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FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Eternal India
encyclopedia
proposed or mentioned in the financial state-
ment or explanatory memorandum.
The .members were given the power to
move resolutions in the councils. These were
to be in the form of a definite recommendation
to the government. Rules were framed under
the Act for discussion of matters of general
public interests in the legislative councils.
Disqualifications were imposed on political
offenders.
Though the Minto-Morley reforms marked
an important step in the introduction of repre-
sentative government, they did not grant
Parliamentary government to India. In fact,
Indian administration still continued to be
carried on with absolute responsibility to
Whitehall. As the authors of the Report on
Indian Constitutional Reforms, 1918 observed,
"The reforms of1909 afforded no answer and
could afford no answer, to Indian political
problems.... Responsibility is the savour of
popular government, and that savour the pres-
ent councils wholly lack".
The moderates had been willing to com-
promise but felt cheated by Morley who de-
nied that the reforms had been meant to intro-
duce a Parliamentary form of Government.
The arbitrary powers of disqualification, the
narrow franchise, the official majority at the
centre and the hoax of non-official majorities,
the limited power of influencing the budget
disillusioned the moderates. The Congress as
a party disapproved of communal electorates.
The extremists made a forceful political at-
tack on the moderates whose influence rapidly
lessened.
The real purpose of the reforms was to
divide the nationalist ranks and check the
growth of unity among the Indians.
The reforms introduced the system of
elections but the number of voters was very
small. As the number was small, all the votes
could be bought. Women were completely
excluded. The system of elections was indi-
rect. The people elected members of local
bodies who elected members of an electoral
college. The electoral college elected mem-
bers of the provincial legislatures and the
members of provincial legislatures elected
members of the Imperial Legislature. The
consequence was that there was no connec-
tion between the people and the members sit-
ting in the legislature. The Minto-Morley re-
forms did not come upto the expectation of the
Indians and the discontent continued un-
abated.
Minor Political Parties
Chronology (1910-1944)
1910:
Hindu Mahasabha.
1912:
Khilafat Movement. Active till 1924,
led by Mohammad Ali and Shaukat
Ali, adopted Gandhian non-co-op-
eration pledge in 1920.
Mohammad Ali
1917:
Justice Party founded by T.N. Nair,
P. Tygaraja Chetty and Natesa Mu-
daliar; active in Madras.
1918:
National Liberal Federation founded
by Tej Bahadur Sapru and M. R. Jay-
akar active in Bombay 1921-23.
Central Provinces 1921-23 and
United Provinces 1921-23. In Ben-
gal it was known as the Moderate
Party.
1919:
Jamiatul ulema-i-Hind, founded by
Maulana Mahmudal Hasan Shaikh ul
Hind of Deoband school, a national-
ist Muslim.
1920: Congress Democratic Party founded
by B.G. Tilak to fight elections.
Base for Democratic Swaraj Party of
1937.
1921-22 Communist Party organisation work
begun by M.N. Roy and others. Party
declared legal in 1943.
1922:
Swarajparty founded; an offshot of
Congress to "wreck" councils from
inside, led by Motilal Nehru, C.R.
Das and others.
1923: Hindu Mahasabha (founded in 1907
in Punjab) became active politically
after Benares session, led by Madan
Mohan Malaviya.
1928: Peasants and Workers Party; estab-
lished as a legal wing of Commu-
nists.
1929: Abdul Ghaffar Khan in North West
Frontier Province.
(Frontier Gandhi)
1932:
Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Con-
ference founded by Sheikh Muham-
mad Abdullah.
1934:
Socialist Party, founded as Congress
offshoot by Jaya Prakash Narayan.
1936: All-India Kisan Sabha joined by
Andhra group formed by N.G. Ranga
in 1931 and Bihar Kisan Sabha
founded by Swami Sahajanand in
1929.
1936: Independent Labour Party founded
by B. R. Ambedkar in Bombay.
1939: Chotanagpur Adivasi Mahasabha
founded by Jaipal Singh; later
Jarkhand Party.
1939:
Forward Bloc, founded by Subhash
Chandra Bose in Calcutta.
1940:
Radical Democratic Party founded
by M. N. Roy in Calcutta.
1942:
Scheduled Caste Federation founded
by B.R. Ambedkar in Nagpur.
1944:
Dravida Kazhagam, founded by E.
V. Ramaswami Naicker.
Abdul Ghaffar Khan
B.R. Ambedkar
Motilal Nehru