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

294 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
disobedience campaign, as also of Mahatma Gandhi's leader-
ship. It was therefore time to turn to a more radical policy
and leadership. Owing to the preoccupation of the public
over Mahatma Gandhi's health, the manifesto did not, how-
ever, produce the effect which it would otherwise have.
Even friends thought that it was an outrageous act to criticise
the Mahatma when his life was in jeopardy because of the fast.
In July, a Conference of important Congressmen, then out
of prison, was held at Poona. It could be regarded as an
unofficial meeting of the All-India Congress Committee.
Two groups were represented at the Conference—one in
favour of calling off the movement altogether and the other
in favour of resuming it with full vigour. The former group
had probably a majority and most of the members of this
group were in favour of reviving the Swarajist policy of
carrying the fight inside the Legislatures which had been
abandoned at the Lahore Congress in December 1929. Never-
theless, at the end, the Conference decided to give in to the,
Mahatma. At his instance it was decided that the Mahatma
should make a further attempt to see the Viceroy and come to
an understanding with him. If this failed, the Congress
should resume 'individual' civil disobedience, but that 'mass'
civil disobedience should be given up altogether. The purpose
of this was that the Congress should not organise any cam-
paign on a mass scale but should leave it to individuals to
break any laws that they felt called upon to on their personal
responsibility. Soon after the Poona Conference the Mahatma
approached the Viceroy for an interview—but all that he got
was a humiliating rebuff. He and some of his closest fol-
lowers, thereupon, proceeded to start civil disobedience
individually and by August 1933, they found themselves in
prison once again. This time even the Mahatma's incarcera-
tion did not create a great stir.
'Individual' civil disobedience was offered all over India
by the loyal adherents of the Mahatma and a few hundred
persons were thereby thrust back into prison. But it was a
foregone conclusion that where mass civil disobedience had
failed, individual civil disobedience would not produce any
appreciable effect. On reaching prison, the Mahatma found