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

CHAPTER VIII
THE BAROMETER RISES (1927-28)
By the middle of 1927 the darkest hour had ended and the
horizon began to light up. Disgusted with the narrow
sectarianism, selfishness and fanaticism, which had seized
the country after the death of the Deshbandhu, the soul of
the people began to stir itself again. In the new awakening
the contribution of the youth was the largest. The leadership
of the Congress was, on the whole, found wanting. Mahatma
Gandhi was suffering from an acute mental depression and
was living in retirement from active politics. Pandit Motilal
Nehru had left for Europe, partly owing to professional
reasons and partly because of the serious illness of his daughter-
in-law. In the circumstances, the responsibility of leadership
was vested in Mr. Srinivasa Iyengar and he endeavoured to
rise to the occasion. He spent much of his time in 1927 in
touring the country for restoring inter-communal amity and
friendship. His crowning achievement during the year was
a successful session of the Unity Conference in Calcutta in
November, convened and presided over by him, which was
to pave the way for the coming upheaval in which all com-
munities and parties were to join once again. In Bengal,
where the worst demonstration of communal passion had
taken place during 1926, there were signs of the dawn of a
new era. In August, as a result of a vote of no confidence in
the Bengal Legislative Council, the Ministers were once again
thrown out. About this time a strike broke out in the biggest
railway workshop of the Bengal Nagpur Railway at Kharagpur,
seventy miles from Calcutta. The workers' organisation was
so strong that the Company had to climb down and meet the
demand of the workers. In November, the Unity Conference
in Calcutta helped to clear the atmosphere and restore the
friendly feelings hitherto existing between the Hindu and
Moslem communities. Later in the month, when the annual
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