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

APPENDIX Since the above was written, three events deserving of notice have taken place. The plenary session of the Congress met in Bombay on October 26th, 1934. The elections to the Indian Legislative Assembly, in which the Congress Party has . been participating, began in November. And the Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Indian Constitutional Reforms was published on November 2nd, 1934. The two important resolutions passed by the Bombay Congress refer (1) to a change of the Congress Constitution and (2) Constitution of an all-India Village Industries Asso- ciation. The second resolution connotes an extension of the existing Khadi (spinning and weaving) programme of the Congress and indicates that the Congress desires to emphasise non-political work. The first resolution has two principle parts. (1) Reduction in the numerical strength of the Congress delegates and of the all-India Congress Committee and (2) provision of a rule that one must habitually wear Khadi for six months in order to be elected a member of a Congress Executive. Both the above resolutions may be regarded as the Mahatma’s handiwork. According to the Congress Constitution in vogue for thirteen years, the number of delegates to be elected to a Plenary Session of the Congress was 6000, while the strength of the All-India Congress Committee was about 350. At the Lahore Congress in December 1929, an attempt was made by Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and others to reduce the stand of the former to 1000 and of the latter to 100. But the attempt was defeated. The Bombay Congress has now reduced the former to 2000 and the latter to 155. The signifi- cance of this move in very great. When in 1920, the Mahatma seized the Congress machinery and turned out the older leaders, the forces of democracy were on his side and the Nagpur Congress of 1920 was attended by no less than 14,000 delegates. To-day, the Mahatma is afraid of the forces of democracy which he has helped to stir up, hence his attempt to 350