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

172 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Conference had to tackle was the question of Hindu-Moslem-
Sikh representation in the Legislatures under the new
Constitution. When the Conference re-assembled in May at
Bombay, the outlook appeared gloomy, because no progress
whatsoever had been made. Thanks to the prudence of
Mahatma Gandhi, the Conference instead of publicly record-
ing its failure, appointed a small committee with Pandit
Motilal Nehru as Chairman, to determine the principles of
the new Constitution for India and draft a report thereon.
The Committee met frequently at Allahabad and ultimately
issued its report¹ in August which was unanimous, subject
to certain reservations made in the preamble, and was signed
by Pandit Motilal Nehru, Sir Ali Imam, Sir Tej Bahadur
Sapru, Mr. M. S. Aney, Sardar Mangal Singh, Mr. Shuaib
Qureshi, Mr. G. R. Pradhan and the writer. The Report of
the Committee, popularly known as the Nehru Committee,
was cordially welcomed by all Nationalists in the country as
it rendered the work of the Simon Commission superfluous.
Mahatma Gandhi sent his warmest congratulations to Pandit
Motilal Nehru who had worked so much over the report
and for whom it was a great achievement. The report was
placed before the plenary session of the All-Parties Con-
ference in Lucknow in August and was unanimously adopted.
It was again placed before the All-Parties Convention in
December 1928, in Calcutta and objections were raised at
that meeting by the representatives of the Moslem League,
Sikh League and Hindu Mahasabha. The opposition of the
Moslem League was the most serious and served to rouse the
opposition of the other two bodies.
It was stated in the preamble to the Nehru Report that the
Committee could not be unanimous on the question of the
fundamental basis of the Constitution, since a minority²
would not accept Dominion Status and pressed for complete
national independence as the basis of the Constitution.
The majority of the members of the Nehru Committee, how-
ever, adopted Dominion Status as the basis of the Constitution
¹ Report of the Committee appointed by the All-Parties Conference to
determine the principles of the Constitution for India. Published by the
Indian National Congress, Allahabad, 1928.
² The present writer was among them.