First Round Table Conference Ended - [January 19, 1931] This Day in History

19 January 1931

The First Round Table Conference ended.

What happened?

On 19 January 1931, the first Round Table Conference concluded in London. This was the first time that Indians and the British were meeting as ‘equals’ to discuss the future of India.

First Round Table Conference

• The first Round Table Conference started on 12 November 1930 at London.
• During this time, the independence movement was in full swing in India and there were incessant demands for dominion status to be conferred on India.
• In many ways, the Indian National Congress led by Mahatma Gandhi was leading this struggle, though there were other parties as well.
• The Viceroy of India at that time was Lord Irwin and the British Prime Minister was Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald.
• There were three such round table conferences. They were held on the recommendations of Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Lord Irwin, and also based on the Simon Commission
• The first conference was, however, a failure since the INC did not participate. Most of the Congress leaders were imprisoned at that time because of its civil disobedience movement.
• The participants included 58 political leaders from British India from various parties such as the Muslim League, the Justice Party, the Liberals; and other representatives of Sikhs, Hindus, Parsis, Christians, Europeans, Anglo-Indians, labour movement, landlords, universities, Burma, Sindh and other provinces. There were also representatives from the Indian government.
• Apart from that, there were 16 delegates from three British political parties. The conference also included 16 delegates from the princely states of India.
• Several issues were discussed like the federal structure, provincial constitution, defence services, issue of minorities, the provinces of Sindh and the North-western Frontier Province, executive responsibility to the legislature, etc.
• Dr. B R Ambedkar mooted the idea and demanded separate electorates for the “Depressed Classes” or untouchables.
• Tej Bahadur Sapru demanded an All-India Federation. This federation would consist of British India and the princely states. The Muslim League supported this idea. The princely states were amenable to the idea provided their internal sovereignty was not undermined.
• In the conference, many principles were agreed upon but not much was done by way of implementation. The conference concluded on 19 January 1931.
• The INC carried on its civil disobedience movement notwithstanding the conference.
• As an aftermath of the First Round Table Conference, the British government understood the importance of the Congress Party in the political affairs of the country.
• The second conference was held in September – December 1931 and the third Round Table Conference was held in November – December 1932, all in London.

Also on this day

1855: Birth of G. Subramania Iyer, social reformer and leading journalist, founder of ‘The Hindu’.

See previous ‘This Day in History’ here.