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

DEFEAT AND SURRENDER 299 Mahatma. The next month in May—a meeting of the All- India Congress Committee was summoned at Patna after an interval of about three years. This meeting offered a surprise to the public in as much as Mahatma Gandhi himself spon- sored the idea that Congressmen should enter the Legislatures. This decision had added importance in view of the fact that meanwhile the Government had decided to dissolve the Indian Legislative Assembly and hold a General Election in November. The All-India Congress Committee decided that instead of permitting the Swaraj Party to function, the Con- gress should itself undertake the responsibility and a Parlia- mentary Board was therefore set up for running the elections. The Committee further decided to call off the civil-dis- obedience campaign, the Mahatma, however, retaining the right to offer civil disobedience.¹ Once again the Government came to know in advance what the decision of the All-India Congress Committee would be and no obstacles were there- fore placed in the way of the Committee meeting openly, though it was still an unlawful body. After the meeting, when the Government felt that the defeat and humiliation of the Congress were complete—they withdrew the ban on most of the Congress organisations in the country and allowed them to function. The decision of the All-India Congress Committee to contest the coming elections did not pass unchallenged. There was a solid group opposed to it—but this time it was not the old ‘No-Change’ Party that was opposing, because the leader of that Party, the Mahatma, was himself the sponsor of the council-entry proposal—but the newly-formed Congress Socialist Party. While the All-India Congress Committee was deliberating, the oppositionists held an All-India Con- ference of their Party. This Party had strong support from the United Provinces and Bombay, besides a fair measure of support from all parts of India. From such information as is ¹ As early as April 7th, 1934, the Mahatma issued a statement advising all Congressmen to suspend civil disobedience as a means of obtaining Swaraj and asserting that in the existing circumstances, only one person, and that himself, should bear the responsibility of civil disobedience. This curious reservation was accepted by the All-India Congress Committee in May and the Bombay Congress in October 1934.