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

THE SWARAJIST REVOLT 105
The success of the Swarajists in capturing the elected
seats in the central and provincial legislatures was followed
by similar success in other directions. The elections to the
local bodies (municipalities and district boards) in the United
Provinces were held in 1923 and under the direction of Pandit
Motilal Nehru the Swaraj Party in that province had con-
siderable success and as a result, many of the municipalities
and district boards came under Swarajist control. In the
field of journalism, too, the Swarajists made much progress.
In Calcutta, the Deshbandhu launched his daily paper
Forward in October, soon after his victory at Delhi. As some
of the organisers of the paper were suddenly put into prison
without trial, I was entrusted with the organisation of the
paper. Though the launching of the paper entailed very hard
work on our part, success followed rapidly and in its career,
the paper was able to keep pace with the growing popularity
and strength of the Party. Within a short time Forward
came to hold a leading position among the nationalist
journals in the country. Its articles were forceful, its news
service varied and up-to-date and the paper developed a
special skill in the art of discovering and exposing official
secrets.
During 1923 the movement was on the whole of a con-
stitutional nature with the exception of a civil-disobedience
(or Satyagraha) campaign in Nagpur. The authorities in
Nagpur prohibited the carrying of national flags along certain
streets in Nagpur. As a protest against this order, processions
were sent into the prohibited area with flags, etc. The cam-
paign went on for some months and a large number of people
were sent to prison. The issue soon became an All-India
one, because the order in question was regarded as an insult
to the National Flag and people began to pour in from all
parts of the country in order to defy the order and court
imprisonment. Ultimately, better counsels prevailed in
Government House and a compromise was arrived at, whereby
the demand of the people in this connection was substantially
conceded. It should be observed in this connection that the
above campaign—generally known as the Nagpur Flag
Satyagraha Campaign—was run by the orthodox Gandhiists