Reconstitution of the Congress

WHILE the formation of a separate organisation by Mahatma Gandhi to carry out the Charkha programme, in the sense of an organisation outside the Congress, is to us both inconceivable and in the highest degree undesirable, we are strongly in favour of the Mahatma forming a distinct organisation within the party for that purpose. Such an organisation would be beneficial both to the Congress and the programme, because it would free each from the obsession of the other. That association with the Congress has done much to popularise the Charkha is undoubtedly true, but we are not certain that the advantage would not have been even greater if the Congress had made the Charkha only a part of its programme instead of practically making it its whole programme. As for the Congress, it has admittedly lost a vast deal more than it has gained by this process, if, indeed, it has gained anything at all. The formation of a distinct organisation for the purpose of carrying out the Charkha programme, leaving the machinery of the Congress free to apply itself to other purposes, would make exactly the change that is necessary in the interests of both. As long as the Charkha remained a part of the Congress programme, there would be nothing to prevent the party from delegating its function and its authority for the working out of this part of its programme to the new organisation, just as the Congress did delegate its function and authority to the Swaraj party for carrying out the Council programme, while, unlike the other case, it might also set apart a part of its funds from year to year for the popularisation of the Charkha.