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

THE STORM BREAKS 67
at Mani Bhuvan, the usual residence of the Mahatma in
Bombay, I was ushered into a room covered with Indian
carpets. Almost in the centre, facing the door, sat the
Mahatma surrounded by some of his closest followers. All
were clad in home-made Khadi. As I entered the room, I
felt somewhat out of place in my foreign costume and could
not help apologising for it. The Mahatma received me with
his characteristic hearty smile and soon put me at ease
and the conversation started at once. I desired to obtain a
clear understanding of the details—the successive stages—of
his plan, leading on step by step to the ultimate seizure of
power from the foreign bureaucracy. To that end I began to
heap question upon question and the Mahatma replied with
his habitual patience. There were three points which needed
elucidation. Firstly, how were the different activities con-
ducted by the Congress going to culminate in the last stage
of the campaign, namely, the non-payment of taxes? Secondly,
how could mere non-payment of taxes or civil disobedience
force the Government to retire from the field and leave us
with our freedom? Thirdly, how could the Mahatma promise
‘Swaraj’ (that is, Home Rule) within one year—as he had
been doing ever since the Nagpur Congress? His reply to the
first question satisfied me. The response to his appeal for
ten million members and ten million rupees having been
found to be satisfactory, he had proceeded to the next item
in his plan—namely, the boycott of foreign cloth and the
propagation of home-made Khadi. During the next few
months, his efforts would be concentrated on the Khadi
campaign. And he expected that the Government would
take the initiative in attacking the Congress, the moment it
realised that the peaceful constructive activities of the Congress
were proving to be successful. When the Government did
so, the time would come for disobeying governmental decrees
and marching to prison. The prisons would before long be
filled to overflowing and then would come the last stage of
the campaign—namely, the non-payment of taxes.
The Mahatma’s replies to the other two questions were
not convincing. I asked him if he expected that the boycott
movement would create so much distress in Lancashire that