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

·THE STORM BREAKS 69
He was out on a long tour in the interior of the province and
I had no option but to wait for his return. When I heard
that he was back, I called again. He was out at the time
but I was received with great kindness and cordiality by his
wife, Srijukta Basanti Debi. Before long he arrived on the
scene. I can still picture before my mind's eye his massive
figure as he approached me. He was not the same Mr. Das
whom I had once approached for advice when he was one of
the leaders of the Calcutta Bar and I a student, expelled
from the University for political reasons. He was not the
same Mr. Das who was earning thousands in a day and
spending thousands in an hour. Though his house was no
longer a palace, he was however the same Mr. Das, who
had always been a friend of youth, could understand
their aspirations and sympathise with their sorrows. During
the course of our conversation I began to feel that here was
a man who knew what he was about—who could give all
that he had and who could demand from others all they
could give—a man to whom youthfulness was not a short-
coming but a virtue. By the time our conversation came to
an end my mind was made up. I felt that I had found a
leader and I meant to follow him.
On settling down in Calcutta I proceeded to take stock of
the situation in the country and particularly in the province
of Bengal. Throughout the country there was unparalleled
enthusiasm. The 'triple boycott' had been fairly successful.
Though the legislatures were not empty, no Congressmen
had gone there. The lawyers had on the whole made a good
response and the student community had come out of the
ordeal with flying colours.¹ The appeal for Congress members
and for funds had borne good fruit and feeling highly en-
couraged at the state of affairs, the Mahatma had launched
in July a campaign for the boycott of foreign cloth and the
revival of spinning and weaving. On the anniversary of the
death of Lokamanya Tilak, August 1st, 1934, there were huge
bonfires of foreign cloth all over the country. A symbolic
meaning was also given by the Congress leaders to these
¹ The people had taken up enthusiastically the propaganda for the re-
moval of untouchability and for the stoppage of the drink and drug traffic.