Common programme

NO newspaper has oftener or more consistently pleaded for a common political programme for the whole of the party of self-government in India than ourselves. It is, therefore, with peculiar interest that we have read the article which Mahatma Gandhi has written in the current issue of Young India. The opening lines of the article are a clear statement both of its genesis and of the Mahatma’s views on this vitally important subject. “Friends have asked me,” he writes, “to suggest one universal programme in which Rajas, Maharajas, No-changers, Pro-changers, Liberals, Independents, practising lawyers and all others could join without reserve. I am asked to suggest such a programme with the conditions that it must be effective and swift enough for the attainment of Swaraj. The most effective and swiftest programme I can suggest is the adoption and organisation of Khaddar, the promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity and the removal by the Hindus of untouchability. It is my unalterable belief that if these three things are achieved, we can establish Swaraj without the slightest difficulty. I further believe that if all the parties wholeheartedly work on the programme, it can succeeded within one year.” Before we examine the suggestion itself, it may not be out of place to say a word regarding the method by which the Mahatma has sought to arrive at a common programme. The method he has followed is the method of elimination instead of being what we for ourselves have always held that it ought to be, the method of coordination and integration.