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

260 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE was of no use to India. The secret of political bargaining is to look more strong than you really are. Indian politicians, if they want to match themselves successfully against their British opponents, will have to learn many things which they do not know and unlearn many things which they have learnt. Going through the speeches of the Mahatma at the Round Table Conference, one is pained at every step. That from the very beginning he had to speak at length on the status of the Congress as contrasted with other parties and had to repeat his remarks over and over again—only shows that a conspiracy had been hatched in advance to ignore the Congress com- pletely. At the Conference the Mahatma remarked that in the reports submitted by the different committees, the views of the so-called majority were given prominence—while his dissentient note was condemned to insignificance, as if it reflected the opinion of just one individual. Some weeks after his arrival in London, the Mahatma did realise the hopeless- ness of the situation. If he had any political diplomacy, he should have sought a convenient opportunity of getting out of the Conference as soon as possible and then should have made an extensive tour in America and on the Continent to expose the unreality of the Conference and to popularise the Indian cause. By sticking to the Conference till the end, he unnecessarily lent prestige to a body that should have been exposed before the bar of world-opinion. The Mahatma after leaving England spent a few days in Paris. There he had a group of friends and admirers, who were however more interested in his non-violence as a message to the world, than in his struggle for India's freedom. His brief stay in Paris was well utilised, but unfortunately no attempt was made to get into touch with politicians—or with the people who really count in the modern political world. Nor was any attempt made by him to raise the Indian issue as an international political issue. From Paris he went to Geneva. There also he had a group of friends many of whom were interested more in his philosophy than in his politics. Though he visited Geneva, no serious attempt was made to bring him into touch with the people who count in the organisation of the League of Nations. He paid a visit to