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

220 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
This statement was duly communicated to the Viceroy
and on August 28th, 1930, Lord Irwin sent a reply to the
two peacemakers saying that he felt that it was impossible to
hold any discussion on the basis of the joint statement of
August 15th. Thus the peace negotiations failed. The peace-
makers made a further attempt by interviewing the leaders in
Naini and Yeravada Prisons, but the leaders opined that
there was an unbridgeable gulf between the Government and
the Congress.
Soon after the final break in the negotiations, Pandit Motilal
Nehru was suddenly released from prison on September
8th, because he had fallen seriously ill. He remained alive
for five months only, but during this period, in spite of
extreme ill-health, he spent the greater part of his time and
energy in trying to stiffen the movement throughout the
country. During his stay in Calcutta, he also devoted much
of his time to a settlement of the Bengal dispute. Immediately
after the Lahore Congress, he had visited Calcutta in order to
inquire into the election complaints preferred against the
Executive of the Bengal Congress Committee (of which the
writer was the President), by the party of the late Mr. J. M.
Sengupta. He had given his verdict in favour of the former,
but after his departure, differences broke out again, with the
result that at the elections to the Calcutta Municipality, the
two Congress groups put forward two separate sets of can-
didates. When the civil-disobedience movement was started,
two separate committees came into existence for conducting
the civil-disobedience campaign in Bengal. A few months
later when the election of the Mayor of Calcutta was to take
place, one party put up the outgoing Mayor, the late Mr.
Sengupta, while the other party put up the writer—and the
latter won. These dissensions lowered the prestige of the
Congress to a large extent. However, through Pandit Motilal
Nehru's influence, the two civil-disobedience committees
were amalgamated and other differences were patched up—so,
that when he left Bengal in December, the prestige and
strength of the Congress were restored to some extent.
While the above events were taking place, the bureaucracy
were pursuing their own plan. In June, the report of the