Round Table Conferences (India)

This article is about Anglo-Indian round table conferences. For Dutch-Indonesian round table conference, see Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference. For other uses, see Round Table (disambiguation).

The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–32 were a series of conferences organized by the British Government to discuss constitutional reforms in India. They were conducted as per the recommendation by the report submitted by the Simon Commission in May 1930. Demands for swaraj, or self-rule, in India had been growing increasingly strong. By the 1930s, many British politicians believed that India needed to move towards dominion status. However, there were significant disagreements between the Indian and the British political parties that the Conferences would not resolve.

First Round Table Conference (November 1930 – January 1931)

The Round Table Conference was opened officially by King George V on November 12, 1930 at London and chaired by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. It was the first time that British and Indian political leaders and rulers of Indian princely states met at one place.

The three British political parties were represented by sixteen delegates. There were fifty-seven political leaders from British India and sixteen delegates from the princely states. In total 89 delegates from India attended the Conference. However, the Indian National Congress, along with Indian business leaders, kept away from the conference. Many of them were in jail for their participation in Civil Disobedience Movement.

Participants

• British Representatives: Ramsay Macdonald, Lord Sankey, Wedgwood Benn, Arthur Henderson, J. H. Thomas, William Jowitt, Hastings Lees-Smith, Earl Russell, Earl Peel, Marquess of Zetland, Samuel Hoare, Oliver Stanley, Marquess of Reading, Marquess of Lothian, Robert Hamilton, Isaac Foot

• Indian States' Representatives: Maharaja of Alwar, Maharaja of Baroda, Nawab of Bhopal, Maharaja of Bikaner, Rana of Dholpur, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja of Nawanagar, Maharaja of Patiala (Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes), Maharaja of Rewa, Chief Sahib of Sangli, Sir Prabhashankar Pattani, Manubhai Mehta, Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmed Khan, Akbar Hydari, Mirza Ismail, Col. K.N. Haksar

• British-Indian Representatives: Aga Khan III, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Maulana Mohammad Ali, B. R. Ambedkar, U Aung Thin, Ba U, Chandradhar Barua, J. N. Basu, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, Sir Hubert Carr, C. Y. Chintamani, Muhammad Ahmad Said Khan Chhatari, Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga, Raja Sher Muhammad Khan of Domeli, A. K. Fazlul Huq, M. M. Ohn Ghine, A. H. Ghuznavi, Henry Gidney, Sir O. de Glanville, Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, Hafiz Hidayat Hussain, Bhaskarrao Vithojirao Jadhav, M. R. Jayakar, Cowasji Jehangir, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, T. F. Gavin Jones, N. M. Joshi, Narendra Nath Law, Bhupendra Nath Mitra, Provash Chandra Mitter, Homi Mody, B. S. Moonje, Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, Diwan Bahadur Raja Narendra Nath, A. T. Pannirselvam, Raja of Parlakimedi, Sir Annepu Parasuramadas Patro, Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, M. Ramachandra Rao, B. Shiva Rao, Syed Sultan Ahmed, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Muhammad Shafi, Sardar Sampuran Singh, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, Bisheshwar Dayal Seth, Phiroze Sethna, Dr. Shafa'at Ahmad Khan, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, Rettamalai Srinivasan, Radhabai Subbarayan, Shripad Balwant Tambe, Sardar Ujjal Singh, C. E. Wood, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan

• Officials attending in consultative capacity: W. M. Hailey, C. A. Innes, A. C. MacWatters, H. G. Haig, L. W. Reynolds

• Indian States Delegation Staff: Richard Chenevix-Trench, Nawab Mahdi Yar Jung, Ahmed Hussain, Nawab Sir Amin Jung Bahadur, Sir Reginald Glancy, T. Raghavaiah, Krishnama Chari, K. C. Neogy, L. F. Rushbrook Williams, Qazi Ali Haidar Abbasi, Jarmani Dass

• Secretariats: S. K. Brown, V. Dawson, K. S. Fitze, W. H. Lewis, R. J. Stopford, J. Coatman, Marmaduke Pickthall, K. M. Panikkar, N. S. Subba Rao, Geoffrey Corbett, A. Latifi, Girija Shankar Bajpai

• Secretariat-General: R. H. A. Carter, Mian Abdul Aziz, W. D. Croft, G. E. J. Gent, B. G. Holdsworth, R. F. Mudie, G. S. Rajadhyaksha

The conference started with 6 plenary meetings where delegates put forward their issues. These were followed by discussions on the reports of the sub-committees on Federal Structure, Provincial Constitution, Minorities, Burma, North West Frontier Province, Franchise, Defence, Services and [Sindh]]. These were followed by 2 more plenary meetings and a final concluding session.

The idea of an All-India Federation was moved to the centre of discussion. All the groups attending the conference supported this concept. The responsibility of the executive to the legislature was discussed, and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar demanded a separate electorate for the so-called Untouchables.

It was difficult for progress to be made in the absence of Congress (Indian National Congress) but some advances were made. The princes declared they would join future federation of India as long as their rights were recognized and the British agreed that representative government should be introduced on provincial level.

Second Round Table Conference (September – December 1931)

The second session opened on September 7, 1931. There were three major differences between the first and second Round Table Conferences. By the second:

The Second Round Table Conference (September 7, 1931)

• Congress Representation — The Gandhi-Irwin Pact opened the way for Congress participation in this conference. Mahatma Gandhi was invited from India and attended as the sole official Congress representative accompanied by Sarojini Naidu and also Madan Mohan Malaviya, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Muhammad Iqbal, Sir Mirza Ismail (Diwan of Mysore), S.K. Dutta and Sir Syed Ali Imam. Gandhi claimed that the Congress alone represented political India; that the Untouchables were Hindus and should not be treated as a “minority”; and that there should be no separate electorates or special safeguards for Muslims or other minorities. These claims were rejected by the other Indian participants. According to this pact, Gandhi was asked to call off the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and if he did so the prisoners of the British government would be freed excepting the criminal prisoners, i.e. those who had killed British officials. He returned to India, disappointed with the results and empty-handed.

• National Government — two weeks earlier the Labour government in London had fallen. Ramsay MacDonald now headed a National Government dominated by the Conservative Party.

• Financial Crisis – During the conference, Britain went off the Gold Standard further distracting the National Government.

During the Conference, Gandhi could not reach agreement with the Muslims on Muslim representation and safeguards. At the end of the conference Ramsay MacDonald undertook to produce a Communal Award for minority representation, with the provision that any free agreement between the parties could be substituted for his award.

Gandhi took particular exception to the treatment of untouchables as a minority separate from the rest of the Hindu community. He clashed with the leader of depressed classes, Dr.B. R. Ambedkar, over this issue: the two eventually resolved the situation with the Poona Pact of 1932.

Participants

• British Representatives: Ramsay Macdonald, Wedgwood Benn, W.E. Elliot, Isaac Foot, H. Graham-White, Viscount Hailsham, Robert Hamilton, Arthur Henderson, Samuel Hoare, William Jowitt, Hastings Lees-Smith, Marquess of Lothian, Earl Peel, F. W. Pethick-Lawrence, Marquess of Reading, Lord Sankey, Lord Snell, Oliver Stanley, J. H. Thomas, Marquess of Zetland
• Indian States' Representatives: Maharaja of Alwar, Maharaja of Baroda, Nawab of Bhopal, Maharaja of Bikaner, Maharao of Cutch, Rana of Dholpur, Maharaja of Indore, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja of Kapurthala, Maharaja of Nawanagar, Maharaja of Patiala, Maharaja of Rewa, Chief Sahib of Sangli, Raja of Korea, Raja of Sarila, Sir Prabhashankar Pattani, Manubhai Mehta, Sardar Sahibzada Sultan Ahmed Khan, Sir Muhammad Akbar Hydari, Mirza Ismail, Col. K.N. Haksar, T. Raghavaiah, Liaqat Hayat Khan
• British-Indian Representatives: Aga Khan III, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Syed Ali Imam, Maulana Shaukat Ali, B. R. Ambedkar, Chandradhar Barua, J. N. Basu, E. C. Benthall, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Raja of Bobbili, Sir Hubert Carr, C. Y. Chintamani, Muhammad Ahmad Said Khan Chhatari, Maneckji Dadabhoy, Maulvi Muhammad Shafi Daudi, Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga, Surendra Kumar Datta, Raja Sher Muhammad Khan of Domeli, A. K. Fazlul Huq, Mahatma Gandhi, A. H. Ghuznavi, Henry Gidney, Sir Padamji Ginwala, V. V. Giri, Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, Hafiz Hidayat Hussain, Muhammad Iqbal, A. Rangaswami Iyengar, Bhaskarrao Vithojirao Jadhav, Jamal Muhammad, M. R. Jayakar, Cowasji Jehangir, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, T. F. Gavin Jones, N. M. Joshi, Narendra Nath Law, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Nawab Sahibzada Sayed Muhammad Mehr Shah, Sir Provash Chandra Mitter, Homi Mody, B. S. Moonje, Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, Sarojini Naidu, Diwan Bahadur Raja Narendra Nath, Sayed Muhammad Padshah Saheb Bahadur, A. T. Pannirselvam, Raja of Parlakimedi, Sir Annepu Parasuramadas Patro, Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, M. Ramachandra Rao, B. Shiva Rao, Syed Sultan Ahmed, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Muhammad Shafi, Sardar Sampuran Singh, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, Bisheshwar Dayal Seth, Phiroze Sethna, Dr. Shafa'at Ahmad Khan, Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz, Rettamalai Srinivasan, Radhabai Subbarayan, Shripad Balwant Tambe, Purshotamdas Thakurdas, Sardar Ujjal Singh, C. E. Wood, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan
• Indian States Delegation Staff: Krishnama Chari, Richard Chenevix-Trench, Nawab Mahdi Yar Jung, S. M. Bapna, Amar Nath Atal, J. W. Young, Ram Chandra Kak, Sahibzada Abdus Samad Khan, K. C. Neogy, L. F. Rushbrook Williams, Jarmani Dass, Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, K. M. Panikkar, N. Madhava Rao
• British Delegation Staff: H. G. Haig, V. Dawson, K. S. Fitze, J. G. Laithwaite, W. H. Lewis, P. J. Patrick, J. Coatman, G. T. Garratt, R. J. Stopford
• British Indian Delegation Staff: Geoffrey Corbett, A. Latifi, Girija Shankar Bajpai, Benegal Rama Rau, Syed Amjad Ali, Prince Aly Khan, A. M. Chaudhury, Mahadev Desai, Govind Malaviya, K. T. Shah, P. Sinha
• Secretariat-General: R. H. A. Carter, K. Anderson, C. D. Deshmukh, J. M. Sladen, Hugh MacGregor, G. F. Steward, A. H. Joyce, Syed Amjad Ali, Ram Babu Saksena

Third Round Table Conference (November – December 1932)

The third and last session assembled on November 17, 1932. Only forty-six delegates attended since most of the main political figures of India were not present. The Labour Party from Britain and the Indian National Congress refused to attend.

In this conference, Chaudhary Rahmat Ali, a college student, coined the name "Pakistan" (which means "land of pureness") as the name for the Muslim part of partitioned India. Jinnah did not attend it, since he went on a voluntary exile and was practicing law at Central London .

From September 1931 until March 1933, under the supervision of Samuel Hoare, the proposed reforms took the form reflected in the Government of India Act 1935.

References

• Menon, V. P. (1995). "Integration of the Indian States",'Orient Longman Ltd'
• Essay on Indian Constitutional Round Table Conferences, London 1931–1933