Question
Q47. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact included which of the following?
1. Invitation to Congress to participate in the Round Table Conference
2. Withdrawal of Ordinances promulgated in connection with the Civil Disobedience Movement
3. Acceptance of Gandhiji’s suggestion for enquiry into police excesses
4. Release of only those prisoners who were not charged with violence
Select the correct answer using the code given
a. 1 only
b. 1, 2 and 4 only
c. 3 only
d. 2, 3 and 4 only
Answer: B
Detailed Explanation
5 March 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed by Gandhiji on behalf of the Congress and by Lord Irwin on behalf of the Government.
· The pact placed the Congress on an equal footing with the Government. The terms of the agreement included
o immediate release of all political prisoners not convicted of violence;
o remission of all fines not yet collected;
o return of all lands not yet sold to third parties;
o lenient treatment to those government servants who had resigned;
o right to make salt in coastal villages for personal consumption (not for sale);
o right to peaceful and non – aggressive picketing.
o withdrawal of emergency ordinances.
· The viceroy, however, turned down two of Gandhi’s demands:
o public inquiry into police excesses, and
o commutation of Bhagat Singh and his comrades’ death sentence to life sentence.
· Gandhi on behalf of the Congress agreed:
o to suspend the civil disobedience movement.
o to participate in the next Round Table Conference.