On which among the following dates, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed?
[A] 4 March 1931
[B] 5 March 1931
[C] 6 March 1931
[D] 7 March 1931
Answer: B
The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin on 5 March 1931 before the second Round Table Conference in London.
Gandhi-Irwin Pact explained:
The Gandhi Irwin Pact was an agreement signed between Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin in 1931. This pact aimed to resolve the civil disobedience movement and ease political tensions in India. Under the agreement, the Indian National Congress agreed to suspend the civil disobedience movement.
The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, on 4 March 1931 before the Second Round Table Conference in London. Before this, Irwin, the Viceroy, had announced in October 1929 a vague offer of ‘dominion status’ for India in an unspecified future and a Round Table Conference to discuss a future constitution. The Second Round Table Conference was held from September to December 1931 in London. This movement marked the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement in India.
Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin had eight meetings that totalled 24 hours. Although Gandhi was impressed by Irwin’s sincerity, the terms of the pact fell manifestly short of those Gandhi had prescribed as the minimum for a truce. Gandhi managed to have over 90,000 political prisoners released under the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.
Proposed conditions by Gandhi:
- Discontinuation of the Salt March by the Indian National Congress
- Participation by the Indian National Congress in the Second Round Table Conference
- Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the Colonial government of India imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress
- Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of political offenses (Rowlatt Act) except those involving violence
- Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the Salt March; and
- Removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use
Many British officials in India, and in Britain, were outraged by the idea of a pact with a party whose avowed purpose was the destruction of the British Raj. Winston Churchill publicly expressed his disgust “…at the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious fakir, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy’s palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor.
Agreed terms by Irwin Government:
- Withdraw all ordinances and end prosecutions
- Release all political prisoners, except those guilty of violence
- Permit peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops
- Restore confiscated properties of the satyagrahis
- Permit free collection or manufacture of salt by persons near the sea-coast
- Lift the ban over the Congress
Government not agreed terms
- Congress’ demand of enquiring into police excess.
- Mahatma Gandhi’s demand of converting death penalty of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to lesser punishment.
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