PROMOCIÓN DEL BIENESTAR

Change in the Congress Creed

The special session of the Congress held at Calcutta in September 1920 also appointed a committee to revise the con­ stitution of the Congress. The draft report of this committee recommended that the goal of the Congress should be the

attainment of Swaraj by all peaceful and legitimate means. Commenting on the draft constitution in Young India on 3 Nov­ ember 1920, Gandhi remarked that the altered creed represented

'the exact feeling of the country at the present moment1 and was 'but an extension of the original'. As long as no break with the British connection was attempted, it was, he claimed,

strictly within even the existing creed. The extension lay, he pointed out, in the contemplated possibility of a break with the British connection. 'In my humble opinion,1 Gandhi wrote,

'if India is to make unhampered progress, we must make it clear to the British people that, whilst we desire to retain the British connection, if we can rise to our full height with it, we are determined to dispense with it, and even to get rid of that connection, if that is necessary for full national development. I hold that it is not only derogatory to national dignity, but it actually impedes national progress surrepti­ tiously to believe that our progress towards our goal is im­ possible without the British connection. It is this supersti­ 1. Tendulkar, Mahatma, vol.ii,p.7.

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tion which makes some of the best of us to tolerate the Punjab wrong and the Khilafat insult. This blind adherence to that

connection makes us feel helpless. The proposed alteration in the creed enables us to rid ourselves of our helpless

1 condition.'

The Congress debated the question at its Nagpur session in December 1920. Gandhi moved the main resolution in the

Subjects Committee on 27 December. It read; rThe object of the Indian National Congress is the attainment of Swaraj by

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the people of India by all legitimate and peaceful means.1 Radical opposition within the Congress found vent in an amend­ ment, moved by Alekar, demanding that the object of the Con­

gress should be 'the establishment of an Indian Republic1 'to be achieved by all just and effective means'.^ The moderates, led by Malaviya and Jinnah, desired the Congress to be oommit- ted to Swaraj 'within the British Commonwealth.1^ An over­

whelming majority in the Subjects Committee, however, favoured. Gandhi's draft. An illuminating discussion took place the next day, 28 December 1920, in the open session of the Congress. Gandhi defined his position clearly. 'I do not for one moment suggest,' he remarked, 'that we want to end the British con­ nection at all costs, unconditionally. If the British oonnect- ion is for the advancement of India, we do not want to destroy

is

it. But if it^inconsistent with our national self-respect, 1. 'The Congress Constitution1, Young India. 3 November 1920- 2. The Times of India, 29 December 1920.

3. TETcT---

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then it is our bounden duty to destroy it,1 He pointed out that the new creed was elastic enough to include hoth those who, like himself, believed that by retaining the British

connection they could purify themselves and purify the British people, and those who had no such belief.

Lajpat Rai pointed out that the change in the Congress creed was an announcement in the clearest possible terms of the change in mentality which had come over the country. The Congress could not exclude from its ranks those patriots who had conscientious objection to signing the existing creed or those who believed in complete independence outside the

British Empire, He did not think that the majority of Con­ gressmen or of thinking people in the country were prepared to say that they would at once go in for complete independ­ ence or that they would not remain within the British Common­ wealth if it were possible for them to do so honourably. The change in the creed, he remarked, was 1 a notice to the British public and the British Government that although we do not at the present aim, directly aim, to go out of this British

Empire, or, what we may uall the British Commonwealth, but if we remain in the British Commonwealth we shall not remain at the dictation of anybody or by fear. We shall remain there by

our own free choice and free will1. India, Lajpat Rai said, would decide when the time came whether she could remain a member of the British Commonwealth on terms of equality. He did not think that such a Commonwealth yet existed. 'As to the British Empire,' he added, 'I would rather be a slave

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than willingly consent to he a part of an empire which enslaves so many millions of human beings. 1 He emphasised

that the word Swaraj had been left unqualified deliberately for the purpose of enabling them to remain within the

Commonwealth if they chose when a real Commonwealth had been established, or to go out if they so desired./^

Left-wing opposition to Gandhi's resolution had ex­ hausted itself in the Subjects Committee, but the right­ wingers did not fail to register their protest again in the open session. Jinnah opposed the change in the creed mainly on two groundss that it was virtually a declaration of inde­ pendence and as such inopportune; and that the means chosen for its achievement were inadequate, The resolution, he said, was nothing but 'a declaration of complete independence'j it was a 'camouflage* to leave the word Swaraj undefined* 'Is it possible,' he asked, 'for any man after this creed is passed to stand on the same platform - one saying that he wants to keep the British connection and another saying that he does not. 1 The majority in the nation may have the will to declare

for independence, but they had not, in his view, yet the means to carry it out. 'You will never get your independence with­ out bloodshed,» Jinnah warned, and added, 'You are exposing your hand to your enemies, 1 He assured his audience that his

'only reason' in opposing the proposition was that it was'not the right step to take at this moment'. Jinnah also objected to the limitation in methods by which Swaraj was to be

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achieved: 'Non-cooperation by legitamate and peaceful methods may be an excellent weapon for the purpose of bringing press­ ure upon the Government. But let me tell you once more that

the weapon will not succeed in destroying the British Empire. I therefore object to the methods, "because if you want com­ plete independence let us not be limited to methods,

Col. Wedgwood, who, along with Ben Spoor and Holford Knight, attended the Nagpur session, deplored the change of creed on the ground that it might make the union between the Congress and the Labour Party more difficult, if not

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impossible.

Prom moderate Madras came two amendments seeking to define Swaraj as 'full responsible government' similar to that enjoyed by the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. The mover of one of these amendments, S.Satyamurti,

referred to the remark of: Sir Robert Borden (?) that 'If Canada tomorrow declares her independence, not one British

•a

gun should be fired against her1. Satyamurti pointed out that India could attain the same status as the Dominions within the Empire and the right of secession if she so desired. The movers pf both the amendments emphasised the need of not alienating friends in Great Britain.

The Congress, however, decided to follow Gandhi. When his resolution was put to the vote only 2, out of the 14,000

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