Mahatmaji’s ultimatum

IN a signed article under the heading ‘The acid test’ in the latest issue of Young India, Mahatma Gandhi gives an explanation of his position with regard to the several resolutions that he proposes to move at the forthcoming meeting of the All-India Congress Committee, which virtually amounts to an ultimatum to the Congress generally and to those who differ from him in particular. “If I am to become an efficient General,” writes Mahatmaji, “I must have soldiers who would obey, who have faith in themselves and in their General and who will carry out instructions. My plan of action is always open and very definite. Certain well-defined conditions being fulfilled, it guarantees success. But what is a poor General to do when he finds soldiers who subscribe to his conditions and yet do not carry them out and, maybe, do not even believe in them? The resolutions are designed to test the qualifications of the soldiers.” The same idea is put in another and a still clearer form. “The soldiers,” writes Mahatmaji, “are in the happy position of being electors of their own General. The would-be General must know the conditions of employment. I remain where I stood in 1920. Only my faith has increased with the years that have gone by. I have no faith in any other plan. I am, therefore, not available on any other terms, not because I am unwilling but because I am unfit. All the four resolutions, then, constitute my application for employment as the General and lay down my qualifications and limitations.”