Government of India Act 1935 & Congress Ministries

Why This Chapter Matters

The Government of India Act 1935 is one of the most repeated topics in SSC and RRB general awareness sections. Examiners love it because it connects British constitutional history to the Indian Constitution: our federal scheme, provincial autonomy, the Federal Court and even the office of Governor all trace back to this Act. In a typical SSC CGL or RRB NTPC cycle, expect 1–2 questions from this chapter, usually on the features of the 1935 Act, the 1937 election results, or the Tripuri episode between Subhas Bose and Gandhi.

The sub-topics that repeat most are: provisions of the 1935 Act (federation, provincial autonomy, dyarchy at the centre), the number of provinces where Congress formed ministries in 1937, the reason for the ministries' resignation in 1939, Deliverance Day, the founding of the Congress Socialist Party, and the Haripura and Tripuri sessions. Learn the premiers' names for the big provinces; match-the-pair questions on "province → premier" appear regularly.

1. Background: From Simon Commission to the White Paper

The 1935 Act did not appear suddenly. It was the end product of a long constitutional exercise:

Year	Step	Key point
1927	Simon Commission appointed	All-white commission; report submitted 1930
1928	Nehru Report	Indian answer; demanded dominion status
1930–32	Three Round Table Conferences (London)	Congress attended only the Second RTC (1931, Gandhi)
1932	Communal Award and Poona Pact	Separate electorates issue settled for depressed classes
March 1933	White Paper on constitutional reforms	Draft scheme of the future Act
1933–34	Joint Select Committee of British Parliament	Chaired by Lord Linlithgow; examined the White Paper
August 1935	Government of India Act 1935 receives royal assent	Viceroy at the time: Lord Willingdon

Remember the chain: Simon → RTCs → White Paper (1933) → Joint Select Committee (Linlithgow) → Act of 1935. SSC has framed chronology questions on exactly this sequence.

2. Government of India Act 1935 — Main Features

The 1935 Act was the longest Act ever passed by the British Parliament till then. It contained 321 sections and 10 schedules. It had no preamble of its own; the preamble of the 1919 Act was retained.

2.1 All-India Federation (never implemented)

• The Act proposed an All-India Federation of British Indian provinces and princely states.
• Joining was compulsory for provinces but voluntary for princely states.
• The federation would start only when states entitled to at least half the seats reserved for states in the upper house acceded. The princes never joined in sufficient numbers, so the federation never came into being.
• The proposed federal legislature was bicameral: Council of State (260 members: 156 from British India + 104 from princely states) and Federal Assembly (375 members: 250 from British India + 125 from princely states).
• An odd feature worth noting: members from British India to the Council of State were to be directly elected, while princely state members were to be nominated by the rulers, not elected.

2.2 Dyarchy at the Centre (also never implemented)

• The Act abolished dyarchy in the provinces (where it had operated since the 1919 Act) and introduced dyarchy at the centre.
• Federal subjects were split into reserved subjects (defence, external affairs, ecclesiastical affairs, tribal areas), administered by the Governor-General with counsellors, and transferred subjects, administered with ministers responsible to the legislature.
• Since the federation never started, central dyarchy also stayed on paper. The centre continued to run under the 1919 arrangement.

2.3 Provincial Autonomy (implemented from 1 April 1937)

• Provinces became autonomous units with responsible governments. Ministers were drawn from and answerable to elected provincial legislatures.
• Governors kept wide discretionary powers and "special responsibilities", which Congress called the real poison in the scheme. A Governor could take over the administration under Section 93 if constitutional machinery failed.
• Bicameral legislatures were provided in six provinces: Bengal, Bombay, Madras, United Provinces, Bihar and Assam. The other five stayed unicameral.
• The Act created a total of 11 provinces: Sind was separated from Bombay and Orissa from Bihar (both new provinces functioned from 1 April 1936).
• Burma was separated from India (effective 1937), and Aden was also detached and made a Crown colony.

2.4 Division of Powers

The Act distributed subjects in three lists:

List	Number of subjects	Examples
Federal List	59	Defence, currency, external affairs
Provincial List	54	Police, education, local government
Concurrent List	36	Criminal law, marriage, factories

Residuary powers were given to the Governor-General, not to any legislature. Contrast this with the Indian Constitution, where residuary powers rest with Parliament. This contrast is a favourite exam trap.

2.5 Other Provisions — high-yield list

• Federal Court set up at Delhi in 1937; first Chief Justice: Sir Maurice Gwyer. Appeals could go from it to the Privy Council in London.
• Reserve Bank of India began functioning on 1 April 1935 (established under the RBI Act, 1934) to control currency and credit.
• The Council of India (the body advising the Secretary of State since 1858) was abolished; the Secretary of State got a team of advisers instead.
• Separate electorates were extended further, now covering depressed classes (as per the Poona Pact arrangement), women and labour.
• Franchise was widened: roughly 10 per cent of the total population (about 14 per cent of adults) got the vote. Voting still depended on property, tax or education qualifications; there was no universal adult franchise.
• A Federal Public Service Commission, Provincial Public Service Commissions and Joint Public Service Commissions were provided for.
• The Act provided for a Federal Railway Authority to keep railways outside ministerial control.
• The supremacy of the British Parliament stayed intact; Indians could not amend the Act.

2.6 How Indians Reacted

Congress rejected the Act. Jawaharlal Nehru called it "a new charter of slavery" and described it as a machine with "all brakes and no engine". Jinnah called it "thoroughly rotten, fundamentally bad and totally unacceptable". Yet Congress decided, at its Lucknow session (1936, president: Nehru), to contest the coming elections, and settled the question of office acceptance later.

3. Elections of 1937

Elections to the provincial legislatures under the new Act were held in February 1937.

• Congress fought on a manifesto rejecting the 1935 Act but promising agrarian relief and civil liberties.
• Result: Congress won clear majorities in five provinces — Madras, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bihar and Orissa — and emerged as the largest single party in Bombay, Assam and the NWFP.
• Out of a total of 1,585 provincial seats, Congress won 711.
• The Muslim League performed poorly. It won only about 109 of the 482 seats reserved for Muslims and could not form a government in any province, not even in the Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal.
• In Punjab, the Unionist Party under Sikandar Hayat Khan formed the ministry. In Bengal, A.K. Fazlul Haq of the Krishak Praja Party formed a coalition ministry with the League. In Sind, Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah headed the first ministry.

3.1 Office Acceptance Debate

Congress was split on whether to accept office under an Act it had rejected. The Left (Nehru, Subhas Bose, socialists) opposed office acceptance; Gandhi and the right wing favoured using office to serve the people. Congress finally agreed to form ministries after Viceroy Lord Linlithgow gave an assurance (June 1937) that Governors would not use their special powers against ministers in day-to-day administration. Congress ministries took office in July 1937.

3.2 Congress Ministries and Their Premiers

Congress ultimately formed ministries in 8 of the 11 provinces (7 initially; Assam was added when a Congress-led coalition took office under Bardoloi).

Province	Premier (head of ministry)
Madras	C. Rajagopalachari
Bombay	B.G. Kher
United Provinces	Govind Ballabh Pant
Bihar	Shri Krishna Sinha
Central Provinces	N.B. Khare (later Ravi Shankar Shukla)
Orissa	Biswanath Das
NWFP	Dr Khan Sahib (brother of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan)
Assam	Gopinath Bardoloi

Learn this table cold. "Who was the premier of Madras/UP/Bombay in 1937" is a straight one-mark question.

4. Work of the Congress Ministries (1937–39)

The ministries governed for about 28 months. Their record, in exam-relevant points:

• Civil liberties: political prisoners were released, bans on organisations and newspapers were lifted, and restrictions on the press were eased. Confiscated arms were restored in some provinces.
• Agrarian reform: tenancy legislation was passed in several provinces (UP, Bihar and elsewhere) giving tenants greater security and reducing rents and debt burdens. Zamindari itself was not abolished; the ministries worked within the Act's limits.
• Prohibition: liquor prohibition was introduced in selected areas as an experiment, following Gandhi's programme.
• Harijan welfare: temple entry was encouraged, and measures were taken for the uplift of depressed classes.
• Basic education: the Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (1937), based on Gandhi's idea of learning through craft (Nai Talim), was framed by the Zakir Husain Committee and taken up by the ministries.
• Labour: attempts were made to settle industrial disputes; the Bombay ministry's Industrial Disputes Act (1938) drew criticism from the Left for curbing strikes.
• Ministers cut their own salaries and travelled second class, projecting an austere style of government.

The period also had costs. Holding office made some Congressmen taste power and patronage, and the League used these years to spread the cry that Congress rule was "Hindu rule", publicising alleged atrocities through the Pirpur Report (1938) and similar documents.

5. Resignation of the Ministries and Deliverance Day

• On 3 September 1939, Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared India a party to the Second World War without consulting Indian leaders or the elected ministries.
• Congress demanded a clear statement of British war aims and a promise of independence after the war. The government's reply was evasive.
• In protest, the Congress ministries resigned between October and November 1939 (the Working Committee's call came on 22–23 October 1939).
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah asked Muslims to celebrate 22 December 1939 as "Deliverance Day", thanking God for freedom from Congress rule. This deepened the communal divide and set the stage for the Lahore Resolution of March 1940.

6. Princely States and the States' People's Movements

Roughly two-fifths of India's area lay in over 560 princely states, outside the reforms of British India. Popular movements there demanded responsible government under the rulers.

• The All India States People's Conference (AISPC) was founded in 1927 to coordinate these movements. Its moving spirits included Balwantrai Mehta and Manilal Kothari.
• Local bodies called Praja Mandals (people's associations) sprang up in states such as Rajkot, Jaipur, Kashmir, Hyderabad and Travancore during 1938–39.
• Congress policy: at the Haripura session (1938), Congress said the goal of independence covered the states too, but movements there should be run by the states' people themselves in their own name, not in the name of Congress. By the Tripuri session (1939), Congress moved closer to direct support.
• In 1939, Jawaharlal Nehru became president of the AISPC at its Ludhiana session, tying the states' movement firmly to the national movement.
• Notable episodes: Gandhi's fast at Rajkot (1939) over the ruler's broken promise of reforms, and the movement in Kashmir under Sheikh Abdullah, whose Muslim Conference was renamed the National Conference in 1939.

7. Growth of Socialism and the Congress Socialist Party

The 1930s saw a strong Left current inside the national movement.

• Young leaders returning from the Civil Disobedience Movement's jails felt Congress needed a socialist programme. The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was founded in 1934. The initial conference was held at Patna (May 1934), and the first full session at Bombay (October 1934).
• Key figures: Acharya Narendra Dev (president of the founding conference), Jayaprakash Narayan (general secretary), Minoo Masani, Achyut Patwardhan, Ashok Mehta, Ram Manohar Lohia and Yusuf Meherally.
• The CSP worked within the Congress, not against it. It pushed for agrarian reform, workers' rights and rejection of office under the 1935 Act.
• Jawaharlal Nehru sympathised with socialism and spoke of it openly as Congress president at the Lucknow (1936) and Faizpur (1936–37) sessions. Faizpur (1936) is remembered as the first Congress session held in a village.
• Other Left streams: the Communist Party of India (founded 1925 at Kanpur, working through the trade unions and, after 1935, inside the Congress fold), and later the Forward Bloc (1939) of Subhas Bose.

8. Subhas Bose versus Gandhi: Haripura to Tripuri

This episode is asked again and again. Get the sequence exact.

• Haripura session, 1938 (51st session, Gujarat): Subhas Chandra Bose elected Congress president unopposed. Under his push, a National Planning Committee was set up in 1938 with Jawaharlal Nehru as chairman.
• Tripuri session, 1939 (near Jabalpur, Central Provinces): Bose stood for re-election against the Gandhian candidate Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Bose won by 1,580 votes to 1,377.
• Gandhi took the result personally and said: "Pattabhi's defeat is more mine than his."
• At Tripuri, Govind Ballabh Pant moved a resolution requiring Bose to form his Working Committee "in accordance with the wishes of Gandhiji". The old guard refused to cooperate, and Gandhi did not relent.
• Unable to work under these conditions, Bose resigned as Congress president in April 1939. Dr Rajendra Prasad was chosen president in his place.
• On 3 May 1939, Bose founded the Forward Bloc at Calcutta, as a bloc of Left forces initially within Congress. He was later removed from Congress posts for indiscipline (August 1939).

The clash was partly about method (Bose wanted an immediate mass struggle, sensing that war would soon weaken Britain) and partly about control of the organisation. Within months, Bose's forecast came true: the war began in September 1939 and the ministries resigned.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• The Government of India Act 1935 was the longest British Act till then: 321 sections, 10 schedules.
• The 1935 Act had no preamble of its own; the 1919 preamble continued.
• The Act proposed an All-India Federation that never came into existence because the princes did not join.
• The Act abolished provincial dyarchy and introduced dyarchy at the centre (never operated).
• Provincial autonomy under the Act began on 1 April 1937.
• Sind and Orissa became separate provinces in 1936, taking the total to 11 provinces.
• Burma was separated from India under the 1935 Act, effective 1937.
• Six provinces got bicameral legislatures: Bengal, Bombay, Madras, UP, Bihar, Assam.
• Three lists: Federal (59), Provincial (54), Concurrent (36) subjects.
• Residuary powers under the 1935 Act lay with the Governor-General.
• The Federal Court started in 1937; first Chief Justice: Sir Maurice Gwyer.
• The Reserve Bank of India started functioning on 1 April 1935.
• The 1935 Act abolished the Council of India of the Secretary of State.
• About 10 per cent of the population got voting rights under the 1935 Act.
• Nehru called the 1935 Act "a new charter of slavery".
• In the February 1937 elections, Congress won clear majorities in five provinces and finally formed ministries in eight.
• C. Rajagopalachari headed the Madras ministry; G.B. Pant headed UP; B.G. Kher headed Bombay.
• In Punjab the ministry was formed by Sikandar Hayat Khan (Unionist Party); in Bengal by Fazlul Haq (Krishak Praja Party).
• The Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (1937) was drafted by the Zakir Husain Committee.
• Congress ministries resigned in October–November 1939 over India being dragged into WWII without consultation.
• Jinnah observed 22 December 1939 as Deliverance Day.
• The All India States People's Conference was founded in 1927; Nehru became its president in 1939 (Ludhiana).
• The Congress Socialist Party was founded in 1934; Narendra Dev was president, Jayaprakash Narayan general secretary.
• Faizpur (1936) was the first Congress session held in a village.
• At Haripura (1938), Subhas Bose was elected Congress president unopposed.
• At Tripuri (1939), Bose defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya; Gandhi said Pattabhi's defeat was his own.
• The Pant resolution at Tripuri forced Bose's hand; he resigned in April 1939 and Rajendra Prasad replaced him.
• Bose founded the Forward Bloc on 3 May 1939 at Calcutta.
• The National Planning Committee (1938) was chaired by Jawaharlal Nehru.

Memory Tables

Table 1: Year → Event (1933–1939)

Year	Event
1933	White Paper on constitutional reforms
1934	Congress Socialist Party founded (Patna/Bombay)
1935	Government of India Act passed; RBI starts functioning (1 April)
1936	Sind and Orissa become separate provinces; Lucknow and Faizpur Congress sessions (Nehru president)
Feb 1937	Provincial elections under the 1935 Act
Apr 1937	Provincial autonomy begins; Federal Court set up; Burma separated
Jul 1937	Congress ministries take office
1938	Haripura session (Bose president); National Planning Committee formed
Mar 1939	Tripuri session; Bose defeats Sitaramayya; Pant resolution
Apr–May 1939	Bose resigns; Rajendra Prasad becomes president; Forward Bloc founded (3 May)
Oct–Nov 1939	Congress ministries resign
22 Dec 1939	Deliverance Day observed by the Muslim League

Table 2: Person → Association (this chapter)

Person	Association
Lord Linlithgow	Chaired Joint Select Committee; Viceroy during 1937 ministries and 1939 war declaration
Sir Maurice Gwyer	First Chief Justice of the Federal Court (1937)
C. Rajagopalachari	Premier of Madras (1937)
Govind Ballabh Pant	Premier of UP; mover of the Pant resolution at Tripuri
B.G. Kher	Premier of Bombay
Dr Khan Sahib	Premier of NWFP
Sikandar Hayat Khan	Unionist premier of Punjab
A.K. Fazlul Haq	Krishak Praja Party premier of Bengal
Zakir Husain	Chaired committee on Wardha Scheme of Basic Education
Acharya Narendra Dev	President, founding conference of CSP (1934)
Jayaprakash Narayan	General secretary of CSP
Pattabhi Sitaramayya	Defeated by Bose at Tripuri (1939)
Rajendra Prasad	Congress president after Bose's resignation (1939)
Sheikh Abdullah	National Conference, Kashmir (renamed 1939)
Jawaharlal Nehru	Chairman, National Planning Committee (1938); AISPC president (1939)

Table 3: Feature of 1935 Act → Status

Feature	Implemented or not
All-India Federation	Never implemented
Dyarchy at the centre	Never implemented
Provincial autonomy	Implemented, 1 April 1937
Federal Court	Implemented, 1937
Separation of Burma	Implemented, 1937
Sind & Orissa as provinces	Implemented, 1936

Practice MCQs

Q1. The Government of India Act 1935 contained how many sections and schedules? (a) 145 sections, 6 schedules (b) 321 sections, 10 schedules (c) 250 sections, 8 schedules (d) 395 sections, 12 schedules

Q2. Under the Government of India Act 1935, residuary powers were vested in the: (a) Federal Legislature (b) Provincial Legislatures (c) Governor-General (d) Secretary of State

Q3. Which two new provinces were created under the Government of India Act 1935? (a) Bihar and Assam (b) Sind and Orissa (c) NWFP and Sind (d) Orissa and Bengal

Q4. Who was the first Chief Justice of the Federal Court established in 1937? (a) Sir Maurice Gwyer (b) Sir William Patrick Spens (c) Harilal Kania (d) Sir Shadi Lal

Q5. In the 1937 provincial elections, Congress won an absolute majority in how many provinces? (a) Three (b) Five (c) Seven (d) Nine

Q6. Who headed the Congress ministry in Madras formed in July 1937? (a) K. Kamaraj (b) T. Prakasam (c) C. Rajagopalachari (d) S. Satyamurti

Q7. The Wardha Scheme of Basic Education (1937) was prepared by a committee headed by: (a) B.G. Kher (b) Zakir Husain (c) Abul Kalam Azad (d) D.S. Kothari

Q8. Why did the Congress ministries resign in 1939? (a) Failure of the federation scheme (b) Defeat in by-elections (c) India was declared a party to WWII without consulting Indians (d) Governors dismissed the ministries

Q9. "Deliverance Day" was observed by the Muslim League on: (a) 22 December 1939 (b) 23 March 1940 (c) 16 August 1946 (d) 14 August 1947

Q10. The Congress Socialist Party was founded in 1934. Which pair of leaders is correctly matched with their positions in it? (a) Jayaprakash Narayan — president; Narendra Dev — general secretary (b) Narendra Dev — president; Jayaprakash Narayan — general secretary (c) Ram Manohar Lohia — president; Minoo Masani — general secretary (d) Achyut Patwardhan — president; Ashok Mehta — general secretary

Q11. At the Tripuri session (1939), Subhas Chandra Bose defeated which candidate for the Congress presidentship? (a) Rajendra Prasad (b) J.B. Kripalani (c) Pattabhi Sitaramayya (d) Abul Kalam Azad

Q12. Which Congress session of 1936 was the first to be held in a village? (a) Lucknow (b) Faizpur (c) Haripura (d) Tripuri

Q13. Match the following provinces with their premiers (1937): List I: 1. United Provinces, 2. Bombay, 3. Bihar, 4. NWFP List II: A. B.G. Kher, B. Dr Khan Sahib, C. G.B. Pant, D. Shri Krishna Sinha (a) 1-C, 2-A, 3-D, 4-B (b) 1-A, 2-C, 3-B, 4-D (c) 1-C, 2-D, 3-A, 4-B (d) 1-D, 2-A, 3-C, 4-B

Q14. Arrange the following events in chronological order:

1. Founding of the Forward Bloc, 2. Haripura session, 3. Resignation of Congress ministries, 4. White Paper on constitutional reforms (a) 4, 2, 1, 3 (b) 2, 4, 1, 3 (c) 4, 1, 2, 3 (d) 2, 1, 4, 3

Q15. Which of the following statements about the Government of India Act 1935 is NOT correct? (a) It abolished dyarchy in the provinces (b) It provided for an All-India Federation (c) It gave residuary powers to the Federal Legislature (d) It extended separate electorates

Answer Key

Q	Answer	One-line reason
1	(b)	The 1935 Act had 321 sections and 10 schedules, the longest British Act till then.
2	(c)	Residuary powers went to the Governor-General, not to any legislature.
3	(b)	Sind (from Bombay) and Orissa (from Bihar) became provinces in 1936.
4	(a)	Sir Maurice Gwyer was the first Chief Justice of the Federal Court (1937).
5	(b)	Congress won clear majorities in Madras, UP, CP, Bihar and Orissa.
6	(c)	C. Rajagopalachari became premier of Madras in July 1937.
7	(b)	The Zakir Husain Committee drafted the Wardha Scheme of Basic Education.
8	(c)	Linlithgow declared India at war (Sept 1939) without consulting Indian leaders.
9	(a)	Jinnah called for Deliverance Day on 22 December 1939 after the resignations.
10	(b)	Narendra Dev presided over the founding conference; JP was general secretary.
11	(c)	Bose beat Pattabhi Sitaramayya 1,580 to 1,377 at Tripuri (1939).
12	(b)	Faizpur (1936) was the first Congress session held in a village.
13	(a)	Pant (UP), Kher (Bombay), Shri Krishna Sinha (Bihar), Dr Khan Sahib (NWFP).
14	(a)	White Paper 1933 → Haripura 1938 → Forward Bloc May 1939 → resignations Oct–Nov 1939.
15	(c)	Residuary powers were with the Governor-General; the other statements are correct.