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

226 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
he undoubtedly was. Nevertheless, Lord Irwin would never
have been able to carry with him either the 'steel frame' in
India or Mr. Baldwin and the Conservative leaders in England,
but for the serious developments in India. Bombay, the
gateway of India, was the storm centre of the movement.
The no-tax campaign was very strong in Gujerat, the United
Provinces and parts of Bengal. Throughout India the boycott
of British goods was effective and civil disobedience in some
form or other was going on in every province. In Bengal,
terrorist activities had become a serious menace. Last but
not least, in the North-West Frontier Province, the situation
was alarming—and the situation in that province was affecting
seriously the attitude of the frontier tribes, who ordinarily
are quite indifferent to political developments in India.
Several of these tribes had told the British authorities that
they would make peace with them if only the latter would
release the naked fakir (meaning Mahatma Gandhi) and Khan
Abdul Ghaffar Khan (the leader of the Frontier Province) and
concede Swaraj to India. Though the abdication of King
Amanulla in Afghanistan had eased the situation there, by
ushering in a Government more friendly to Great Britain, the
Government had not forgotten how the Afghan king had
taken advantage of their preoccupations in 1919 by declaring
war on them and had succeeded in extracting a favourable
treaty. The Government were therefore feeling uneasy over
the attitude adopted by the frontier tribes towards the
developments in India.
On the day that the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay Mac-
donald, delivered his closing speech at the Round Table
Conference, the Viceroy made a public appeal for the co-
operation of the Congress in his address before the Indian
Legislative Assembly. Within a week of this appeal, Mahatma
Gandhi and the other members of the Working Committee
were unconditionally released in order to give them an
opportunity to consider the Premier's statement at the Round
Table Conference. The Premier, after referring to the offer
of responsibility with Federation and Safeguards had ended
with the following words: 'Finally I hope and I trust and I
pray that by our labours together, India will come to possess