What was the significance of the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 1931?

Signed on 5 March 1931, it suspended the movement, secured release of political prisoners, and permitted coastal salt manufacture. In return Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Critics within Congress felt Gandhi conceded too much without winning constitutional advance.

Why was salt chosen as the symbol of the movement?

Salt was a daily necessity consumed by every Indian regardless of class or religion, and the British monopoly and tax on it affected the poorest most directly. Defying the salt law thus dramatised colonial exploitation in a manner accessible to the masses.

Why did Muslim participation remain limited in the movement?

Heightened communal tensions after the 1920s, the Muslim League's growing separate political demands, and apprehension over Hindu-dominated Congress leadership reduced Muslim involvement, although the Khudai Khidmatgars under Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the NWFP were a significant exception.

Civil Disobedience Movement

The Civil Disobedience Movement (Sviniya Avajna Andolan) was the second great mass struggle of the Indian National Congress against British rule, formally inaugurated when Mahatma Gandhi began the Dandi Salt March on 12 March 1930, walking 240 miles from the Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi, where on 6 April 1930 he broke the salt law by manufacturing salt from seawater. Its political basis was the Lahore Session of the Congress (December 1929), presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, which adopted the resolution of Purna Swaraj (complete independence) and authorised the launch of civil disobedience; 26 January 1930 was observed as the first Independence Day (Purna Swaraj Day). The movement was preceded by Gandhi's Eleven Demands of 31 January 1930 to Viceroy Lord Irwin, ranging from prohibition and a fifty-percent cut in land revenue to abolition of the salt tax, whose rejection triggered the campaign.

Unlike the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22), which sought to render British administration impossible by withdrawal, civil disobedience meant the active and deliberate violation of specific unjust laws. The salt tax was chosen as the symbolic spearhead because salt was a universal necessity touching the poorest peasant. The movement encompassed boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, non-payment of land revenue and the chaukidari tax, defiance of forest laws by tribals, and resignation from government posts. It was notable for the wide participation of women (Sarojini Naidu led the Dharasana Salt Works raid in May 1930), peasants, traders, and the Khudai Khidmatgars (Red Shirts) of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the North-West Frontier Province, where the Peshawar agitation of April 1930 saw the celebrated refusal of the Garhwal Rifles to fire.

The colonial response was severe: Gandhi was arrested on 5 May 1930 and over 60,000 were imprisoned. The First Round Table Conference (November 1930), boycotted by the Congress, proved sterile, leading to the Gandhi–Irwin Pact of 5 March 1931, under which the movement was suspended, prisoners released, and Gandhi agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Its failure over the communal question and the minorities issue, followed by repressive ordinances under Viceroy Willingdon, prompted Gandhi to resume the movement in early 1932; it was ultimately withdrawn by 1934. The struggle deepened mass political consciousness and demonstrated the organisational reach of the Congress, though it could not by itself compel British concession of independence.

For the UPSC examination, this topic is central to GS Paper I (Modern Indian History, the Freedom Struggle) and the History optional. Candidates must distinguish it sharply from Non-Cooperation and Quit India, master the precise chronology (Lahore 1929, Dandi 1930, Gandhi–Irwin Pact 1931, resumption 1932), and be able to evaluate its limitations — the muted Muslim participation, the unsatisfactory Gandhi–Irwin Pact terms, and the role of regional and subaltern actors. Prelims frequently test the Eleven Demands, the participants of the Round Table Conferences, and the leaders of regional satyagrahas such as the No-Tax campaign in Bardoli's wake and the Dharasana raid.

Frequently asked questions

Non-Cooperation (1920–22) involved passive withdrawal of cooperation — boycotting councils, schools and titles — to paralyse administration. Civil Disobedience (1930) involved the active breaking of specific laws, beginning with the salt law, making it a more confrontational form of mass struggle.

Frequently asked questions