Nehru: The Invention of India

by Shashi Tharoor

The Congress party contested 1,161 of the 1,585 seats at stake; it won 716, an astonishing 62 per cent of the seats contested. This was despite restrictions on the franchise, which gave disproportionate influence to the educated and the well-off by granting the vote to only 36 million out of India’s 300-million population, and the active hostility of the governmental machinery. Further, the Congress emerged as the largest single party in 9 of the 11 provinces; in six of them it had an outright majority. Jawaharlal interpreted this as a mandate to reject the Government of India Act and demand a Constituent Assembly instead, but his partymen preferred immediate office to future freedom—jam today rather than bread tomorrow. They accepted his draft resolution describing the election results as a repudiation of the Act, but added a clause (dictated by Gandhi) authorizing Congressmen to take office in each province if they were satisfied that they could rule without interference by the British-appointed Governor. Once again Jawaharlal came close to resigning. Once again, he chose to put party unity ahead of his own convictions. (‘Just as the King can do no wrong,’ he said after having been outvoted by his colleagues, ‘the Working Committee can do no wrong.’) In July 1937, Congress ministries were formed in six provinces.