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

96 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
lature) or in the Provincial Legislatures. Further, the
Viceroy, in the case of the former and the Governors, in the
case of the latter, had powers of veto and certification, whereby
they could always override the decision of the legislatures.
The reply to this was that even if the elected members did
not have a majority, they could still keep up a continuous
opposition against the Government and thereby strengthen
the agitation outside the legislatures. Secondly, it would be
possible for the elected members to secure a majority in at
least some of the legislatures and if the Viceroy or the Governor
set aside the decision of any legislature, the Government
would stand condemned before the bar of public opinion,
both inside India and outside. Lastly, under the existing
constitution, a vote against the Ministers or their departments
could not be overridden by the Governor of any province,
and if the provincial legislature voted down the salaries of
Ministers, they would automatically be thrown out of office
and the working of the diarchical constitution would have to
be suspended. As these discussions went on for some weeks,
two parties crystallised among the political prisoners in the
Alipore Jail and they proved to be the nuclei of the future
'Swaraj' and 'No-Change' parties. In May 1922, the annual
conference of Congressmen in Bengal, called the 'Provincial
Conference,' was held in Chittagong. Mrs. C. R. Das was
elected President of the Conference because of the gallant part
she had played in last year's movement. In her presidential
speech, she stated that the Congress might have to consider
a change in tactics and suggested, among other things, that
the policy of non-co-operation within the legislatures was
worth considering. It was not difficult to guess who had
inspired her speech and taking it as a feeler sent out by her
husband, a storm of controversy was at once let loose all over
the country. It was clear therefrom that the orthodox fol-
lowers of the Mahatma would not think of any deviation
from the plan that he had laid down before his arrest and
that a stiff fight would take place before the new plan could
be adopted by the Congress. This prospect, far from dis-
couraging us, helped to whip up our enthusiasm. The Desh-
bandhu had frequent discussions with his supporters in