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UPSC Civil Services Examination, UPSC Notes [GS-I], Topic: Swaraj Party - UPSC Modern History Notes, The Swaraj Party or the Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party was formed on 1 January 1923 by C R Das and, Motilal Nehru. The formation of the Swaraj Party came after various significant events like the withdrawal of, non-cooperation movement, the government of India act 1919 and 1923 elections. The formation of this, party is an important chapter in Modern Indian History and should be well-read for IAS Exam., , Swaraj Party – Background, How the party came into the picture can be understood by the following points mentioned below:, , , After the Chauri Chaura incident, Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement in, 1922., , , , This was met with a lot of disagreements among leaders of the Congress Party., , , , While some wanted to continue non-cooperation, others wanted to end the legislature boycott and, contest elections. The former were called no-changers and such leaders included Rajendra Prasad,, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, C Rajagopalachari, etc., , , , The others who wanted to enter the legislative council and obstruct the British government from, within were called the pro-changers. These leaders included C R Das, Motilal Nehru, Srinivasa, Iyengar, etc., , , , In 1922, in the Gaya session of the Congress, C R Das (who was presiding over the session) moved, a proposal to enter the legislatures but it was defeated. Das and other leaders broke away from the, Congress and formed the Swaraj Party., , , , C R Das was the President and the Secretary was Motilal Nehru., , , , Prominent leaders of the Swaraj Party included N C Kelkar, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and, Subhas Chandra Bose., , Aims of the Swaraj Party, The Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party or the Swaraj Party aimed for:, , , Attaining dominion status., , , , Obtaining the right to frame a constitution., , , , Establishing control over the bureaucracy., , , , Obtaining full provincial autonomy., , , , Attaining Swarajya (self-rule).

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, , Getting people the right to control government machinery., , , , Organising industrial and agricultural labour., , , , Controlling the local and municipal bodies., , , , Having an agency for propaganda outside the country., , , , Establishing a federation of Asian countries to promote trade and commerce., , , , Engaging in the constructive programmes of the Congress., , Significance of Swaraj Party, , , Gandhiji and both the pro-changers and the no-changers realised the importance of putting up a, united front in order to get reforms from the government., , , , So, it was decided that the Swarajists would contest elections as a separate ‘group’ within, the Congress Party., , , , The Swaraj Party won 42 out of 104 seats to the Central Legislature in 1923., , , , The party’s programme was to obstruct the government. They wanted to create deadlocks on every, measure., , , , They boycotted all official functions and receptions held by the government., , , , They voiced their grievances and aspirations in the Legislative Assembly., , Aspirants preparing for UPSC 2020 can check the previous year question papers to align their preparation, accordingly., , Swaraj Party and its Achievements, , , Swarajist Vithalbhai Patel became speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1925., , , , They outvoted the government many times even in matters related to budgetary grants., , , , They were able to defeat the Public Safety Bill in 1928., , , , They exposed the weaknesses of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms., , , , They gave fiery speeches in the Assembly on self-rule and civil liberties., , Drawbacks of Swaraj Party, , , They could not coordinate their struggle inside the Assembly with the mass freedom struggle, outside., , , , They totally relied on newspapers to carry their work and message in the Assembly to the outside, world., , , , Some of them could not resist the perks of power. Motilal Nehru was a member of the Skeen, Committee and A Ramaswamy Iyengar was a member of the Public Accounts Committee., , , , Their policy of obstructionism had its flaws and limitations., , , , The death of C R Das in 1925 further weakened the party.

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, , There were internal divisions among the Swarajists. They were divided into the responsivists and, the non-responsivists. The responsivists (M M Malaviya, Lala Lajpat Rai, N C Kelkar) wanted to, cooperate with the government and hold offices, whereas the non-responsivists (Motilal Nehru), withdrew from legislatures in 1926., , , , The party was in shambles when it went into the 1926 elections, and as a result, did not perform, well., , , , The party’s failure to support the peasant cause in Bengal led to a loss of support of many members., , , , The party merged with the Congress in 1930.