The pact between Mahatma Gandhi and the Viceroy, also called the Delhi Pact, was signed on 5 March of the year:

The Gandhi-Irwin Pact (Delhi Pact) was signed on 5 March 1931, between Mahatma Gandhi and the Viceroy.

Background:

• The Civil Disobedience Movement had been going on for nearly a year, and thousands of people had been arrested.
• The British wanted the Congress to take part in further talks.
• Gandhi was released from prison in January 1931, and held talks with the Viceroy for several weeks.

Terms of the Pact:

• The Congress agreed to suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• The Congress agreed to take part in further constitutional talks.
• The government agreed to release all political prisoners not convicted of violence.
• The government agreed to withdraw ordinances that curbed the Congress.
• Confiscated properties of satyagrahis that had not been sold would be returned.
• People living near the coast would be allowed to make salt for their own use, without paying tax.
• Peaceful picketing of liquor and foreign cloth shops would be allowed.

Criticism:

Many nationalists, especially younger leaders, were disappointed, as the Pact did not mention independence, and did not secure the commutation of the death sentences of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, who were hanged on 23 March 1931.

The Karachi session:

• The Congress endorsed the Pact at its Karachi session (March 1931), presided over by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• The Karachi session also adopted the resolutions on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programme.

What followed:

The talks that followed failed, and the Civil Disobedience Movement was resumed (1932).

Why not the other options?

• ✗1929 was the year of the Lahore session.
• ✗1930 was the year of the Salt Satyagraha.
• ✗1932 was the year the movement was resumed.