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

CHAPTER XIII THE FIGHT RESUMED (1932) TRUE to his habit of travelling by the lowest class available, the Mahatma arrived in Bombay as a deck-passenger by S.S. Pilsna on December 28th, 1931. Elaborate arrangements had been made by the Bombay Congress Committee to accord him a right royal reception. Thanks to the propaganda of the Congress, the failure of the Mahatma to achieve something tangible for his country at the London Conference had not produced any depressing effect. And judging from the warmth, cordiality and affection displayed at the reception, one would think that the Mahatma had returned with Swaraj in the hollow of his hand. The same evening he spoke at a mass meeting of 200,000 people at Azad Maidan. Only with the help of loudspeakers could his voice be audible to that vast gathering. The festivity over, the Mahatma settled down to business. Reports from different parts of the country were duly placed before him. It was soon evident that the situation was materially different from what it was when he had sailed from Bombay towards the end of August. It looked as if the Government had been waiting till Mahatma Gandhi sailed from Bombay in order to start a policy of ruthless repression. The two authors of the Delhi Pact being away from India, the Government could treat that document as a scrap of paper. It is necessary to recapitulate briefly the events of 1931 which led to a crisis at the end of the year rendering imperative a resumption of the civil-disobedience campaign. After the Karachi Congress, youth and labour circles continued to condemn the Delhi Pact. The Provincial Youth Conference (Naujawan Bharat Sabha) of the United Provinces held at Muttra in May and presided over by the writer, passed a resolution of disapproval. In July a session of the All-India Trade Union Congress was held in Calcutta under the 262