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

CHAPTER IV THE SWARAJIST REVOLT (1923) THE Swarajist leaders returned from Gaya to their own provinces with a stiff programme of work before them. The general understanding was that Deshbandhu Das should conduct the propaganda in Bengal, Central Provinces and South India; Pandit Motilal Nehru in Upper India and Mr. Vithalbhai Patel in Bombay Presidency. The Nationalist Press as a whole was anti-Swarajist. Therefore the Swarajists had to depend mainly on lecturing as a means of propaganda. In Calcutta we published a daily paper of four pages, called Banglar Katha, to supplement our propaganda and I had to become editor overnight under the orders of the leader. In Madras, Mr. A. Rangaswami Iyenger, afterwards editor of Hindu, was very helpful. His paper, Swadesamitram, a Tamil daily, became an exponent of the Swarajist policy and he also started an English weekly under the same name, to help our propaganda. In Poona the extremely influential Marathi paper, Kesari, became a champion of our cause. After Loka- manya Tilak’s death, Mr. Kelkar had been the editor of Kesari and as he became a staunch supporter of the Swaraj party, the resources of his paper Kesari were placed at the disposal of the party. When the Deshbandhu returned to Bengal after the Gaya Congress, he found his position considerably weakened. The Congress machinery had passed into the hands of our political opponents, who now came to be known as “No- Changers,” because they were against any change in the existing plan and programme of the Congress. When we first took stock of our following, we found that we were in a minority. It was difficult for us at first to raise funds because we had rebelled against the official programme of the Con- gress. Nevertheless, we were a disciplined and determined band of workers and with unbounded enthusiasm, we