Introduction
- Provincial elections were held in British India in the winter of 1936-37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935.
- Elections were held in eleven provinces – Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab and Sindh.
Background
- The period between 1936-39 was the period when the Congress gave up the path of confrontation and went for constitutional politics
- However, unlike the earlier Swarajist phase, its present aim was to give the constitutional methods a trial and the Congressmen worked for their success
- The second phase of the Civil Disobedience movement(from 1932 onwards) had not evoked a response that earlier phase had done
- Hence, it was becoming apparent that mass movement would not continue for long
- With mass movement on a low ebb, there emerged voices within the Congress advocating a return to constitutional methods
- As was the trend during the nationalist struggle phase, after a hectic debate the Congress decided to contest the elections in 1937 and was successful in forming governments in seven provinces
Towards Elections
- Before we go on to analyse the elections of 1937 and the events related to them we shall discuss briefly the general political situation and some of the earlier elections
- Elections to Local Bodies
- Gandhi had given a free hand to all sections to pursue their methods so long as they worked in one direction i.e., opposing the British
- Thus from 1934 the Congress contested elections to the Assembly and the local bodies as and when they were held
- These elections proved useful from the following points of view:
- The Congress could test its popular base through election results.
- They gave the Congress tremendous experience in terms of organisation, planning, and managing of elections.
- The Congress could test its allies for funds which were needed for electoral politics.
- Lucknow Congress Session
- The Congress session at Lucknow (April 1936) was presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru
- Prominent resolution passed in the session include:
- The people of the state should have the same right of self-determination as those of the rest of India; and that the Congress stands for the same political, civil and democratic liberties for every part of India
- The Congress resolved to contest elections on a basis of manifesto
Elections of 1937
- Once the Congress decided to contest elections, every Congressman made an all-out effort to ensure the success of Congress candidates.
- Election results
- The results were very encouraging for the Congress
- Except for Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh, the Congress had fared well in other regions
- In Bengal, NWFP, Assam and Bombay, Congress emerged as the single largest party, whereas in Punjab and Singh its performance was poor
- But, the Congress could not do well in the elections to upper houses as the franchise was limited to the upper strata only
- The performance of Congress in reserved constituencies was not at all satisfactory except in the labour seats
- Office Acceptance
- The decision of office acceptance had been left pending due to differences within the Congress
- The AICC met in March 1937 to decide over the issue.
- Rajendra Prasad moved a resolution for ‘conditional acceptance’ of office which was accepted.
- The condition attached was that the governors would not use their special powers to intervene with the functioning of ministries
- Here Jayprakash Narain moved an amendment for total rejection of office but this was defeated when put to vote (78 in favour and 135 against).
- This was considered as a major victory for the Right Wing within the Congress.
- Also, Gandhi himself was in favour of conditional acceptance of office.
- In six provinces where the Congress was in majority, its leaders were invited by the Governors to form ministries
- However, this offer was turned down due to the refusal of Governors to give assurances on the conditions put forward by the Congress
- Hence, the next move of the Government was to form Interim ministries in these provinces
- These were ministries which did not command majority in the legislatures, and hence could not continue in office beyond six months
- The resignation of the interim ministries was followed by the formation of Congress ministries. And it was the beginning of the new era in the freedom struggle
- At this time, the Congress had delayed the decision of office acceptance by about six months
- The delay had disproved the election time propaganda against the Congress that they were office hungry and would jump at the first opportunity to form ministries.
- The Congress unity had been maintained and demonstrated.
- It had become clear to Governors and the ministers that the word of the Congress High Command was supreme
- Governors would think several times before intervening in the work of ministers.
Congress Ministries At Work
- In the 28 months of Congress rule in the provinces, there were some efforts made for people’s welfare
- Civil Liberties
- The Congress ministries did much to ease curbs on civil liberties:
- Laws giving emergency powers were repealed.
- Ban on illegal organisations, such as the Hindustan Seva Dal and Youth Leagues, and on certain books and journals was lifted.
- Press restrictions were lifted.
- Newspapers were taken out of black lists.
- Confiscated arms and arms licences were restored.
- Police powers were curbed and the CID stopped shadowing politicians.
- Political prisoners and revolutionaries were released, and deportation and internment orders were revoked.
- In Bombay lands confiscated by the government during the Civil Disobedience Movement were restored.
- Pensions of officials associated with the Civil Disobedience Movement were restored
- The Congress ministries did much to ease curbs on civil liberties:
- Agrarian Reforms
- Tenancy legislation was taken up in all the Congress ruled provinces.
- In all provinces, efforts were made to protect the peasant from money lenders and to increase irrigation faculties
- In Bombay, the Congress was successful in getting those lands restored to their original owners, which had been sold to new owners as a result of the no-rent campaign during Civil Disobedience movement
- However, in most areas the Zamindars remained in a dominant position
- Labour
- The basic approach was to advance workers’ interests while promoting industrial peace.
- This was sought to be achieved by reducing strikes as far as possible and by advocating compulsory arbitration prior to striking before the established conciliation machinery
- Goodwill was sought to be created between labour and capital with mediation of ministries, while at the same time efforts were made to improve workers’ condition and secure wage increases for them
- The ministries treated militant trade union protests as law and order problems, and acted as mediators as far as possible.
- Also, leftist critics were not satisfied by this approach. Generally, the ministries took recourse to Section 144 and arrested the leaders
- Nehru was unhappy about these repressive measures, but in public supported the ministries to protect them from petty and petulant criticism.
- Although Gandhi was against militant and violent methods, he stood for political education of the masses
- The basic approach was to advance workers’ interests while promoting industrial peace.
- Social Welfare Reforms
- These included the following:
- Prohibition imposed in certain areas.
- Measures for welfare of Harijans taken—temple entry, use of public facilities, scholarships, an increase in their numbers in government service and police, etc.
- Attention given to primary, technical and higher education and to public health and sanitation.
- Encouragement given to khadi through subsidies and other measures.
- Prison reforms undertaken.
- Encouragement given to indigenous enterprises.
- Efforts taken to develop planning through National Planning Committee set up under Congress president Subhash Bose in 1938
- These included the following:
- Extra-Parliamentary Mass Activity
- These included:
- launching of mass literacy campaigns,
- setting up of Congress police stations and panchayats,
- Congress Grievance Committees presenting mass petitions to government, and
- states peoples’ movements
- These included:
Problems faced by Congress at this time
- There was a malicious propaganda carried out against the Congress by the communal parties.
- They accused the Congress of discrimination against the minorities, but such propaganda was carried out due to political and communal overtones, rather than on factual basis
- The All India Muslim League, annoyed with the Congress for not sharing power with them established the Pirpur Committee in 1938 to prepare a detailed report on the atrocities supposedly committed by the Congress ministries.
- In its report the committee charged the Congress with interference in the religious rites, suppression of Urdu in favour of Hindi, denial of proper representation and of the oppression of Muslims in the economic sphere
- Many opportunists joined the Congress during this period in order to seek advantages of office
- In many regions, a drive was made to free the Congress from such elements
- Then came in the issue at the Tripuri Session of the Congress in 1939
- Bose winning the presidential post of Congress, was regarded as a victory of the Left wing
- Even Gandhi regarded this defeat as his own defeat
- Further, there were problems in the formation of the Working Committee and eventually Bose resigned from the Presidentship
- Further, the Congress Ministries resigned office in November, 1939 on the ground that the ”Viceroy on its own had made India a participant in the imperialist was without consulting the Congress”
Significance of the Congress Rule
- The contention that Indian self-government was necessary for radical social transformation got confirmed.
- Congressmen demonstrated that a movement could use state power to further its ends without being co-opted.
- The ministries were able to control communal riots.
- The morale of the bureaucracy came down.
- Council work helped neutralise many erstwhile hostile elements (landlords, etc).
- People were able to perceive the shape of things to come if independence was won.
- Administrative work by Indians further weakened the myth that Indians were not fit to rule
Summing Up
- The Congress after a long debate decided to contest the elections and emerged victorious in five provinces
- The victory of Congress was attributed to its pro-people policies; while in most of the cases he Zamindars and Communal forces opposed the Congress
- On the whole, the Ministries functioned under certain limitations, but tried their best to give relief to the people
- The formation of Congress Ministries was perceived by the people as their win over British Raj, and they firmly believed that days of the British Raj were numbered
