The Irwin Declaration was a statement made by Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India, on 31 October 1929 regarding the status of India in the British empire. It was intended to placate leaders of the Indian nationalist movement who had become increasingly vocal in demanding dominion status for India.
The Declaration was a five-line statement in simple non-legal language. It attempted to clarify to its British and Indian audiences that the intention of the British government was to facilitate India attaining dominion status in the future. However, there was no mention of any timeline.
The Declaration triggered political developments both in Britain and India. In Britain, there was a backlash: significant parts of the political class and the general public were against India attaining obtaining dominion status. In India, nationalist leaders welcomed the Declaration and radically changed their mode of engagement with the British government: they now wanted all negotiations between Indian political leaders and Britain to be about the formalisation of dominion status for India and the framing of a new Constitution.
