THE PERIOD OF COLONIAL RULEwanted to prevent a Labour government overseeing the next constitutional
reform. The Simon Commission included MPs of all parties, but no Indians
were associated with it, a fact which was deeply resented in India. Viceroy
Lord Irwin, who was taken by surprise at this resentment, later made
amends for the omission by sponsoring the idea of Round Table
Conferences to be convened in London. It was intended that those
conferences would be the forum for British and Indian politicians to arrive
at a consensus about a new constitutional reform.
Although the proceedings of the Simon Commission were superseded by
these Round Table Conferences, the basic recommendations remained
more or less the same: India was to be a federal state which would include
the British Indian provinces as well as the princely states; although the
centre would retain a great deal of control, power would be shared there in
terms of ‘dyarchy’; in the provinces dyarchy would be replaced by
‘provincial autonomy’. The franchise was to be extended so as to include
about 10 per cent of the population. Property qualifications in terms of
certain amounts of rent or revenue paid, or alternatively some educational
qualifications, were made preconditions of enfranchisement. Due
representation, however, should also be given to the lower classes such as
workers and untouchables. The grant of separate electorates to the latter
was recommended by the British, but deeply resented by the caste Hindus
who saw in this another dangerous step towards a disaggregation of the
body politic in India. The princes, whose representatives at the first Round
Table Conference in 1930 were quite sanguine about the prospects of
federation, later got cold feet. This was presumably due to the fact that the
Political Department of the Government of India, whose task it was to deal
with the princes, did not like the idea and told them all about the potential
financial consequences which they would have to face if they joined the
federation.
The Government of India Act of 1935—the longest Act ever passed by
Parliament—did make provisions for a federation, but it was to come into
being only if at least 50 per cent of the princely states would join it. The
second part of the Act contained the standard provincial constitution.
There was no longer to be ‘dyarchy’ at the provincial level, but full
‘provincial autonomy’. Dyarchy would have been introduced at the centre
had the first part of the Government of India Act become operative.
Because of the princes’ failure to join, however, this was not to be. Winston
Churchill, who had waged a furious political campaign against Indian
constitutional reform, could be fully satisfied. He had argued that
provincial autonomy was enough and that the British hold on the
Government of India should remain undiminished. This is exactly what
happened. In fact, the power of the viceroy was now greater than ever,
because the federal part of the constitution remained inoperative at the
same time as interference by the Secretary of State was greatly reduced.