Simon Commission,1927
Brief Background of Simmon commission
Some commissions before Simmon commission-
Lee Commission:
- In the mid-1920s, the failure of the 1919 Act to create a stable imperial power had led to several parliamentary reports and enquiries.
- The Lee Commission was appointed in 1923 to look into the organisation and general conditions of service for Europeans and Indians in the civil services.
- The commission suggested that the statutory public service commission, as put forward by the Government of India Act 1919, needed to be established without delay.
Muddiman Committee:
- The Muddiman Committee was set up in 1924 to look into the working of the Constitution as set up in 1921 under the Act of 1919.
- Its report was not unanimous, with the minority consisting of non-official Indians strongly criticising the system of dyarchy and wanting it to be abolished immediately.
Linlithgow Commission:
- The Linlithgow Commission was set up in 1926 to examine and report the condition of India’s agricultural and rural economy.
- The commission submitted its report in 1928 and made comprehensive recommendations for the improvement of the agrarian economy as the foundation for the welfare and prosperity of India’s rural population.
Simon Commission and Its Impact on India's Struggle for Independence
Introduction:
- Simon Commission was a group of seven Members of Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon, sent to study constitutional reform in British India in 1928.
- The Government of India Act of 1919 provided for the appointment of a commission to study the progress of the governance scheme and suggest new steps after ten years.
- Since the British administration had failed to include even a single Indian in the Commission, it was strongly opposed by national leaders and freedom fighters
Reasons for Sending Simon Commission to India:
- To expand the participation of Indians in government affairs, the Parliament of the United Kingdom had passed an act called ‘The Government of India Act 1919’.
- The act introduced the system of diarchy in British India, which was opposed by Indian nationalist leaders, who demanded the administration to review the system.
- The act envisaged a system of review of reforms after ten years to study and analyse the constitutional progress and to bring in more reforms.
- The Conservative government, which was in power back then, decided to form the Commission that would study the constitutional progress of India in the late 1920s, fearing the loss to the ‘Labour Party’ in the upcoming elections
Recommendations by Simon Commission:
- The special power for the safeguarding of province and the protection of minorities comes under the Governor powers.
- The representation of provinces and other areas constituted on the basis of population at the Federal Assembly (at the Centre).
- Recommended Dominion Status for Burma and should be provided its own Constitution.
- Recommended the representation of Council of State could not be chosen on the basis of Direct Election but by Indirect Election through Provincial Council which is more or less just like Modern day election procedure as Proportional Representation.
Reasons for Boycotting Simon Commission:
- People in India were infuriated and felt insulted, for the Commission did not have a single Indian member.
- The Simon Commission was strongly opposed by the Congress and other nationalist leaders and common people.
- Many protests were carried out individually as well as in groups, urging the British administration to review the constitution of the Commission.
- In December 1927, the Indian National Congress in its meeting in Madras resolved to boycott the Commission.
- Led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, some of the members of the ‘Muslim League’ too, had made up their minds to boycott the Commission.
Indian Response:
- The Indian response to the Simon Commission was immediate and nearly unanimous.
- The exclusion of Indians from the commission and the basic notion behind the exclusion that foreigners would discuss and decide upon India’s fitness for self-government was seen as a violation of the principle of self-determination and as a deliberate insult to the self-respect of Indians.
Congress Response:
- The Congress session in Madras (December 1927) meeting under the presidency of M.A. Ansari decided to boycott the commission “at every stage and in every form”.
- Nehru succeeded in getting a snap resolution passed at the session, declaring complete independence as the goal of the Congress.
Other Groups:
- Those who decided to support the Congress call of boycott of the Simon Commission included the liberals of the Hindu Mahasabha and the majority faction of the Muslim League under Jinnah.
- Some others, such as the Unionists in Punjab and the Justice Party in the south, decided not to boycott the commission.
Public Response:
- The commission landed in Bombay on February 3, 1928, and a countrywide hartal was organized, with mass rallies held.
- Wherever the commission went, there were black flag demonstrations, hartals, and slogans of ‘Simon Go Back’.
- The upsurge among the youth provided a fertile ground for the germination and spread of new radical ideas of socialism.
- Nehru and Subhas Bose emerged as leaders of this new wave of youth and students.
Protests and Death of Lala Lajpat Rai:
- The Commission, headed by Sir John Allsebrook Simon, reached India on February 3, 1928, and was greeted by thousands of protestors in Bombay, demanding the Commission to go back.
- There were nationwide strikes and people greeted the Commission with black flags wherever it went.
- On 30 October 1928, the Commission arrived in Lahore where it was met by protesters waving black flags.
- The protest was led by the Indian nationalist Lala Lajpat Rai, who was critically injured by the police and died of cardiac arrest on 17 November 1928
Aftermath of the Commission:
- In its May 1930 report, the Commission proposed the eradication of diarchy system and suggested the establishment of representative government in various provinces.
- Much before the Simon Commission’s report, Motilal Nehru submitted his ‘Nehru Report’ in September 1928 to counter the Commission’s charges, which suggested that Indians still lacked constitutional consensus.
- The ‘Nehru Report’ pushed for dominion status for India with complete internal self-government.
- The British government tried to calm down people by saying that the opinion of Indians will be taken into account in any such future exercise and that the natural outcome.