Round table conference

 First round table conference held in 1930

First round table conference held in 1930 was inaugurated by King George V on November 12, 1930 in London. 

• The conference was chaired by the British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Sixteen delegates representing the three political parties of Britain participated in the conference. 
• From India, 58 political leaders and 16 members are representing the princely states participated in the conference. However, the leaders of Indian National Congress and business leaders did not participate in the first Round table conference.

The Main leaders from India who participated in the conference were

• Muslim League: Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Mohammed Shafi, Aga Khan
• Hindu Mahasabha: B.S Monjee and M.R.Jayakar
• Depressed classes: Dr BR Ambedkar, Rettamalai Srinivasan
• Sikhs: Sardar Ujjal Singh

Discussions in the conference

Nine sub committees were set up to discuss the issues of Federal and provincial structure of government Ministries, Defence, North West Frontier Province, Burma, Franchise, Executive responsibility to the legislature etc. Except for the minority committee, the working of other committees went smoothly. 

The issue of rights of minorities was a matter where there was a lack of consensus. 

There was consensus on the idea of all India Federation, the idea of which was moved for discussion by Tej Bahadur Sapru. 

• The idea of all India Federation was supported by all the groups who attended the First Round Table Conference.
• The First Round Table conference held in 1930, ended on 19th January 1931. 
• The principal on reforms that were agreed upon were hardly implemented. Also, the Congress party leaders carried on the civil disobedience movement during this period. 
• After the conference, the Prime Minister of Britain, Ramsay MacDonald had expressed his hope about the participation of Indian National Congress in the Second Round Table Conference.

The First Round Table conference viceroy was Lord Irwin. 

After the end of first Round table conference, Tej Bahadur Sapru, C.Y. Chintamani and Srinivas Shastri appealed and tried to persuade Mahatma Gandhi to talk with the Viceroy Lord Irwin. 

The British Indian government released the political leaders of Congress to make a favorable environment for the talks between Gandhi and Lord Irwin.

Second Round Table Conference (September 1931- December 1931)

The Second Round Table Conference was held in London from 7 September 1931 to 1 December 1931 with the participation of Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.

Participants of the Second Round table conference

British delegates belonging to various political parties including the British Prime

Minister, James Ramsay Macdonald.

Indian princely states represented by Maharajas, princes and divans.

British Indians represented by:

• Indian National Congress (INC) – Mahatma Gandhi, Rangaswami Iyengar, Madan
• Mohan Malaviya
• Muslims – Md. Ali Jinnah, Aga Khan III, Muhammad Iqbal, etc.
• Hindus – M R Jayakar, etc.
• Depressed classes – Dr B R Ambedkar
• Women – Sarojini Naidu, etc.
• Liberals, Justice Party, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Parsis, Europeans, Anglo-Indians, industry, labour, landlords, Burma, Sindh and other provinces.

Outcome – Second Round Table Conference

The session started on 7 September 1931. The major difference between the first and the second conference was that the INC was participating in the second one. This was one of the results of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

Another difference was that unlike the previous time, British PM Macdonald was heading not a Labour government, but a National government. The Labour Party had been toppled two weeks before in Britain.

The British decided to grant a communal award for representing minorities in India by providing for separate electorates for minority communities. Gandhi was against this.

In this conference, Gandhi and Ambedkar differed on the issue of separate electorates for the untouchables. Gandhi was against treating untouchables as separate from the Hindu community. This issue was resolved through the Poona Pact 1932.

The second round table conference was deemed a failure because of the many disagreements among the participants. While the INC claimed to speak for the whole of the country, other participants and leaders of other parties contested this claim.

Third Round Table Conference (November 1932– December 1932)

The third Round Table Conference took place between 17 November 1932 and 24 December 1932.

Participants of the Third Round table conference

• Only 46 delegates in total took part in this conference.
• The INC and the Labour Party decided not to attend it. (The INC wasn’t invited).
• Indian princely states were represented by princes and divans.
• British Indians were represented by the Aga Khan (Muslims), Depressed classes women, Europeans, Anglo-Indians and labour groups.

Outcome

Not much was achieved in this conference also. The recommendations of this conference were published in a White Paper in 1933 and later discussed in the British Parliament. The recommendations were analysed and the Government of India Act of 1935 was passed on its basis.