A PAGE FROM HISTORY

AT the time when a deputation headed by Pandit Malaviya waited upon the Viceroy in Calcutta in December 1921, and for long months after, speculation was rife in the country as to what Das would have done if he had been a free man. It was known in a general way that he did not see entirely eye to eye with Mahatma Gandhi in this matter, that certain telegrams had passed between him and the Mahatma in which he was believed to have advised the latter to accept a compromise. But the knowledge was neither full nor definite, and some of the most important points were necessarily enshrouded in mystery. Now we know the truth and the whole truth from the most authoritative and unimpeachable of all sources — Das himself. In a recent speech in Madras, Das said: “I was a party to Civil Disobedience. I myself led people to prison. I started the movement in Bengal. I sent my son first to jail. My son was followed by my wife and then I went to prison because I knew there was electricity there. I knew that the spirit of resistance that manifested itself was mighty and the proudest government would have to bend to it. And the proudest government did bend to it. You bungled it and mismanaged it. Now you turn round and ask the people to spin and do the work of the charkha alone. The proudest government did bend to you. The terms came to me and I forwarded them to the headquarters because at that time I was in jail. If I had not been in jail, I would have forced the country to accept that. After it had been accepted, you would have seen a different state of things.” This sets all speculation at rest because it shows that Das took practically the same view of the position at the time that Pandit Malaviya did.