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

THE ANTI-CLIMAX 99
Union Congress at Lahore, which was presided over by
Deshbandhu Das. In his presidential speech he made a
striking declaration to the effect that the Swaraj he was striving
to win was not for a section of the people—but for the masses
who comprised 98 per cent. of the population. Before and
after this meeting, he always took a keen interest in the trade
union movement and was for some time the President of the
Labour Association of the Tata Iron and Steel Company at
Jamshedpur. The other event was the meeting of the Young
Men's Conference in Calcutta which was the precursor of the
youth movement in the province. This Conference revealed
the desire on the part of the youth to have a movement and
an organisation of their own, quite apart from the Indian
National Congress.
Towards the end of November, a meeting of the All-India
Congress Committee was held in Calcutta at which there
was a trial of strength between the supporters of Deshbandhu
and of the Mahatma. This was a prelude to the annual
session of the Congress. In the last week of December in an
atmosphere tense with excitement the plenary session of the
Indian National Congress assembled at Gaya. According to
preliminary forecasts, Mr. Das's plan was likely to be defeated.
But no one could tell at the time how the voting would go.
It was clear, however, that Mr. Das would have influential
support from all the provinces, especially from Bengal, the
United Provinces, Punjab, Central Provinces and Maharashtra
(part of Bombay Presidency). After stormy debates in the
Subjects Committee, the matter came up for voting before
the open session of the Congress. Mr. Srinivasa Iengar, a
prominent leader from Madras, who was the leader of the
Madras Bar and had resigned the post of Advocate-General
of Madras, moved an amendment to the effect that represen-
tatives of the Congress should contest the elections but
should not participate in the work inside the legislatures. On
this amendment the principal voting took place and resulted
in a big majority for the supporters of the Mahatma. Great
was their enthusiasm and the hero of the day was the Madras
leader, Mr. Rajagopalachari, who stood up before the
Congress as the apostle of Gandhiism.