Round Table Conferences 1930-32: Session-wise Decisions and Why Gandhi Attended Only the Second

Quick Answer: Three Round Table Conferences were held in London between 1930 and 1932 to discuss India’s constitutional future. The Congress boycotted the first (1930) because the Civil Disobedience Movement was ongoing, attended only the second (September–December 1931) after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact — with Gandhi as its sole representative — and skipped the third (1932). All three deadlocked over communal representation, culminating in the Communal Award and the Poona Pact.

Background: Why the Round Table Conferences Were Called

By the late 1920s, India’s constitutional question had reached a crisis point. The Simon Commission (1927–1930), an all-white body appointed to review constitutional reforms, met nationwide boycotts under the slogan “Simon, Go Back.” In response, Indian leaders produced their own blueprint — the Nehru Report (1928) — demanding dominion status and rejecting separate communal electorates. Jinnah’s Fourteen Points (1929) then asserted Muslim League demands, including one-third representation in the central legislature and separate electorates.

The breakthrough came from an unexpected quarter: the Labour government under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, which took office in 1929, was more sympathetic to Indian aspirations. The Irwin Declaration of October 1929 proposed that India would eventually be granted dominion status, and the Labour government convened the Round Table Conferences to bring all parties — British officials, princes, Muslims, Sikhs, Depressed Classes representatives and Congress — to one table.

First Round Table Conference (November 1930 – January 1931)

The First RTC met in London from 12 November 1930 to 19 January 1931. It was inaugurated by King George V — the first time a British monarch directly addressed Indian constitutional questions at such a forum.

• Attendance: 58 delegates from British India plus representatives of the princely states. Key Indian voices included Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, M.R. Jayakar, and the princes, led by the Maharaja of Bikaner.
• Congress absent: The party boycotted the conference because the Civil Disobedience Movement was at its height and Gandhi, along with thousands of satyagrahis, was in jail.
• Ambedkar’s demand: Ambedkar pressed for separate electorates and reserved seats for the Depressed Classes.
• Decisions: Broad agreement in principle on (a) an all-India federation comprising British India and the princely states, and (b) provincial autonomy. A Minorities Committee was set up, but communal questions were left unresolved.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931): The Turning Point

The Gandhi-Irwin Pact, signed on 5 March 1931 between Gandhi and Viceroy Lord Irwin, was the truce that changed the equation:

• The Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended.
• Political prisoners were released (excluding those guilty of violence).
• Confiscated properties were returned; salt-making for personal use was permitted.
• Crucially, the Congress agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference, the only substantive concession the British extracted.

The Karachi session of the Congress (March 1931) ratified the pact and endorsed Gandhi as the party’s sole delegate to London.

Second Round Table Conference (September – December 1931)

Held from 7 September to 1 December 1931, this is the only conference Gandhi attended — as the sole representative of the Congress. By now the political weather had changed: the Labour government had fallen, and the Conservative-dominated National government under MacDonald was far less accommodating.

Key developments:

• Gandhi claimed to speak for all of India and for the Congress’s goal of responsibility through dominion status; the British refused any commitment to immediate dominion status.
• The conference deadlocked on communal representation: Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Anglo-Indians and the Depressed Classes each demanded separate electorates.
• The Gandhi-Ambedkar clash became the defining confrontation. Ambedkar argued separate electorates were essential political protection for the Depressed Classes; Gandhi insisted they would fracture Hindu society and divide the national movement — communal electorates would be “a poison,” handing the British a permanent tool of divide and rule.
• No agreement was reached; the British announced they would decide the communal question themselves. Gandhi returned home empty-handed, and the Civil Disobedience Movement was resumed.

  Why Gandhi Attended Only the Second Conference

  Exam favourite — remember the three-stage logic:

  1. 1930 — Refusal: Gandhi could not attend the First RTC while leading the Civil Disobedience Movement and sitting in jail for salt satyagraha. Attending would have meant abandoning the movement mid-course.
  2. 1931 — Attendance: The Gandhi-Irwin Pact suspended the movement, freed the prisoners, and committed the Congress to participate. Gandhi went as the sole Congress delegate to press for dominion status and a responsible central government.
  3. 1932 — Boycott again: After the second conference’s failure on every core demand, the Congress saw no purpose in joining a technical follow-up; it stayed away from the Third RTC and relaunched civil disobedience.

  Third Round Table Conference (November – December 1932)

  Held from 17 November to 24 December 1932, the Third RTC was the shortest and least consequential politically — the Congress was absent. It functioned mainly as a technical committee, working on the details of federal structure, franchises, and financial arrangements. Ambedkar attended, as did princely states’ representatives and British officials. Its reports, along with the deliberations of the first two conferences, supplied the raw material for the White Paper of 1933 and eventually the Government of India Act 1935.

  Communal Award (August 1932) and Its Fallout

  With Indians failing to agree, the British acted unilaterally. On 16 August 1932, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award, extending separate electorates to minorities — Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans — and, for the first time, to the Depressed Classes.

  Gandhi, then imprisoned at Yerwada Jail, saw separate electorates for the Depressed Classes as a device to permanently divide Hindu society. He began a fast unto death on 20 September 1932. The fast electrified the country and forced all sides to negotiate urgently.

  Poona Pact (September 1932): Gandhi vs Ambedkar Compromise

  Signed on 24 September 1932 at Yerwada Jail after intense negotiations between Gandhi and Ambedkar:

  • Separate electorates for the Depressed Classes were abolished.
  • In their place, reserved seats within joint electorates were granted — only Depressed Class voters could stand as candidates, but all voters of a constituency would vote.
  • Seats for the Depressed Classes in provincial legislatures were increased from 71 to 147; 18% of seats in the central legislature were reserved.
  • A fair share was assured in public services, and increased educational grants were promised for Depressed Class uplift.

  For Ambedkar, the Pact traded the political instrument of separate electorates for a larger quantum of guaranteed representation — a compromise he regarded as made under duress of Gandhi’s fast.

  Outcomes: Link Between RTCs and the Government of India Act 1935

  Although no single RTC “succeeded,” their cumulative output shaped India’s constitution-making decisively:

  • The federal scheme and provincial autonomy agreed in principle at the First RTC became the architecture of the Government of India Act 1935 — an all-India federation (which never came into being because princes did not accede) plus provincial autonomy, implemented in 1937.
  • The Third RTC’s technical reports fed the White Paper (1933) and the Joint Select Committee, from which the 1935 Act emerged.
  • Reservations and separate electorates — the poison of the RTCs — were entrenched in the Act and later addressed afresh in independent India’s Constitution.

  For authoritative primary material, see the Press Information Bureau archives and the British Parliament’s parliamentary papers on Indian constitutional reform; NCERT history textbooks remain the standard exam-source narrative.

  Exam-Focused Summary Table: All Three Conferences at a Glance

  Conference	Dates	Congress / Key Attendees	Outcome
  First RTC	Nov 1930 – Jan 1931	Congress absent; Jinnah, Ambedkar, princes (58 delegates)	Federal structure and provincial autonomy agreed in principle; communal issue unresolved
  Second RTC	Sept – Dec 1931	Gandhi sole Congress representative; Ambedkar, Jinnah	Deadlock on communal representation; Gandhi-Ambedkar clash; no dominion status commitment
  Third RTC	Nov – Dec 1932	Congress absent; Ambedkar attended	Technical session; inputs shaped the Government of India Act 1935

  Practice Questions: Prelims MCQs and Mains-Style Questions

  Prelims MCQs:

  1. Which Round Table Conference did Mahatma Gandhi attend? (a) First (b) Second (c) Third (d) All three — Answer: (b)
  2. The Communal Award of August 1932 was announced by: (a) Lord Irwin (b) Winston Churchill (c) Ramsay MacDonald (d) Lord Willingdon — Answer: (c)
  3. Under the Poona Pact, reserved seats for the Depressed Classes in provincial legislatures were raised to: (a) 71 (b) 100 (c) 147 (d) 180 — Answer: (c)
  4. The First Round Table Conference agreed in principle to: (a) Complete independence (b) Separate electorates for all (c) All-India federation and provincial autonomy (d) Immediate dominion status — Answer: (c)

  Mains question (GS I/GS II): “The Gandhi-Ambedkar debate on separate electorates at the Second Round Table Conference represented two competing visions of safeguarding the marginalised.” Discuss, and explain how the Poona Pact resolved — or deferred — the dispute. (250 words)

  Frequently Asked Questions

  Q: Which Round Table Conference did Gandhi attend and why?

  Gandhi attended only the Second Round Table Conference (September–December 1931), as the sole Congress representative, after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931 suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and committed the Congress to participate.

  Q: What was decided at the First Round Table Conference?

  The First RTC agreed in principle to an all-India federal structure and provincial autonomy. The Congress was absent; Ambedkar demanded separate electorates for the Depressed Classes, and the communal question remained unsettled.

  Q: What was the Communal Award of 1932?

  Announced by British PM Ramsay MacDonald on 16 August 1932, it granted separate electorates to minorities, including — for the first time — the Depressed Classes. Gandhi responded with a fast unto death at Yerwada Jail.

  Q: What were the main terms of the Poona Pact?

  Signed on 24 September 1932, it replaced separate electorates for the Depressed Classes with reserved seats within joint electorates, increasing provincial legislature seats from 71 to 147.

  Q: Why did the Second Round Table Conference fail?

  It deadlocked over communal representation and minority electorates, and Britain refused to commit to immediate dominion status. Gandhi returned empty-handed, and the Civil Disobedience Movement was resumed.

  Related reading

  • Polity Rapid Quiz: 15 PYQ-Style MCQs on Parliament, Judiciary and Constitutional Amendments with Answer Explanations
  • Schedules of the Indian Constitution: All 12 Schedules with Contents and PYQ Examples

  Quick revision

  • Attendance: 58 delegates from British India plus representatives of the princely states.
  • Congress absent: The party boycotted the conference because the Civil Disobedience Movement was at its height and Gandhi, along with thousands of satyagrahis, was in jail.
  • Ambedkar’s demand: Ambedkar pressed for separate electorates and reserved seats for the Depressed Classes.
  • Decisions: Broad agreement in principle on (a) an all-India federation comprising British India and the princely states, and (b) provincial autonomy.
  • The Civil Disobedience Movement was suspended.
  • Political prisoners were released (excluding those guilty of violence).
  ShareWhatsAppTelegramXCopy link

  Have a doubt on this topic?

  Send doubt

  Related explainers

  

  Fundamental Rights (Articles 12–35): Landmark Supreme Court Judgments Every UPSC Prelims Tests

  

  Newton’s Laws of Motion for NEET & JEE: Free-Body Diagrams, Pseudo Forces and PYQ Traps

  

  Fundamental Duties Under Article 51A: All 11 Duties, 42nd Amendment and PYQ Trends for UPSC