Although many British Conservative officials in India and England were furious at the idea of reaching such a deal with a party that clearly and openly questioned British rule in India, the British government struck a pact to overcome the insurmountable impasse that had developed due to national unrest in India. which have been accompanied by increasing international media attention. British politician, army officer and writer Sir Winston Churchill, who later twice became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, expressed concern about this, calling Gandhi « a former advocate of the Inner Temple, now a seditious fakir » who, dressed in his half-naked clothes, visits the viceroy`s palace to discuss the terms of the pact with the king`s representative and negotiate on an equal footing. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by legendary Indian leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin. It was signed before the second conference of the Round Table in London on March 5, 1931. The pact ended the non-violent civil disobedience movement (Satyagraha), which was launched by the Indian National Congress under Gandhi`s leadership with the Salt March that led to his arrest and imprisonment. In the face of such unrest, which eventually took the form of a national civil disobedience movement that saw the arrest of thousands of Indians, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi was released from prison and Irwin negotiated with him to draft the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. However, the terms of the pact excluded many of the terms proposed by Gandhi. In the face of such adversity, which has seen perhaps the most severe repression of the British regime, the British civil service and the business community have pushed for stricter measures. However, the British Prime Minister at the time, Ramsay MacDonald, and the Indian Secretary of State, William Benn, wanted to settle things peacefully without diminishing the strength and position of the Labour Party government. Both were aware that to make the round table a success, they had to have Gandhi and the Congress on the panel.
At the closing session of the Round Table in January 1931, Ramsay MacDonald stated that he expected congressional representation to be present at the next session. In order to get a clue from the Prime Minister, the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, soon ordered the unconditional release of Gandhi and all members of the Congress Working Committee. Many British officials in India and Britain were outraged by the idea of a pact with a party whose stated goal was the destruction of the British Raj. Winston Churchill publicly expressed his disgust. » in the disgusting and humiliating spectacle of this former lawyer of the Inner Temple, now a rebellious fakir, who climbs half-naked the steps of the viceroy`s palace to negotiate with the representative of the emperor king and parade on an equal footing. Image Source: www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/significance-of-gandhi-irwin-pact/2597 Gandhi-Irwin Pact was a political agreement reached by Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India, on September 5. It was signed in 1931 before the second round table in London. Gandhi`s motivations for making a pact with Lord Irwin, the viceroy, can be better understood in terms of technique. Satyagraha movements have been commonly described as « struggles, » « rebellions, » and « wars without violence. » However, due to the common connotation of these words, they seemed to place a disproportionate emphasis on the negative aspect of the movements, namely opposition and conflict. Satyagraha`s goal, however, was not to achieve the physical elimination or moral collapse of an adversary – but to set in motion a psychological process through the suffering of his hands that could allow the sense and heart to meet. In such a struggle, a compromise with an adversary was neither heresy nor betrayal, but a natural and necessary step.
If it turned out that the compromise was premature and the adversary showed no remorse, nothing prevented the Satyagrahi from returning to non-violent struggle. The movement for India`s independence gained momentum and the Salt Satyagraha continued for nearly a year, with more than 60,000 Indians imprisoned, while the atrocities committed by the British government to curb such movements gradually attracted attention and worried the British in India. The viceroy, Lord Irwin, carried out the harshest crackdown indian nationalism had seen at the time, but he did not enjoy the role. The British-led Indian civil service and the commercial community preferred even stricter measures. But Ramsay MacDonald, the British Prime Minister, and William Benn, Her Majesty`s most important Secretary of State for India, were eager for peace if they could secure it without weakening the Labour government`s position in Whitehall. They wanted to make the round table a success and knew that this body could not have much weight without the presence of Gandhi and the Congress. In January 1931, at the closing session of the Round Table, Ramsay MacDonald went so far as to express the hope that Congress would be represented at the next session. The viceroy accepted the denunciation and immediately ordered the unconditional release of Gandhi and all members of the Congress Working Committee. Gandhi responded to this gesture by agreeing to meet the viceroy.
Talks and negotiations between Irwin and Gandhi began in the second half of February 1931 and included eight meetings that lasted up to 24 hours. These were the proposed conditions: in early October 1929, Irwin declared an inaccurate offer of « dominion status » for India in the future, as well as a discussion for a future constitution at a round table. The Satyagraha ended after Gandhi and other members of the Congress Working Committee were released from prison on January 26, 1931. Irwin invited Gandhi to talks and negotiations. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed due to the brutal British crackdown on the Satyagrahis. Due to widespread violence, Gandhiji broke the civil disobedience movement and signed a pact with Lord Irwin. The following agreements were reached: • The Muslim leaders who attended the conference were Muhammad Ali, Agha Khan, Fazlul Haq and Jinnah. The result of the third round table was the « White Paper » published by the government. Based on this document, the Government of India Act 1935 was to be passed. M.K. Gandhi, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, attended a very formal meeting with Lord Irwin to negotiate the terms of constitutional reforms. On March 5, 1931, a pact was signed between M.K.
Gandhi and Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India. The pact forced the British government to admit some demands, which were given below: The political agreement, known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, was approved by Mahatma Gandhi on behalf of the Indian National Congress and Lord Irwin on behalf of the British government ahead of the second roundtable conference, which was held on September 5. ==External links==1931 in London, Great Britain. .
