Restoration of Congress unity

THE first essential thing for the restoration of unity of the Congress is for various political parties in India to recognise their limitations, to remember that while each of them has great achievements to its credit and has even greater potentialities, none of them can claim such a monopoly of patriotism or political experience that the country can be asked to entrust its destinies to its exclusive charge. This is the inevitable first step, because it alone could put them in the proper frame of mind for the steps that must follow if the dream of a united Congress and a common, effective political programme is to be realised. The second step is for all parties or rather their leaders to put their heads together and find out a basis of agreement among them. We use the words “find out” advisedly, for the basis does exist, and all that is necessary is to discover it. Each party has taken precious care to hide the points in respect of which it is in agreement with the rest of the country under a mass of verbiage. Remove the verbiage, and you at once get what you want. No political party in India wants anything more than dominion self-government at present, and none wants anything less; and by dominion self-government, each party means that India should be the mistress of her own house in all matters of national importance and an absolutely equal partner in the Empire in regard to all imperial and international affairs. Secondly, as regards the method by which this objective is to be reached, it is absolute nonsense to say, as some people are never tired of doing, that the difference between one party and another is fundamental.

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