Gandhi–Irwin Pact

Mahatma Gandhi

Lord Irwin

The Gandhi–Irwin Pact was a political agreement signed by

Gandhi and Irwin had eight meetings that totalled 24 hours. Although Gandhi was impressed by Irwin's sincerity, the terms of the pact fell manifestly short of those Gandhi had prescribed as the minimum for a truce.^[3]

Gandhi managed to have over 90,000 political prisoners released under the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.^[4]

The

• Discontinuation of the Salt March by the Indian National Congress
• Participation by the Indian National Congress in the
  Second Round Table Conference
• Withdrawal of all ordinances issued by the Colonial government of India imposing curbs on the activities of the Indian National Congress
• Withdrawal of all prosecutions relating to several types of political offenses (Rowlatt Act) except those involving violence
• Release of prisoners arrested for participating in the Salt March; and
• Removal of the tax on salt, which allowed the Indians to produce, trade, and sell salt legally and for their own private use

Many British officials in India and in Britain were outraged by the idea of a pact with a party whose avowed purpose was the destruction of the British Raj. Winston Churchill publicly expressed his disgust "at the nauseating and humiliating spectacle of this one-time Inner Temple lawyer, now seditious fakir, striding half-naked up the steps of the Viceroy’s palace, there to negotiate and parley on equal terms with the representative of the King Emperor".^[6]

• Withdraw all ordinances and end prosecutions
• Release all
  political prisoners
  except those guilty of violence
• Permit peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops
• Restore confiscated properties of the satyagrahis
• Permit free collection or manufacture of salt by persons near the sea coast
• Lift the ban over the Congress

• Congress' demand for inquiry on police excesses

• Poona Pact
• Civil disobedience movement
• Non cooperation movement