- Messages
- 166
- Reaction score
- 223
- Points
- 53
Q : Why did Congress oppose the Morley Minto reforms ? [7]
Morley-Minto reforms arrived in India back in 1909. It was an attempt by the British to solve the constitutional problem in India. Congress part however showed strong resistance against these reforms due to many reasons.
Firstly the reforms increased the number of Indians in the viceroy's council but it actually had no real power. The British saw this as an advisory council which could only give and present their opinions to the British and play no part in governing the country as they were t ready to give the Indians some political power. Moreover the council was purely advisory and The British intended that the Indians could voice their opinions in the Councils but Congress wanted more responsibility which the government were not prepared to give. This annoyed many who were looking towards self-rule as they had no power in changing governmental policies and could only give advice to the British as real power remained in their hands.
Secondly in the reforms separate electorates were granted to the Muslims. It cheered the Muslims but angered the congress very much as they did not support separate electorates for Muslims. The Congress was in favor of joint electorate and claimed that the party represented the whole of India and that awarding separate electorate to a community in minority was an undemocratic move. Also some Hindus disliked the relative high posts of Muslims in the councils despite the fact that Muslims had a lower percentage and had small numbers in the population. The Muslims were granted 6 reserved seats in the Imperial Council which the Hindus thought were more as compared to their population.
Lastly in those years Hindus had started demanding self rule and independence while the reforms gave no option to any effective power to Indian people to run the government. As the viceroy's council was purely advisory Congress wanted more power which the British were not ready to give. the move annoyed many Indians who were looking and now wanted self rule for India and they saw the Morley - Minto reforms against them.
Therefore on account of the above mentioned reasons the Morley Minto reforms faced huge opposition by the Congress Party in India.
Morley-Minto reforms arrived in India back in 1909. It was an attempt by the British to solve the constitutional problem in India. Congress part however showed strong resistance against these reforms due to many reasons.
Firstly the reforms increased the number of Indians in the viceroy's council but it actually had no real power. The British saw this as an advisory council which could only give and present their opinions to the British and play no part in governing the country as they were t ready to give the Indians some political power. Moreover the council was purely advisory and The British intended that the Indians could voice their opinions in the Councils but Congress wanted more responsibility which the government were not prepared to give. This annoyed many who were looking towards self-rule as they had no power in changing governmental policies and could only give advice to the British as real power remained in their hands.
Secondly in the reforms separate electorates were granted to the Muslims. It cheered the Muslims but angered the congress very much as they did not support separate electorates for Muslims. The Congress was in favor of joint electorate and claimed that the party represented the whole of India and that awarding separate electorate to a community in minority was an undemocratic move. Also some Hindus disliked the relative high posts of Muslims in the councils despite the fact that Muslims had a lower percentage and had small numbers in the population. The Muslims were granted 6 reserved seats in the Imperial Council which the Hindus thought were more as compared to their population.
Lastly in those years Hindus had started demanding self rule and independence while the reforms gave no option to any effective power to Indian people to run the government. As the viceroy's council was purely advisory Congress wanted more power which the British were not ready to give. the move annoyed many Indians who were looking and now wanted self rule for India and they saw the Morley - Minto reforms against them.
Therefore on account of the above mentioned reasons the Morley Minto reforms faced huge opposition by the Congress Party in India.