Page 73 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

In the meanwhile, he became fully acquainted with what was happening in the

country. The exhilaration of the days of non-co-operation had waned. The

country was in a state of depression. Congressmen were divided on what was to
be done. Some well- known leaders like C. R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Vitthalbhai

Patel and others were in favour of entering the new Councils and Assemblies

that would come into existence as a result of the British Government's decision

to set up such bodies (Minto- Morley Reforms). Others like Rajagopalachari and
Vallabhbhai Patel felt that the reforms did not transfer real power, and

participation in the councils would only give them respectability. It would only

enable the British Government to misguide world opinion to believe that they
had set up self-governing bodies in India. These leaders, therefore, felt there

should be no change in the policy of non-cooperation. Others argued that one

should use entry into the councils to expose and checkmate the Government.

In spite of two sessions of the Congress, one at Gaya, and the other at Delhi, no

compromise could be reached. Those who wanted change in the policy of non-

co-operation had formed a Swaraj Party, and fought the elections to the

councils. Gandhi wanted to give the Swarajists freedom to try and see whether
they could succeed in "wrecking the reforms from within". He presided over the

Congress at Belgaum in 1924 and prevented a split in the Congress.

Both the representatives of the Khilafat Committee and the Indian National

Congress had been unanimously behind the Non-co-operation and Civil

Disobedience movements. They had received powerful support from Maulana

Azad, the Ali Brothers and others. But in the year during which Gandhi was in
prison, things had changed. The issue of the Caliphate was dead when Kamal

Ataturk came to power in Turkey. The issue that had roused Muslims had

ceased to exist. The British Government was keen to woo the Muslim leaders

and drive a wedge between the two communities. They seemed to have
succeeded. There were ugly and barbarous riots in which the two communities

had fought each other in many parts of India. Gandhi could not bear this

estrangement of brothers and the readiness to sink to the level of brutes. He
felt that such acts had nothing to do with religion. In fact one who had the love

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