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

THE STORM BREAKS 65
people by voluntarily wearing coarse ‘Khadi’ and discarding
fine mill-made cloth.
To undertake the above work, both men and money were
required. The Mahatma therefore appealed to the nation
for ten million members for the Congress and a fund of ten
million rupees (13½ rupees = one pound approximately).
The response to this appeal proved to be most encouraging
but in order to go round collecting money and enlisting
members, an initial band of workers was necessary. This
band of workers had to be supplied by the student com-
munity and the year 1921 therefore opened with an extensive
campaign for the boycott of schools and colleges. Students
responded to the appeal in large numbers and the response
was the greatest in Bengal where the imagination of the
youths had been stirred by the colossal sacrifice made by
Deshbandhu C. R. Das. It was these student-workers who
carried the message of the Congress to all corners of the
country, who collected funds, enlisted members, held meet-
ings and demonstrations, preached temperance, established
arbitration-boards, taught spinning and weaving and en-
couraged the revival of home industries. Without them, all
the influence of Mahatma Gandhi would not have carried the
country very far.
There has been much criticism of the policy of withdrawing
students from educational institutions in 1921. Nevertheless,
if one dispassionately reviews the situation in the country in
1920-21, the conclusion will be irresistible that the Congress
had no option in the matter, if it desired its resolutions to be
translated into action. It should also be stated that though
originally the Congress did not take in hand the task of
establishing ‘national’ institutions, later on such institutions
were started all over the country. Those students who had
withdrawn from state-owned or state-controlled institutions
in a spirit of non-co-operation but who desired to continue
their studies under more salutary conditions, could join the
newly-started national institutions and continue their studies.
Such institutions were started in Bombay, Ahmedabad (in
Bombay Presidency), Poona (in Bombay Presidency), Nagpur
(in Central Provinces), Benares (in the United Provinces),
E