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286 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
had really accepted* independence in 1927 as the resolution says. The clause in the resolution that the Congress would accept Dominion Status if given before 31st December 1929, if not, it would change its faith from Dominion Status to Independence was only a face-saving device and did not connote a real change of mind. For time can never be of the essence in a matter of such deep concern as the political desiny of the country.
That notwithstanding the resolution of 1927, the Congress continued to believe in Dominion Status and did not believe in Independence, is amply borne out by the pronouncements made from time to time by Mr. Gandhi who is the oracle of the Congress. Anyone, who studies Mr. Gandhi’s pronouncements on this subject from 1929 onwards, cannot help feeling that Mr. Gandhi has not been happy about the resolution on Independence and that he has ever since felt necessary to wheel the Congress back to Dominion Status. He began with the gentle process of interpreting it away. The goal was first reduced from Independence to substance of Independence. From substance of Independence it was reduced to equal partnership and from equal partnership it was brought back to its original position. The wheel completed the turn when Mr. Gandhi in 1937 gave the following letter to Mr. Pollock for the information of the English people :—
“ Your question is whether I retain the same opinion as I did at the Round Table Conference in 1931. I said then, and repeat now, that, so far as I am concerned, if Dominion Status were offered to India in terms of the Statute of Westminster, i.e., the right to secede at will, I would unhesitatingly accept,”†
Turning to the pronouncements of Muslim political organizations on the Nehru Report it is interesting to note the reasons given by them for its rejection. These reasons are wholly unexpected. No doubt some Muslim organizations such as the Muslim League
- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in moving the resolution said :
“It declares that the Congress stands today for complete Independence. Nonetheless it leaves the doors of the Congress open to such persons as may perhaps be satisfied with a lesser goal”.—
Ibid., p. 381.
† Times of India 1-2-37. In view of this, the declaration made by the National Convention— consisting of the members elected to the new Provincial legislatures under the new constitution— on the 20th March 1937 held at Delhi in favour of independence has no significance. But from his having launched the Quit India movement it may be said that Mr. Gandhi now believes in Independence.