Gandhi-Irwin Pact

On January 25, 1931, Gandhi and all other members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) were released unconditionally. The CWC authorised Gandhi to initiate discussions with the viceroy. As a result of these discussions, a pact was signed between the viceroy, representing the British Indian Government, and Gandhi, representing the Indian people, in Delhi on February 14, 1931. This Delhi Pact, also known as the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, placed the Congress on an equal footing with the government.

Irwin on behalf of the government agreed on—

1. immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted of violence;

2. remission of all fines not yet collected;

3. return of all lands not yet sold to third parties;

4. lenient treatment to those government servants who had resigned;

5. right to make salt in coastal villages for personal consumption (not for sale);

6. right to peaceful and non-aggressive picketing; and

7. withdrawal of emergency ordinances.

The viceroy, however, turned down two of Gandhi’s demands—

(i) public inquiry into police excesses, and

(ii) commutation of Bhagat Singh and his comrades’ death sentence to life sentence.

Gandhi on behalf of the Congress agreed—

(i) to suspend the civil disobedience movement, and

(ii) to participate in the next Round Table Conference on the constitutional question around the three lynch-pins of federation, Indian responsibility, and

reservations and safeguards that may be necessary in India’s interests (covering such areas as defence, external affairs, position of minorities, financial credit of India and discharge of other obligations).