A Brief History of Modern India nodrm by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi

Emergence of Swarajists, Socialist Ideas, ... 379

17

Emergence of Swarajists,

Socialist Ideas, Revolutionary

Activities and Other

New Forces

Swarajists and No-Changers

Genesis of Congress-Khilafat Swarajya

Party

After Gandhi’s arrest (March 1922), there was disintegration, disorganisation and demoralisation among nationalist ranks.

A debate started among Congressmen on what to do during the transition period, i.e., the passive phase of the movement.

One section led by C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Ajmal Khan wanted an end to the boycott of legislative councils so that the nationalists could enter them to expose the basic weaknesses of these assemblies and use these councils as an arena of political struggle to arouse popular enthusiasm.

They wanted, in other words, to ‘end or mend’ these councils, i.e., if the government did not respond to the nationalists’

demands, then they would obstruct the working of these councils.

Those advocating entry into legislative councils came to be known as the ‘Swarajists’, while the other school of 379

380 A Brief History of Modern India thought led by C. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and M.A. Ansari came to be known as the ‘No-changers’. The ‘No-changers’ opposed council entry, advocated concentration on constructive work, and continuation of boycott and non-cooperation, and quiet preparation for resumption of the suspended civil disobedience programme.

The differences over the question of council entry between the two schools of thought resulted in the defeat of the Swarajists’ proposal of ‘ending or mending’ the councils at the Gaya session of the Congress (December 1922). C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru resigned from the presidentship and secretaryship respectively of the Congress and announced the formation of Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party or simply Swarajist Party, with C.R. Das as the president and Motilal Nehru as one of the secretaries.

Swarajists’ Arguments

The Swarajists had their reasons for advocating the entry into the councils.

● Entering the councils would not negate the non-cooperation programme; in fact, it would be like carrying on the movement through other means—opening a new front.

● In a time of political vacuum, council work would serve to enthuse the masses and keep up their morale. Entry of nationalists would deter the government from stuffing the councils with undesirable elements who may be used to provide legitimacy to government measures.

● The councils could be used as an arena of political struggle; there was no intention to use the councils as organs for gradual transformation of colonial rule.

No-Changers’ Arguments

The No-Changers argued that parliamentary work would lead to neglect of constructive work, loss of revolutionary zeal and to political corruption. Constructive work would prepare everyone for the next phase of civil disobedience.

Emergence of Swarajists, Socialist Ideas, ... 381

Agree to Disagree

Both sides, however, wanted to avoid a 1907-type split and kept in touch with Gandhi who was in jail. Both sides also realised the significance of putting up a united front to get a mass movement to force the government to introduce reforms, and both sides accepted the necessity of Gandhi’s leadership of a united nationalist front. Keeping these factors in mind, a compromise was reached at a meeting in Delhi in September 1923.

The Swarajists were allowed to contest elections as a group within the Congress.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.