Simon Commission and Indian Nationalism

The reception to the appointment of the all-white Statutory Commission which was announced simultaneously by the British Prime Minister in Parliament and the Viceroy in India on November 8, 1927, was extraordinary in its nature. It raised a veritable political storm and also evoked universal protest, criticism and dissatisfaction in the whole country. The leaders of the extreme left and the extreme right of Indian politics regarded the exclusion of Indians from the Commission as a direct insult to the intelligence of India and joined hands in denouncing its constitution and procedure, and advocating its boycott. Moderates and extremists, Swarajists and No-changers, Congressmen and some of the loyalists-all stood on the same platform. Meetings of protests were held in almost all the towns and cities, throughout the country, in order to record their emphatic protest against the Commission. The recommendations of the Simon Commission met with severe criticism by the Indian leaders. Pandit Motilal Nehru stated that the Report stood boycotted as far as Congress was concerned and they were not going to pay the slightest attention to what the Commission recommended or did not recommend. Gaya Prasad Singh said, "Perform its funeral ceremony." All these factors had aroused and intensified the consciousness of the people of India.