The Congress could not attempt a complete overhaul of the agrarian structure by completely eliminating the zamindari system, due to various reasons:

1. According to the constitutional structure of the 1935 Act, the Provincial Ministries did not have enough powers to do so. They also suffered from an extreme lack of financial resources, for the lion’s share of India’s revenues was appropriated by the Government of India.

2. There was also the constraint of time. The Congress leadership knew that their Ministries would not last long and would have to quit soon, as the logic of their politics was to confront imperialism and not co-operate with it.

3. Further, nearly all the Congress-run states (that is, U.P., Bihar, Bombay, Madras and Assam) had reactionary second chambers in the form of Legislative Councils, which were elected on a very narrow franchise — while the number of voters for the assemblies in these states was over 17.5 million, it was less than 70 thousand for the second chambers. These were, therefore, dominated by landlords, capitalists and money lenders, with the Congress forming a small minority. As a majority in the lower house was not enough, in order to get any legislation passed through the second chamber, the Congress had to simultaneously pressure their upper class elements and conciliate them.

4. Finally, the agrarian structure of various parts of India had developed over the centuries and was extremely complex and complicated. There was not even enough information about its various components — land rights, for instance.