द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

THE SLUMP 137 the leadership of the Swaraj Party, differences broke out between him and his Maharashtrian followers. The breach gradually widened until in an unlucky moment the Pandit lost his patience with them and in a fit of temper, charac- teristic of him, declared that 'the diseased limb (viz., the Maharashtrian group) of the Swaraj Party should be ampu- tated.' This statement so offended the Maharashtrians that they resolved to sever all connection with the Pandit and the Swaraj Party and to start the Responsivist Party. Other dissensions also appeared within the Swaraj Party later on. These developments indicated that while Pandit Motilal Nehru had superior intellectual qualities and a personality that could draw admiration and respect, he lacked that emotional appeal which alone can keep a party together through fair weather and foul. In the domain of Hindu-Moslem relations, too, the Desh- bandhu was a unifying force. His 'Bengal Pact' which had been rejected by the Coconada Congress in December 1923, but had been ratified by the Provincial Conference in May 1924, had served to convince all Moslems that he was their real friend. That such a man was at the head of the Swaraj Party helped to rally Moslem support for that Party and as a matter of fact, the Swaraj Party in the Bengal Legislative Council had a large number of Moslem members who had been elected on a basis of separate electorate. With the death of the Deshbandhu, the Moslem community no longer retained their former confidence in the Swaraj Party. More- over, the political tension created by the Swaraj Party which had served to hold back the rising tide of communalism, subsided after his death and the country was then plunged in inter-communal strife which usurped the field for about two years. There was another unfortunate development following the death of the Deshbandhu—namely the weakening of the extremist attitude of the Party. When the Swaraj Party first came into existence, it had drawn elements both from the Right and from the Left. During the lifetime of the leader the Left elements had the upper hand because he himself belonged to the Left. But in his absence the Right elements were able to raise their head. The emergence of inter-