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

140 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
strengthened as a result of the conduct of Mr. (now Sir)
Mian Fazli Hussain, who by accepting the office of Minister
in the Punjab, was able to promote Moslem interests in that
province to the exclusion of Hindu and Sikh interests. The
position of the Hindu Mahasabha and of the Responsivist
Party received further support from the Hindu community
through the reactionary and communal attitude adopted by the
Moslem League at its sitting at Aligarh in December, 1925, in
which prominent leaders like Moulana Mohammed Ali, Mr.
M. A. Jinnah, Sir Abdur Rahim and Sir Ali Imam participated.
The next elections to the Legislatures being due in 1926,
the 1925 session of the Congress held at Cawnpore had to
decide the attitude to be adopted by the Congress on the
occasion. It was considered desirable that the Indian National
Congress should itself take up the task of running the elec-
tions, instead of leaving it to the Swaraj Party. The Cawnpore
Congress, presided over by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu,¹ arrived
at this decision without much controversy, because by then
the opposition of the Mahatma and his orthodox followers
had been disarmed, but the question that raised a storm was
as to the policy to be followed in the Legislatures. Should
it be a policy of unmitigated opposition, or non-co-operation,
as originally advocated by the Swaraj Party, or should it be a
policy of discriminate opposition—or responsive co-operation
—as urged by the newly-formed Responsivist Party? In sup-
port of the Swarajist policy, there stood Pandit Motilal Nehru
and Lala Lajpat Rai, whereas opposed to them were Pandit
M. M. Malaviya, Mr. Jayakar and Mr. Kelkar. The former
won the day but before a year passed, Lala Lajpat Rai left
the Swarajist fold and together with Pandit Malaviya² formed.
¹ Mrs. Naidu was the second woman to be elected President of the Con-
gress, the first being Mrs. Besant who presided over the Calcutta Congress
in 1917. A distinguished poetess, she had been closely associated with
the Mahatma in the non-co-operation movement since 1920. She con-
tinues till to-day as one of his closest adherents and has been a member
of the Congress Working Committee with hardly any break.
² Pandit Malaviya, though a veteran Congressman and an ex-President
of the Congress, did not accept the Swarajist policy. During the period
1923-26, he was a member of the Assembly but did not belong to the
Swaraj Party. After the general election of 1926 he continued as an
Independent. The change in the politics of Lala Lajpat Rai was due to
the Hindu-Moslem tension in the Punjab and the influence of the Hindu
Mahasabha.