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

256 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Indian members of the Round Table Conference complained
that it was difficult to get at the Mahatma when they wanted
him. Indian Liberal members of the Round Table Con-
ference complained that instead of playing a lone hand, he
could have rallied all the anti-communal forces and become
the leader of a united Nationalist Party.¹ Whatever the truth
of these criticisms may be, there is no doubt that the Mahatma's
visit to England was badly planned—if there was any plan at
all—and his personal entourage did not consist of any advisers
worth the name. His indecision, till the eleventh hour, about
attending the London Conference was largely responsible for
his lack of plan and for his late arrival in London which
considerably handicapped him. As contrasted with him, the
Government had made elaborate arrangements and all their
plans had been carefully worked out in advance. It was only
in London that he realised what it meant to have a conference
with members chosen by the Government, with the Congress
as one of the several parties present there and with himself
as the only representative of the Congress. The wonder of
it is that such a shrewd politician as the Mahatma made
such a belated discovery in spite of the warnings given by
lesser folk in India.
But the causes of the Mahatma's failure in London go
much deeper. If the Mahatma meant to co-operate with the
Round Table Conference, he should have gone there in 1930.
The terms which he got in March 1931—he could have easily
got in August 1930. The assurance regarding Dominion
Status which he had demanded in 1929 and 1930—he could
not get even in 1931 and as for the other concessions in the
Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Lord Irwin would in all probability have
agreed to them at any time. In 1930, the Congress could
easily have got half the number of seats at the Conference.
By going there in 1931, alone and unfriended, the Mahatma
had the tactical disadvantage of having to meet a conference
which had come into existence without the participation of
the Congress and of having to build on sectarian foundations
laid by communalist members. With the Labour Cabinet in
¹ This was the view expressed by the Right Hon. V. S. Sastri in the Indian
Review of January, 1932.