Also called the Indian statutory comission, was a group of 7 british members of Parliament. it was chaired by Sir John Simon. the idea was to consider further political reforms in India. this commission deciding the future of India had no Indian representation at all, and only had british members. Hence it was opposed by the Indians. Muslims league and congress boycotted it as well because they knew that the selected members of the commission were those who opposed self-government. Commission arrived in 1927 and gave back its report in 1930. when they first arrived, they were met with the slogan ‘Go Back Simon’.
the main points of Simon commission were:
the report was unacceptable to both ML and congress, hence rejected by them.
To review the political conditions of India: simon commission came to india in 1927 to check how well the indian act of 1919 was working. actually the montague-chelmsford reform of 1919, promised that after 10yrs british government would revise the working of 1919 reform and consider further political reform. so to investigate the working, simon commission was formed.
that the conservative party feared that they might lose elections to labour party: initially simon commission was scheduled to come in 1929, exactly 10yr after 1919, however, Conservative Party in UK, thought that in1929’s election, It might lose power to its rival Labour party which was sympathetic to the beliefs of Indian Nationalism and would make too many concessions to them. hence they called simon commission early to consider India’s future.
It was the promise of british gov to bring reforms every 10yrs: as british gov has promised that reforms were to be introduced every 10yrs, and last reforms were in 1919, so time was close to decide upon the new reforms. hence simon commission was sent to prepare recommendations for future constitution.
No indian representation in the commission: the whole commission comprising of 7 members, comprised of british members only and not single one of them was indian, this enraged Indians, because If future of India was to be decided, Indian sentiments shouldve been heard. hence the composition was considered as an insult. therefore it was collectively opposed.
Different Viewpoints: the difference in vewpoints of Indians and British over the reason for the exculsion of Indians from the commission led it to fail. british said that 3 to 4 indians in the commission could never represent all of the Indian Interests. furthermore, if all the indian communities got represented, the commission wouldve become too large to operate effectively and it wouldve become impossible to reach a solution.
membership of commission was carefully selected by the british CONSERVATIVE gov: The time at which commission came, Indians were all charged up to demand self-rule. now the commission selected by conservative gov, had members who opposed self rule, they were not ready to give in to the demands of indians or favour them in any way. this tactic of carefully choosing members who would totally reject self-rule annoyed Indians. hence the commission was opposed.