A commission with no Indians on it
The 1919 Act had promised a review after ten years. When the review came, the British forgot to include a single Indian on it — and handed the national movement its easiest argument in decades.
The Indian Statutory Commission, universally called the Simon Commission after its chairman Sir John Simon, was appointed in November 1927 to review the working of the Government of India Act 1919. It had seven members, all British. Not one Indian sat on a body deciding how India would be governed. The insult was so obvious that groups who agreed on nothing else agreed to boycott it.
The 1919 Act promised a review after ten years, which meant 1929. The Conservative government appointed it in 1927 instead, fearing that a Labour government might come to power and appoint a commission more sympathetic to Indian demands. The haste was noticed in India and added to the resentment.
The boycott
- At its Madras session of December 1927, the Congress resolved to boycott the Commission at every stage and in every form
- The Muslim League under Jinnah joined the boycott, as did the Hindu Mahasabha and the liberals
- Some groups did not boycott — the Unionist Party in Punjab, the Justice Party in Madras, and the Muslim League faction under Muhammad Shafi
- The Commission landed at Bombay on 3 February 1928 and was met by a countrywide hartal, black flags and the slogan Simon Go Back
When the Commission reached Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai led the protest march against it. The police, under Superintendent James Scott, ordered a lathi-charge, and Lajpat Rai was severely beaten about the head and chest.
Lala Lajpat Rai died a few weeks later. He had said that every blow struck at him would be a nail in the coffin of the British Empire. To avenge him, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot the police officer J.P. Saunders at Lahore in December 1928 — the act that eventually led to their execution.
Birkenhead's challenge and the Nehru Report
Lord Birkenhead, the Secretary of State for India, taunted Indian leaders publicly: if they objected to a British commission, let them produce a constitution of their own that all Indian communities would accept. He was confident they could not. The Congress took up the challenge.
- An All Parties Conference appointed a committee chaired by Motilal Nehru, with Jawaharlal Nehru as secretary
- Its report — the Nehru Report, submitted on 10 August 1928 — was the first constitution drafted by Indians for India
- Formally titled The Constitution of India, it was considered at the All Parties Convention at Calcutta in December 1928
| What the Nehru Report proposed | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dominion Status | Self-government within the British Empire — not complete independence |
| Fundamental rights | A declaration of rights for all Indians, the ancestor of Part III of the Constitution |
| Joint electorates | Separate electorates rejected, with reservation of seats for minorities where they were in a minority |
| Federal structure | A federation with residual powers kept at the Centre |
| Linguistic provinces | Provinces to be reorganised on the basis of language |
| No state religion | India to be a secular state; responsible government in the provinces |
The report failed to hold the parties together. Jinnah and the Muslim League rejected it — chiefly over the abolition of separate electorates and the concentration of residual powers at the Centre. The Hindu Mahasabha and the Sikh League objected too, from the opposite direction. And within the Congress, the younger leaders — Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose — rejected Dominion Status entirely and demanded Purna Swaraj, complete independence. Birkenhead's taunt had been answered, but not settled.
Jinnah's Fourteen Points, 1929
In response to the Nehru Report, Jinnah drew up his Fourteen Points in March 1929 as the Muslim League's minimum terms for any future constitution. The main demands included a federal constitution with residual powers to the provinces, provincial autonomy, continuation of separate electorates, one-third Muslim representation in the central legislature, and protection of Muslim religious and cultural rights.
The Nehru Report and the Fourteen Points mark the point where Congress and League drifted apart for good. Jinnah had been called the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity a decade earlier at the Lucknow Pact of 1916. After 1928 he began the estrangement that ended, nineteen years later, in Partition. Exams often ask what the Fourteen Points were a response to — the answer is the Nehru Report.
The chain runs straight on: the Nehru Report's Dominion Status was rejected by the Congress youth, so at the Lahore session of December 1929 the Congress declared Purna Swaraj as its goal, hoisted the tricolour on 31 December 1929, and observed the first Independence Day on 26 January 1930. Weeks later the Dandi March began.
Why was the Simon Commission boycotted, and what did the boycott lead to?
Because all seven of its members were British and no Indian was included on a body deciding India's constitutional future. The boycott produced nationwide protests under the slogan Simon Go Back, the lathi-charge that killed Lala Lajpat Rai, and — after Lord Birkenhead challenged Indians to draft their own constitution — the Nehru Report of 1928.
1927 appointed, 1928 landed, 1928 Nehru Report, 1929 Fourteen Points, 1929 Purna Swaraj. Five steps, five years, one chain.
Everything on one look
The commission, the boycott, the report and the split.
- Its formal name was the Indian Statutory Commission
- It was appointed in November 1927 under Sir John Simon
- All seven members were British
- It came to review the Government of India Act 1919
- The Congress resolved to boycott at Madras in December 1927
- Lala Lajpat Rai was lathi-charged at Lahore and died in 1928
- Lord Birkenhead challenged Indians to draft a constitution
- The committee was chaired by Motilal Nehru
- The report was submitted on 10 August 1928
- It proposed Dominion Status, not independence
- It rejected separate electorates in favour of joint electorates
- Jinnah answered with his Fourteen Points in 1929
- The Simon Commission was appointed in 1927 and reached India in 1928
- Its formal name is the Indian Statutory Commission
- All seven members were British — that was the reason for the boycott
- Lala Lajpat Rai died in November 1928 after the Lahore lathi-charge
- Saunders was shot to avenge Lajpat Rai, in December 1928
- The Nehru Report was chaired by Motilal Nehru, not Jawaharlal
- The report demanded Dominion Status, not Purna Swaraj
- Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Bose rejected Dominion Status
- Jinnah's Fourteen Points were a response to the Nehru Report
- The Unionist Party and Justice Party did not join the boycott
- The Simon Commission's formal name was the Indian Statutory Commission
- It was appointed in November 1927
- It was chaired by Sir John Simon
- All seven members of the Commission were British
- It was set up to review the Government of India Act 1919
- It was appointed two years early for fear of a Labour government
- The Congress resolved to boycott it at the Madras session of December 1927
- The Muslim League under Jinnah joined the boycott
- The Unionist Party of Punjab and the Justice Party did not boycott
- The Commission landed at Bombay on 3 February 1928
- The protest slogan was Simon Go Back
- Lala Lajpat Rai led the Lahore protest against the Commission
- Lala Lajpat Rai was lathi-charged and died in November 1928
- Bhagat Singh and Rajguru shot Saunders to avenge Lajpat Rai
- Lord Birkenhead challenged Indians to draft their own constitution
- The Nehru Report committee was chaired by Motilal Nehru
- Jawaharlal Nehru served as secretary of the committee
- The Nehru Report was submitted on 10 August 1928
- It was the first constitution drafted by Indians for India
- The report demanded Dominion Status within the British Empire
- It included a declaration of fundamental rights
- It rejected separate electorates in favour of joint electorates
- It kept residual powers with the Centre
- It proposed provinces reorganised on a linguistic basis
- It declared there should be no state religion
- The Muslim League rejected the Nehru Report
- Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Bose rejected Dominion Status
- Jinnah presented his Fourteen Points in 1929
- The Fourteen Points demanded separate electorates and provincial autonomy
- They sought one-third Muslim representation in the central legislature
- The Lahore session of 1929 declared Purna Swaraj as the goal
- The first Independence Day was observed on 26 January 1930