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Pak Studies History IGCSEPDF 64
181 pagesrevision 46928
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The conservative Govt. set up a commission of seven men under the chairmanship of Sir
John Simon. All the members were British, so there were protests in whole India. The
commission reported its report in 1930 which stipulated a Federal system of govt. Diarchy
was abolished in provinces. There will be a provision of Separate electorate for Muslims.
Muslims were not granted 1/3rd representation in central legislature. They were also not
guaranteed jobs in civil services according to their weightage. Sindh was not separated from
the Bombay presidency. Special status of NWFP remained the same. Round Table
conferences were announced to setup a new constitution in India.
Report was unacceptable for Both Congress and Muslims. There was no inclusion of Indian
member in this commission so both INC and AIML called it “all white body”. Lord
Birkenhead did not include Indians in the commission because he considered the disunity
among the Indians main impediment towards the constitutional efforts of commission. This
was looked upon as an insult and majority parties rejected the reports. The clauses of the
report were either not accepted to one party or the other party. For example, INC wanted a
federation with a strong center, but AIML wanted a federation with weak center where more
powers are vested in provinces (provincial autonomy). Another disappointment for
Muslim League was that report did not recommend one-third Muslim seats in central
legislature.
After the boycott of Simon commission, Lord Birkend head, Secretary of State for Indian
Affairs, challenged the Indians, “If they have any political capability and competence then
they should form a unanimous constitution and present it to us and we will implement it.” It
was presented by Motilal Nehru in All Parties Conference in 1928. It called for immediate
dominion status for India. The proposals stated that India would be a federation
with a bicameral legislature. It did not guarantee a separate electorate or weightage for any
community as it awakened communal sentiments. Protection to minorities was given by
reserved seats in central legislature. Muslims should have 1/4th representation at the centre
instead of 1/3rd representation.
The report was not acceptable to Muslims and the Muslim members of the Committee did
not sign it. The report ignored political interests of Indian Muslims because important
leadership to speak for Muslims was not there. Jinnah was in England to look after his
terminally ill wife. Sir Ali Imam could not attend the meeting due to bad health. So, Muslims
were being represented by Shoaib Qureshi and others who were not important leaders of
Muslims.
Jinnah tried to advocate the Hindi-Muslim unity once again by proposing four amendments in
January 1929. The amendments of Jinnah were that there should be one-third Muslim seats
in both houses of central legislature i.e., council of state and central legislative assembly.
Muslim seats in Punjab and Bengal should be according to the size of their population.
Residuary powers are to be vested in provinces. NWFP and Sindh are to be
declared as separate provinces.
Conclusively, it can be implied that fourteen points of Jinnah were more important as they
were accepted in the long run, and they gave a platform to the Muslim League for the future
struggle for the independence.