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

CHAPTER V
DESHBANDHU C. R. DAS IN POWER (1924-25)
THE year 1924 opened with an outlook hopeful in every
direction, but the Swarajists had no time to rest. The
elections to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, the largest
municipality in India, were to be held in March. Thanks to
the Minister for Local Self-Government, Sir Surendranath
Bannerji, the Calcutta Municipal Act had been amended in
1923. Therein, larger powers had been conferred on the
municipality, the franchise had been considerable enlarged
and the elective element strengthened. Under the con-
stitution, it was possible for the Swaraj Party to capture the
municipal administration if they were successful at the polls.
An intensive campaign was therefore started early in 1924
with the object of capturing the elected seats. So great was
the enthusiasm of the people who attended in their thousands
the meetings addressed by the Swarajist leaders that the
election forecast was a very favourable one. As a matter of
fact the Swaraj Party was returned with a very safe majority,
a large number of the successful Swarajist candidates being
Moslems. This result was all the more creditable because the
elections were held on the basis of separate electorate, whereby
Hindu voters alone could vote for Hindu candidates and Mos-
lem voters for Moslem candidates. At the first meeting of the
newly-elected municipal councillors, Deshbandhu Das was
elected Mayor and Mr. Shaheed Suhrawady, a Moslem
gentleman, Deputy-Mayor. The Corporation soon after
appointed me as the Chief Executive Officer, that is, the head
of the municipal administration.¹ Though my appointment
to this important post at the age of twenty-seven was generally
¹ Under the new constitution of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation
there was a division of function—the Chief Executive Officer being the
head of the administration and the Mayor being the head of the Corporation
as a whole. Under the old constitution both these functions were combined
in the ‘Chairman’.
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