Major Events That Led up to the Declaration of Purna Swaraj

The non-Cooperation movement prompted Indians to surrender titles and posts and boycott the functions of colonial government. However, Gandhi called it off after a violent mob in Chauri Chaura burned down a police station.

After Gandhi was arrested in 1922, a split occurred in Congress. A new section of swarajists started advocating working with the councils rather than boycotting them. Notable swarajists were Motilal Nehru and C.R Das. Gandhi made the swarajists party work on behalf of Congress in the legislature.

In the late 1920s, the nationalist movement seemed to lack consistency. But soon, it gained momentum with the arrival of the Simon Commission. This Commission was set to deliberate on upcoming reforms for India. But it did not have any Indian and so received severe backlash.

To propose reforms for the country, Congress set up its own commission whose leader was Motilal Nehru. In the December 1928 session in Calcutta, the Congress resolution called for the colonial government to provide dominion status to India in one year. Otherwise, it would demand complete independence.

The absence of any concessions from the government set the stage for the December 1929 historic resolution at the Lahore Session. Moreover, the Round Table Conference between Lord Irwin, the Indian Viceroy and Gandhi, Jinnah, and Motilal Nehru also did not yield any concrete outcome.

The Indian National Congress (INC) set forth the Declaration of the Independence of India or the Purna Swaraj on 26 January 1930. This declaration was an outcome of the end of talks between the British and the Indian freedom movement’s leaders over the status of India as a dominion or complete Self-Rule. The Congress Party encouraged Indians to observe this day as Independence Day. On 31 December 1929, Jawaharlal Nehru, the then president of the Congress convention, hoisted India’s flag on the banks of the Ravi River in Lahore.

This resolution has a deep significance in the history of India’s struggle for attaining complete freedom. It was the starting point of an extensive political movement against the Raj (colonial rule). The resolution called for claiming ‘purna’ or complete independence. It was a critical part of the changing tactics of the Indian independence movement in dealing with the British.