Question

Why did the Simon Commission come to India ? Identify the correct reason from the following options.
A) To control the campaign against the British in cities
B) To look into the function of the British
C) To initiate salt law in India
D) To suggest changes in the functioning of the constitutional system in India

Answer 1

Hint: The Indian Statutory Commission, commonly known as the Simon Commission, was a committee of seven Members of Parliament led by Sir John Simon who served as its chairman. In 1928, the committee arrived in British India to research constitutional change in the country's largest and most significant colony.

Complete answer:
Sir John Simon, the new Tory administration in Britain, established a statutory commission. It was established in reaction to the nationalist movement to investigate the functioning of India's constitutional system and provide recommendations for improvements. When the Montagu–Chelmsford Changes were introduced in 1919, the British government said that after ten years, a committee would be dispatched to India to study the effects and operations of the constitutional reforms and to recommend additional reforms for India.

British government formed the Simon Commission in November 1927 to report on India's constitutional development in order to implement promised constitutional reforms. Many Indians were outspoken in their opposition to the Commission. Because it had seven members of the British Parliament but no Indians, it was opposed by Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Indian National Congress. Indians saw it as an insult to their dignity and a violation of their right to self-determination. On the other side, it was supported by B R Ambedkar and Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. So, the Simon Commission came to India to suggest changes in the functioning of the constitutional system in India.

Thus, the correct answer is Option D) To suggest changes in the functioning of the constitutional system in India.

Note: The fact that the Simon Commission, which was to determine India's destiny, did not contain a single Indian member angered and humiliated Indians. In a conference in Madras in December 1927, the Indian National Congress resolved to boycott the Commission and challenged Lord Birkenhead, the Secretary of State for India, to draught a constitution that would be acceptable to the Indian people.