Congress Rule in Provinces (1937–1939)
Following the Congress's strong performance in the February 1937 provincial elections under the Government of India Act, 1935, Congress ministries were formed in eight provinces: Bombay, Madras, Central Provinces, Orissa, United Provinces, Bihar, and later NWFP and Assam.
These ministries governed for 28 months before resigning in October 1939 following the outbreak of the Second World War and the Viceroy's unilateral declaration of India's participation in the war without consulting Indian leaders.
Gandhi's Advice to Congress Ministers
Gandhi advised Congressmen to hold these offices "lightly, not tightly" — treating them as "crowns of thorns" accepted to test whether they could quicken the pace toward the nationalist goal. The offices were to be used in a way not expected or intended by the British. He urged ministers to prove that the Congress could rule with the least assistance from the police and the Army.
Work Under Congress Ministries
Civil Liberties — Major Achievements
Congress ministries did much to ease curbs on civil liberties:
- Laws giving emergency powers were repealed.
- Bans on organisations such as the Hindustan Seva Dal and Youth Leagues lifted.
- Bans on certain books and journals lifted.
- Press restrictions lifted; newspapers removed from black lists.
- Confiscated arms and arms licences restored.
- Police powers curbed; CID stopped shadowing politicians.
- Political prisoners and revolutionaries released; deportation and internment orders revoked.
- In Bombay, lands confiscated during the CDM were restored.
- Pensions of officials associated with the CDM restored.
Blemishes on civil liberties record:
- Yusuf Maherally (socialist) arrested by Madras government for inflammatory speeches (later released).
- S.S. Batliwala (socialist) arrested by Madras government for seditious speech; given 6-month sentence.
- K.M. Munshi, Bombay Home Minister, used the CID against communists and leftists.
The Congress ministries could NOT completely abolish zamindari or overhaul the agrarian structure due to seven key constraints:
- Ministries did not have adequate powers under the 1935 Act.
- Inadequate financial resources — a lion's share was appropriated by the Government of India.
- Strategy of class adjustments — zamindars had to be conciliated and neutralised.
- Constraint of time — Congress's political logic was confrontation with colonialism, not cooperative administration.
- War clouds had started hovering by 1938.
- Reactionary second chambers (Legislative Councils) dominated by landlords, moneylenders, and capitalists in UP, Bihar, Bombay, Madras, and Assam had to be conciliated for legislation to pass.
- The agrarian structure was too complex.
Despite these constraints, the ministries legislated on land reforms, debt relief, forest grazing fees, arrears of rent, land tenures, etc. However, most benefits accrued to statutory and occupancy tenants — sub-tenants did not gain much, and agricultural labourers did not benefit at all as they had not been mobilised.
Attitude Towards Labour
The basic approach: advance workers' interests while promoting industrial peace — reducing strikes through compulsory arbitration before established conciliation machinery, mediating between labour and capital, improving workers' conditions and securing wage increases.
Militant trade union protests were treated as law and order problems; ministries took recourse to Section 144 and arrested leaders. This approach succeeded broadly but failed in Bombay. Leftist critics were dissatisfied.
Nehru was privately unhappy about repressive measures but publicly supported the ministries to shield them from "petty and petulant criticism." Gandhi, against militant methods, stood for political education of the masses and appealed against frequent resort to colonial laws.
- Prohibition imposed in certain areas.
- Harijan welfare: temple entry, use of public facilities, scholarships, increased numbers in government service and police.
- Attention to primary, technical and higher education; public health and sanitation.
- Khadi encouraged through subsidies.
- Prison reforms undertaken.
- Indigenous enterprises encouraged.
- National Planning Committee set up in 1938 under Congress president Subhash Bose to develop economic planning.
- Mass literacy campaigns.
- Congress police stations and panchayats set up.
- Congress Grievance Committees presented mass petitions to government.
- States peoples' movements supported.
Evaluation of 28-Month Congress Rule
Achievements
- Confirmed that Indian self-government was necessary for radical social transformation.
- Demonstrated that a nationalist movement could use state power to further its ends without being co-opted.
- Congress ministries successfully controlled communal riots.
- Morale of the bureaucracy came down — Indians had proven they could govern.
- Council work helped neutralise erstwhile hostile elements (landlords, etc.).
- People glimpsed what independence would look like — the shape of things to come.
- Further weakened the colonial myth that Indians were unfit to rule.
Contradictions and Failures
- By 1939, internal strifes, opportunism, and hunger for power had begun surfacing.
- The Congress's closer friendship with Indian capitalists led to an apparent anti-labour shift — most visibly in the Bombay Traders Disputes Act, 1938.
- Industrial unrest and militancy surged in Bombay, Gujarat, UP, and Bengal as the working class, whose hopes had been raised by the Congress victory, felt betrayed.
- Congress faced a dilemma over princely states — whether to support the Prajamandal movement for greater democracy.
- Muslim political exclusion: The All India Muslim League, angered by Congress's refusal to share power, established the Pirpur Committee in 1938 to document alleged Congress "atrocities." The Pirpur Report charged Congress ministries with: interference in Muslim religious rites; suppression of Urdu in favour of Hindi; denial of proper Muslim representation; oppression of Muslims in the economic sphere.
These charges, though disputed, hardened Muslim League separatism and contributed to the two-nation narrative. Congress was forced to realise that governing was far harder than agitating, and that no administration could simultaneously satisfy all sections' expectations.
Congress Ministries Resign (October 1939)
When the Second World War broke out, Viceroy Linlithgow declared India a belligerent without consulting any Indian political leader. Congress demanded a clear statement of British war aims — specifically, whether India would be granted independence after the war. With no satisfactory answer forthcoming, all Congress ministries resigned in October 1939 — a strategic act that returned them to the moral high ground of principled non-cooperation.
The Muslim League, whose provincial governments were not in power in the Congress-ruled provinces, celebrated this as a "Day of Deliverance" (December 22, 1939).
- GS Paper I — Modern History: The 28-month Congress rule is the closest analogue to an independent Indian government before 1947 — it shows both the possibilities and the limits of wielding colonial state power for nationalist ends.
- Federalism and Centre-State Relations: The constraints faced by Congress ministries (financial dependence on the Centre, reserved powers of the Governor, non-votable budget portions) directly anticipate debates on Centre-State relations in independent India.
- Labour and Nationalism: The Congress's tension between industrial peace and labour rights mirrors the post-independence tension between development and workers' rights. The Bombay Traders Disputes Act (1938) is an early instance of this contradiction.
- Communalism and the Pakistan Movement: The Pirpur Committee (1938) and its report on alleged Congress atrocities against Muslims is a critical link in the chain of events leading to the Pakistan demand (1940). The "Day of Deliverance" (December 22, 1939) shows how Muslim League used Congress's resignation to advance its political narrative.
- Nationalism and Social Reform: The National Planning Committee (1938, under Subhash Bose) is the first serious indigenous attempt at economic planning — a direct ancestor of independent India's Planning Commission (1950).
- Women and Social Change: The extension of franchise to women on equal terms with men under the 1935 Act, operationalised during Congress rule, marks a structural shift in political inclusion.
- Eight provinces, not six: Congress ministries in Bombay, Madras, Central Provinces, Orissa, United Provinces, Bihar, NWFP, and Assam — eight. Frequently listed as six (forgetting NWFP and Assam which joined later).
- Duration: 28 months (1937 to October 1939) — NOT two years, not three years.
- Resigned because of: Viceroy's unilateral war declaration (WWII, September 1939) — NOT the Pirpur Report, not the Muslim League's demands.
- Pirpur Committee: Established by the Muslim League in 1938 — NOT the British government, NOT Congress. Its purpose was to document alleged Congress atrocities against Muslims during the Congress rule period.
- Day of Deliverance: December 22, 1939 — celebrated by the Muslim League after Congress ministries resigned. Jinnah called on Muslims to observe it as a day of relief from Congress "tyranny."
- National Planning Committee (1938): Set up under Subhash Bose as Congress president — NOT Nehru (though Nehru later chaired it and is more associated with planning). The committee was established in 1938 during Bose's Congress presidency.
- Blemishes: Arrests of Yusuf Maherally and S.S. Batliwala were by the Madras government; K.M. Munshi used CID against leftists as Bombay Home Minister — the province is frequently confused.
- Agricultural labourers did NOT benefit from Congress agrarian reforms — most benefits went to statutory and occupancy tenants only. Sub-tenants and agricultural labourers were left out.
- Bombay Traders Disputes Act, 1938: This was perceived as an anti-labour measure — NOT an anti-capitalist measure. It constrained industrial action and reflected Congress's closer ties with Indian industrialists.
- 8 Congress provinces: Bombay, Madras, CP, Orissa, UP, Bihar, NWFP (later), Assam (later).
- Duration: 28 months; resigned October 1939 (WWII, Viceroy's unilateral war declaration).
- Gandhi's advice: "Hold offices lightly, not tightly"; offices as "crowns of thorns"; govern without police/Army.
- Civil liberties: Repealed emergency laws; lifted bans on organisations/books/journals; freed political prisoners; restored pensions; curbed police/CID.
- Civil liberties blemishes: Madras — Maherally and Batliwala arrested; Bombay — K.M. Munshi used CID against leftists.
- Agrarian reform constraints: 7 constraints (inadequate powers/finance/complex structure/class adjustments/time/second chamber/war clouds).
- Benefits mostly to occupancy/statutory tenants — NOT sub-tenants or agricultural labourers.
- Labour: Industrial peace strategy; compulsory arbitration; Section 144 against militants; failed in Bombay; leftists unhappy.
- Social welfare: Prohibition; Harijan welfare; education; khadi; prison reform; indigenous enterprise.
- National Planning Committee: 1938, under Subhash Bose (Congress president).
- Pirpur Committee: Muslim League, 1938; alleged atrocities against Muslims; charged interference in religious rites, Urdu suppression, denial of representation.
- Day of Deliverance: December 22, 1939 (Muslim League celebrated Congress resignations).
- Bombay Traders Disputes Act 1938: Perceived anti-labour shift; Congress closer to capitalists.
- Evaluation: Proved Indians could govern; controlled communal riots; busted myth of Indian unfit-to-rule; neutralised hostile elements; people saw shape of future independence.