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

THE GANDHI-IRWIN PACT AND AFTER 227
the only thing which she now lacks to give her the status of
a Dominion amongst the British Commonwealth of Nations
—what she now lacks for that—the responsibilities and the
cares, the burdens and the difficulties, but the pride and the
honour of responsible government.' The Indian Liberal
leaders who were on their way to India, sent a cablegram
requesting Mahatma Gandhi not to come to a final decision
about the Government's offer without giving them a hearing
and they were evidently afraid that the Working Committee
would summarily reject the Premier's offer. Their apprehen-
sion was not unfounded. The members of the Working
Committee, soon after their release, met at Allahabad, where
Pandit Motilal Nehru was lying seriously ill. The first
reactions to the offer were anything but favourable. On Feb-
ruary 6th, the Liberal leaders, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and
the Right Hon. V. S. Sastri and Mr. M. R. Jayakar arrived
and proceeded straight to Allahabad. Pandit Motilal Nehru,
in spite of his failing health, had taken up a strong attitude,
but the Liberal leaders persuaded the Mahatma not to reject
finally the offer without having a talk with the Viceroy who
had made a generous gesture. Allahabad, at that time, was
full of peacemakers and sensation-mongers, some of whom
had no other business but to carry tales from one side to the
other. On February 14th, the Mahatma applied for an
interview with Lord Irwin and then proceeded to Delhi to
meet him. Most of the members of the Working Committee
accompanied him but Pandit Motilal Nehru could not, as he
was too ill. This was a great misfortune.
At Delhi, the Mahatma was surrounded by wealthy aris-
tocrats and by politicians who were dying for a settlement
and on the side of the Working Committee there was no one
with sufficient personality who could force his views on the
Mahatma. Even Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who could have
done so, failed on this occasion and as for the other members
of the Working Committee, most, if not all, of them were
more anxious for a settlement than the Mahatma himself.
The negotiations between the Viceroy and the Mahatma
dragged on from day to day and the Mahatma kept the
Working Committee informed of all the developments. On