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

THE ANTI-CLIMAX 97
prison and he chalked out his future line of action in great
detail. Among the measures that he contemplated was the
starting of daily papers in English and in the vernacular—
and out of this speculation came the birth of his paper
Forward, which was started in 1923 and soon attained dis-
tinction as one of the leading nationalist papers of India.
During 1922 conflicts between political prisoners and the
prison authorities took place in many prisons in India.
Matters came to a head in two prisons in Bengal—at Barisal
and Faridpur. Political prisoners in these prisons demanded
decent treatment at the hands of the authorities and refused
to submit to the humiliating treatment generally meted out
to prisoners in Indian Jails. The authorities were stubborn
and resorted to flogging, but even that could not break the
backbone of the political prisoners. Meanwhile, intense public
indignation was roused by the news of the flogging. Even
the tame Bengal Legislative Council was stirred to action and
within the Government itself, differences of opinion broke
out. The Member in charge of Jails, Sir Abdur Rahim, dis-
approved flogging of political prisoners, but he could not
carry the Government with him. As a protest he resigned
the portfolio of Prisons which was taken up by the then
Home Member of the Bengal Government, Sir Hugh
Stephenson.
After the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi in March, the Congress
Working Committee was at a loss to decide what to do.
Thereupon, a committee was appointed, called the 'Civil
Disobedience Enquiry Committee,' for the purpose of touring
the country and reporting on the possibility of starting civil
disobedience again. The general feeling among the members
of this committee was that it was not possible to start civil
disobedience so soon. But the point that it was difficult to
settle was what the Congress should do in the meantime.
Should the Congress be content with carrying on its peaceful
constructive work or should it adopt the new plan suggested
by the Deshbandhu? The committee made an extensive tour
of the country and submitted a report after some months.
The members of the Committee were equally divided in their
conclusions. Hakim Ajmal Khan (Delhi), Pandit Motilal
G