Gandhi Irwin Pact

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation has made several movements in the process of freedom fighting. Being a part of these moments, he was arrested and sent to prison at various times. Gandhiji also put forward level demands in the manifesto of the civil disobedience movement. But the Lahore Congress completely rejected those demands. Just a few days before, on the 25th of January, the members of the Congress working committee along with Gandhiji were released from jail. The then viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, and Gandhi have signed an agreement.This agreement is known as the Gandhi Irwin Pact. It is also known as the Gandhi Irwin agreement.

Gandhi Irwin Pact Date and Details / Gandhi Irwin Pact Signed

The Gandhi Irwin pact was signed on 5th March 1931. The Gandhi Irwin pact came into existence for several reasons. Actually, in those days, the Indians were treated ruthlessly. To oppose these situations, they proposed round table conferences. But the second round table conference was about to be held in 1931. Earlier to protest the behavior of British years, Gandhiji started the salt Satyagraha movement in India. This movement has a great impact on Indians as well as on other countries. That's the reason the British government sent him to prison along with other leaders who participated in the salt satyagraha movement. 

Lord Irwin wants to meet Gandhi and wants to conclude the situation. To attain this, he had taken the help of Sardar Valla Bhai Patel, the president of Congress during that time. The Sardar lullaby Patel had convinced Gandhiji and made the both of them sit and have a talk. Sarojini Naidu described them as two equal leaders. Finally, a meeting was held between two equals with a lot of negotiations. The sincerity of Lord Irwin was much impressed by Gandhiji. Around 8 meetings were held in 24 hrs of time. Then Gandhi Irwin came to a conclusion and the Gandhi Irwin pact was signed on 5th March 1931.

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Proposals of Gandhi and Irwin Pact:

The Gandhi Irwin pact has few proposal conditions. They are as follows - 

• Quitting the salt satyagraha movement by Indian National Congress.

• The Indian National Congress has to participate in a second round table conference. 

• The government should waive the tax on salt. And they should provide all legal rights to trade, sell or buy the salt for their own. 

• All the prisoners need to be released unconditionally who were participated in salt March. 

• The Indian National Congress should withdraw all political offenses.

• It should also withdraw all the government-issued ordinances. 

These are the basic proposals of the Gandhi Irwin pact. All the Indians strongly wished to get sanctioned of all proposals. As the agreement was made in Delhi, the 

Gandhi Irwin Pact is also known as Delhi Pact.

Outcomes of Gandhi Irwin Agreement:

The government has agreed and implemented the Gandhi Irwin pact and in the same year, the outcomes also came. The Gandhi Irwin pact had shown a positive output. They accepted several conditions which are listed below -

• Released all the salt satyagraha movement prisoners who fought with non - violence. 

• The main aim of the Gandhi Irwin pact was to lift the ban on congress. It was accepted later.

• The Indian National Congress accepted to attend the second round table conference. They attended the round table conference between September to December months in 1931.

• The Indian National Congress also agreed to open clothes stores, liquor stores legally. 

• It also allowed the government to get back government servants who had resigned during the civil disobedience movement.

• The sea-coast people had the right to collect his heart from the sea. 

• The INC also accepted not collecting the fines.

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Disagreed Demands of Gandhi Irwin Pact

Gandhi and Irwin had discussed through eight meetings, two demands were not agreed upon by Irwin. As the Gandhi Irwin pact date is 5th March 1931, the discussions were held between the two leaders one day before. During those discussions, Gandhi was impressed with the iron sincerity. Irwin accepted a lot of demands. But he disagreed with two demands. They are - 

• Redefining the death penalties of Bhagat Singh and his subordinates to life penalties.

• The necessity of public inquiry during the suppression of any movement.

Second Round Table Conference

As the Indian National Congress accepted to attend the second round table conference which was held between September to December months of 1931, Gandhiji attended the second round table conference. Lord Wellington was the voice right during that period. Unfortunately, the conference did not yield any fruitful results. Gandhiji felt that the conference failed and he doesn't want to accept communal representation policy as well as the British government rejecting the demand of freedom for Indians. As the second round table conference failed, according to the Gandhi Irwin pact,  the third round table conference was scheduled.

Third Round Table Conference

It has completely deviated from Gandhi Island park. The third round table conference was proposed by a Muslims student to get holy land for Muslims. The third round table conference was held in London. The Gandhi Irwin pact date is far from the date of the third round table conference. It was held in November 1932. The Indian National Congress, the British government refused to attend the third round table conference. 

Along with the Choudhary Rahmat Ali, Muhammad Ali, Jinnah, Fazul Haq Agha Khan, etc came to create holy land for Muslims with a name of 'Pakistan'. During this time the government has issued a white paper. Considering this white paper, in 1935 an act was passed. The third round table conference is a nominal meeting for the Muslim leaders to get a separate place with the name of Pakistan. It doesn't have any relation with the Gandhi Irwin pact neither Gandhi attended nor Irwin also attended.

Hence the Gandhi Irwin pact was assigned on 5th March 1931. It is a legal agreement between Gandhi and other leaders along with lord Irwin. Nine were accepted by the opponents. Among 11, two were disagreed by Irwin.