Simon Go Back!: Reflections of the Indian Press on the Boycott of Simon Commission in the Madras Presidency, 1928-1930

Abstract

The British appointed the Statutory Commission under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon on November 8, 1927 to examine the working of the Montegu-Chelmsford Reforms,implemented in 23rd December 1919.All the members of the commission were the members of British Parliament. The appointment of commission was considered as a great insult to the Indians’ sense of self-respect. There was an immediate outcry in the country over the constitution of the commission.So the entire nation rallied under Gandhi’s call for boycott of the commission which arrived in India on February 3, 1928. Wherever the commission went in Indian cities, it was greeted with black flags with the ‘Simon Go-back’ slogans.

The Indian press voluntarily came forward to report the weakness of the Simon report and openly condemned the anti-Indian attitude of the members of the commission. The political literature treated the outcome of the report as just ‘eye wash’.