Government be made as a reward for India’s support for the war. However, the Viceroy was unable to make such promises and again Congress decided to restart civil disobedience. Nehru and almost 1700 people were arrested in 1940.
It is because of the outbreak of war and the mistake of the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow to not consult with the Executive Committee that there was a huge mishap in India. Many Congress members were angry at the Viceroy for not consulting. The Muslim League again supported the war effort in an attempt to get a free state. Congress did not agree with the war and later asked for a National Government. The British denied their proposal and the civil disobedience started over again. At this time Britain desperately needed Indian support. However, Congress sat itself a path that reduced its influence on Indian affairs. For much of the 5 years Congress leaders were in jail for refusing to co-operate with the British Government. At the same time the Muslim League increased its influence by supporting the war effort.
The situation in India did not go unnoticed. Due to the Pearl Harbour incident Britain thought that the Japanese might try to invade India. So in 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps was sent to India with an offer of full Dominion status and the right to leave the Empire and Commonwealth as soon as the war was over. He also advised that any province that did not want to be part of the new India should become a new country.
Nehru and Congress rejected the offer. Instead they demanded immediate Cabinet Government with full power and decisions taken by Indians. Congress also did not want provinces to become independent states because they wanted a united India. With a strong central Government. The British Government refused.
Gandhi demanded immediate independence. He threatened a full mass non-violence action if his demands were not met. He demanded that the British Government should leave India but those fighting the Japanese could stay. This was an impossible demand. There was no way that the British could carry out a withdrawal and continue to fight the Japanese.
Almost straight away demonstrations took place. At first they were peaceful as Gandhi had demanded but they soon turned violent. Police Stations, Government offices, railways and telephone lines were all attacked. Supplies to Japan were held up. About 30.000 troops were sent to control the violence and there were about 60.000 deaths. The British retaliated as they done in the past and arrested many Congress leaders including Gandhi. Most remained in prison until 1944. Nehru was rearrested in 1945. Because of these arrests Congress ceased to exist between 1942 to 1944.
Throughout World War Two Indian armed forces had stayed loyal to the British. If they had not then Britain could never have retained control of India. But, in February1946 there was a mutiny in the Indian Navy in Mumbai. The mutiny spread to the Indian Army. The mutiny made the situation clear that Britain could no longer govern India. Without the aid of the Indian armed forces Britain would not be able to control the Indian people. As a last resort the British Government organised the Cabinet Mission which was sent to India to report on the situation and recommend a structure for the independent India. The Cabinet Mission found out that Congress and the Muslim League would never compromise and they both wanted different things. The Cabinet Mission rejected Jinnah’s demands for a free Muslim state and decided to give Muslims protection in the united India. Provinces were grouped together with some with a Muslim majority and others with a Hindu majority. Gandhi stated that it was the best the British government could offer at the time even though it went against the aims of Congress who wanted a strong central government. The Muslim League also accepted these proposals even though it denied them a free Muslim state. After an election for a new Assembly, Congress won 250 seats and the Muslim League won 73. After the election, Congress possibly surprised by the success of the Muslim League in the elections, resiled from their earlier agreement with Nehru announcing that “Congress were not bound by a single thing”.
Jinnah, angry that Congress did not agree with the Cabinet Mission’s proposals also withdrew support on behalf of the Muslim League. He called for direct action from all Muslims living in India. Direct action took the form of a mass protest by thousands of Muslims. They used peaceful demonstrations and sit ins. They were protesting against the tactics used by Congress and the British. Not all protests were, however, peaceful. In Calcutta, Muslims attacked Hindu shops and Muslims were in turn, attacked by Hindu mobs; the death toll stood at 5000, with the British unable to contain the violence. Both Congress and the Muslim League were disgusted by the violence and agreed to join the Viceroy’s interim government which was set up when Congress and the Muslim League refused to accept the Cabinet Mission’s proposals. The Viceroy, Lord Waverly told the Prime Minister, Clement Atlee that the British would have to leave India because of the violent anti British protests. Atlee fixed a date
So in conclusion the British attempts to try and reform the Government of India failed as there was a lack of support for the reforms from the Muslim League and Congress. Also because of the harsh acts put on to the Indian people the Indian population had also had little loyalty for the British. This is because the Indians thought that they would have been rewarded for their loyalty at the end of World War One but were instead put under harsh new rules which stated that they could be arrested with no charge.
The British also had used force in the past to maintain control over the Indian community as seen in the Amritsar Massacre. These means of violence were a show of force on innocent civilians which many Indians did not forget. This further decreased the loyalty to the British. Soon the Indians just wanted the British to leave.
The reforms did not stand a chance as they did not compromise with the Muslim League and Congress. All parties wanted different things to happen to India. The new Government of India Acts did give some power over to the Indians however; final say was always given to the British. That is why the entire attempt to reform India failed because Congress wanted a united India with a strong central government, the Muslim League wanted an independent Muslim state and Britain wanted to retain some power in India.