Congress leaders’ conference

WE heartily wish Sarojini Naidu success in her endeavours to bring about a united Congress, hopes of which, according to an Associated Press message from Bombay, “seem to be much brighter now than ever before within the last twelve months”. The response to Naidu’s invitation for opinions is also stated to be gratifying. We are no pessimists ourselves, nor is it in the least our intention to discourage the efforts of those who are trying to bring about party unity in the country’s struggle for freedom. We have, on the contrary, always wholeheartedly given our support to all efforts in that direction. But we consider it our duty to point out the necessity of avoiding the mistakes which greatly vitiated the work of the Bombay and Delhi conferences, if it is at all desired that some substantial good should come out of another conference of party leaders. We recognise that the consultations and discussions that took place at Bombay and Delhi did help in a great measure to clear up the atmosphere and bring party viewpoints nearer to each other; but beyond that they did not go. At Bombay, it was the Bengal Ordinance question that was permitted to overshadow the principal question of bringing about party unity; and at Delhi, it was the Hindu-Muslim problem that practically kept out the other two objects of the conference, which were at least as important as that of attaining communal unity. We mean, of course, the questions of exploring the possibilities of a united Congress and the framing of a Swaraj Constitution. We saw at Delhi a committee appointing another committee, which in its turn appointed yet another committee.

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