Why Was The Independence Day Declared On 26 January 1930

India's annual Republic Day celebrations on 26 January have roots in the long struggle against colonial rule.

The significance of 26th January is of utmost importance to the imagining of India as a postcolonial sovereign state because it was on this day in 1930 that the Indian National Congress declared India¡¯s independence and urged the people to celebrate the day as Independence day. But the road to independence was fraught with setbacks: the first being the breakdown of negotiations following the Irwin Declaration of 1929.

The Irwin Declaration 1929

The Irwin Declaration was a five-line statement:

¡®¡¯In view of the doubts which have been expressed both in Great Britain and in India regarding the interpretation to be placed on the intentions of the British government in enacting the statute of 1919, I am authorised on behalf of his Majesty¡¯s Government to state clearly that in their judgement it is implicit in the Declaration of 1917 that the natural issue of India¡¯s constitutional progress as there contemplated is the attainment of Dominion status.¡¯¡¯

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The statement was intended to cool the passions of the nationalist movement. It was made by Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India on October 31, 1929.

The Declaration meant that India would be given dominion status. But it wasn¡¯t specified when. Iriwn¡¯s Declaration created an uproar both in India and Great Britain: the Indian nationalist leaders welcomed the decision but the British public was vehemently against losing India as its colony.

The Declaration, however, changed the attitude of the nationalist leaders and they wanted the modes of engagement between them and the British government to solely revolve around the issue of dominion status. But the pressure from home was too much for Lord Irwin and in a meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah Irwin said that the declaration did not mean that dominion status would be granted in the near future.

Disappointed, the leadership threw to the dustbin the demands of dominion status and instead passed the ¡®Purna Swaraj¡¯ (Complete Independence) at its Lahore session in 1929.

The Irwin Declaration was tabled because of mounting pressure from the nationalist storm that was gripping the nation. And the manifestation of this storm was the Nehru report of 1928 that led to the Irwin Declaration of 1929.

The Nehru Report 1928

The Simon Commission was appointed by the British government in 1927 to look into the Government of India Act of 1919. The Commission would look into the matter that concerned the fate of the Indian people, without having a single Indian member. And this did not sit well with the nationalist discourse raging at the time. The British, while acknowledging the discontentment among the nationalist leadership did not change the composition of members and instead asked the leadership to draft a constitution. The Indian response to this challenge was the Nehru Report of 1928.

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Constitution of India.net writes, ¡®¡¯The Report read like what it claimed to be ¨C a constitutional document. written in a legal style containing 22 chapters and 87 articles. The very first article of the Report unequivocally claimed dominion status for India. Other notable features included a section on fundamental rights: the right to free expression and opinion, equality before the law, right to bear arms, freedom of conscience, free profession and propagation of religion. The most remarkable provision was the right to free and elementary education. The Report introduced a parliamentary system of government along with universal adult suffrage. On the communal question, the Report proposed reservation for Muslims in legislatures, however, these were restricted to only those constituencies where Muslims were in a minority. Also, there was no mention of separate electorates for Muslims.¡¯¡¯
of responsible government in British India as an integral part of the empire¡¯.

The struggle for self-government was rewarded albeit in a limited and restricted way by the Government of India Act 1919. But it was the result of the joint cooperation between the Congress and the Muslim League that came to be known as the Lucknow Pact of 1916.

The Lucknow Pact

The Lucknow Pact was a joint document by the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League in 1916. ¡®Both political organisations agreed to work together on a scheme that demanded self-government and put pressure on the British. They jointly appointed committees for this purpose; the committees met in Lucknow and Calcutta prepared a scheme of reforms¡¯.
The seven-part document had four parts dedicated to ¡®composition and functioning of the legislature and executive at the provincial and federal levels¡¯ and the remaining three were ¡®Secretary of State, India and the Empire, and Military and Other Matters.¡¯ The document had separate electorates for Muslims at both the provincial and federal levels; parity with other British dominions and an abolition of the position of the secretary of state and a ban ¡®on members of the Indian Civil Service from occupying political positions in government.'

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India¡¯s design based on the Nehru report

The design of India as envisaged in the report read: ¡®India shall have the same constitutional status in the community of nations, known as the British Empire, as the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa and the Irish Free State, with a Parliament having powers to make laws for the peace, order and good government of India, and an executive responsible to that Parliament; and shall be styled and known as the Commonwealth of India.¡¯

Going back further, the report was a direct result of the failure of the British government to not include any Indian member on the Simon Commission.

The Simon Commission

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The Simon Commission was headed by the chairman Sir John Allsebrook Simon. The commission was sent from England to review the Government of India Act of 1919. And in 1930 the commission submitted its report: The Simon report.

The commission found itself in hot waters as soon as it reached Indian shores. Both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League boycotted the report; Mahatma Gandhi began the civil disobedience movement. The viceroy of India, Lord Irwin also accepted that the committee¡¯s findings stood no chance of public acceptability in India.

In Great Britain, the Workers¡¯ League of India and the London Branch of the Indian National congress staged an opposition against the Simon commission. Around 200 members marched from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Station.

The Simon commission was constituted to look into the Government of India Act 1919.

The Government of India Act, 1919

¡®The Government of India Act 1919 was the codified version of the Montag-Chelmsford reforms¡¯ and had 47 sections and 5 schedules. The Act was responsible for introducing diarchy in the Indian subcontinent. The Act created 11 provinces and allowed a limited form of Indian representation by letting the Indians have the public health and education portfolio. It also had a provision for review after 10 years.

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The first world war had ended in 1918 and Britain suffered heavily. In India, radical nationalists were growing assertive and violent and the British government wanted to favour the moderate section of the Indians over the radicals and so, the Government of India Act was passed. The Act would give some modicum of authority to Indians by allowing them some portfolios in the government functioning.

The Act began by stating that.¡®It is the declared policy of Parliament to provide for the increasing, association of Indians in every branch of Indian administration, and for the gradual development of self-governing institutions, with a view to the progressive realization.