The conference

IN spite of some public statements that have been made on the subject, the question as regards the possible outcome of the conference that has now, for several days, been going on between Mahatma Gandhi and the Swarajists is as obscure as ever. While the Associated Press tells us that it has “learnt from a reliable source that so far, the conference has not touched the council entry question” and that “it is not likely to do so before the arrival of Mr Chittaranjan Das, who is shortly expected,” the Servant of India, one of the most responsible of Indian journals and whose source of information must be at least as good as that of the Associated Press, tells us in its current issue that the two parties have already exchanged their ideas on this subject. “It is said,” the journal writes, “that the Swarajists expressed themselves as willing to revise their position in any particular way, if such revision would revive the former cordial relations between the two sections of the non-cooperation party and would lead once again to fruitful cooperation between them. But they made one condition: that abstention from the legislatures is out of the question. Short of resigning their seats from the legislative bodies, they would do anything, they declared, to meet the wishes of orthodox non-cooperators. And it appears they were told by Mahatmaji that there was no immediate course between the boycott of councils and a policy of responsible cooperation therein. If the boycott is ruled out, the next best thing, according to the tenets of non-cooperation, is, honestly, to use the legislative machinery to promote the constructive programme. Gandhi has thus advised the leaders of the Swarajist party to abjure the method of indiscriminate obstruction.”

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#Mahatma Gandhi