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

296 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
the mess into which it had fallen. Pandit Nehru had long
talks with the Mahatma and following that, an interchange of
letters. The correspondence was duly published, but on
perusal it was found to be more doctrinaire than practical.
What the public wanted to know urgently was not whether
and wherein Pandit J. L. Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi
agreed or disagreed fundamentally—but how the Congress
could be restored to life and vigour. During his four months
of comparative freedom, Pandit Nehru wrote and spoke
freely and gave expression to his socialistic—or communistic
—ideas, but the Congress did not show any signs of resus-
citation. In an exceedingly interesting and able article under
the caption 'Whither India?'—he pleaded for social and
economic equality—for the ending of all special class-privi-
leges and vested interests—but that did not help the Congress
one jot or tittle. With a popularity only second to that of the
Mahatma, with unbounded prestige among his countrymen,
with a clear brain possessing the finest ideas, with an up-to-
date knowledge of modern world movements—that he
should be found wanting in the essential quality of leadership,
namely the capacity to make decisions and face unpopularity
if need be,¹ was a great disappointment. But there was no help
for it. What had been expected of him had to be accom-
plished by lesser men.
After Pandit Nehru, Mr. K. F. Nariman the Bombay
leader, was released and without delay he began to give public
expression to his views² on the decisions of the Poona
Conference in July 1933. Referring to the Mahatma's decision
to start civil disobedience in August 1933, because the Viceroy
did not grant him an unconditional interview, he said, ' "Inter-
view or Death" is the national slogan for the present. : . .
The renewed fight in August last is not for Swaraj, nor even
for political constitutional advance, but for the assertion of a
supposed "national right" of an unconditional interview. If
¹ This defect in Pandit J. L. Nehru was manifest on other occasions as
well, when the Congress was passing through a crisis—e.g., in the crisis
of 1923-24 and subsequently in the crisis of 1928-29.
² For a full statement of his views one should refer to his book, Whither
Congress? Bombay Book Depot, Girgaon, Bombay, November 1933.
Mr. Nariman has been a member of the Congress Working Committee
since January 1930.