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

274 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
On the whole the activities of the Congress in 1932 did
not compare unfavourably with those of 1930. Nevertheless,
every Congressman could feel one difference. In 1930, the
Congress had taken the offensive, while the Government was
on the defensive. In 1932 it was just the reverse. There is no
doubt that in spite of the manifold defects of the Delhi Pact,
die-hards in England and in India took it as a defeat or a
humiliation for the all-powerful British Government. They
were smarting under a sense of defeat and wanted to avenge
themselves. The overwhelming majority gained by the
Conservatives at the General Election in October 1931,
encouraged them greatly. Moreover, the attitude of Mahatma
Gandhi and the statements made by him in England, gave
them the impression that he was unwilling or unprepared to
face a fight again. That the Mahatma was honestly pursuing
a peaceful policy has to be admitted on all hands and his
very unpreparedness can be regarded as a proof of his sincerity
of purpose. In fact, the Mahatma carried his peaceful inten-
tions so far that he neglected to keep his 'powder dry.' He
was in reality dragged into a fight in 1932 because of the
non possumus attitude of the Viceroy on the one hand and the
rising temper of the public on the other. In this connection
it is significant that the aggressive steps taken by the Govern-
ment of India during the absence of the Mahatma, had the
full approval of His Majesty's Government. Apart from the
Government's attitude there were two other factors that
forced the Mahatma to resume the fight, the general temper
of the public and the influence of the Left Wing. As for the
first, in none of the major provinces was the public satisfied
at the attitude of the Government. Those who had given in
to the Mahatma hoping that something tangible would come
out of the Round Table Conference were disillusioned.
Further, the steady propaganda carried on by Left-Wing
Congressmen, youth-leaguers¹ and Left-Wing Labourites,
also had its effect. While in England the Mahatma did feel
now and again that another fight was unavoidable but the pit
¹ On December 22nd, 1931, the Maharashtra Youth Conference met at
Poona with the writer in the chair and passed a resolution calling upon the
Congress Working Committee to resume the civil-disobedience campaign.