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

304 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
existing Constitution are due in November. The withdrawal
of the Congress Party from the Assembly in January 1930,
made it possible for the Government to get the Ottawa
Agreement ratified by the Assembly for three years and to
have the Ordinances for suppressing the civil-disobedience
movement placed on the Statute Book. The presence of
Congressmen in the Assembly once again will cause embar-
rassment to the Government, but the Government will then
have no law-breaking campaign in the country to keep them
pre-occupied. So far as the ensuing Congress session is
concerned, a lively fight is expected on two issues. Firstly,
the Congress Nationalist Party will appeal to the All-India
Congress Committee and to the plenary session of the Con-
gress to reject the Communal Award. Secondly, the Congress
Socialist Party will press for the adoption of a Socialist
programme. Both these attempts are sure to be defeated.
On both these questions the Mahatma will get the support of
the majority of his erstwhile opponents—the Swarajists. If
they were to oppose him to a man, then he would run the
risk of being defeated on either of the above two issues. But
by sponsoring their proposal of entering the Legislatures, the
Mahatma has won the majority of them over to his side and
has thereby ensured his position within the Congress. The
present intention of the Mahatma to retire¹ from active
politics and strengthen his own Satyagrahi organisation,
or in the alternative to alter the Congress constitution accord-
ing to his own ideas, will not come as a surprise to those who
know him well. It is reminiscent of his attitude after his
release from prison in 1924 and at the Belgaum Congress that
year, when he left the field to his opponents, allowing them to
stew in their own juice. The ultimate challenge to his leader-
ship will, however, arise from the side of the Congress Socialist
Party but not from that of the Congress Nationalist Party.²
¹ After the above was written, the Mahatma announced his retirement
to the plenary session of the Congress which met in Bombay on October
26th, 1934. This so-called retirement has been referred to in Chapter XVIII.
² A message from India dated the 1st October, 1934, said that a Con-
ference of the Congress Socialist Party was recently held at Benares.
It was decided not to assist in the election campaign of the Congress
nor to accept office in any Congress organisation which did not carry
out the economic policy of the Party. Both the official Congress Party and
the Congress Nationalist Party were condemned by the Socialist Party.