The Bombay conference

Lahore, Thursday, November 20, 1924

WHILE we are pleased that Mr CY Chintamani, Secretary to the National Liberal Federation, has requested members of the council of the federation to attend the conference of all parties which Maulana Mahomed Ali has convened at Bombay and that Mrs Annie Besant has decided to join it with her followers, it does seem to us to be necessary to warn the country against expecting more from the conference than it can possibly give. That for the moment it will bring the leading men of all political parties in the country on the same platform is true enough, and is no small gain to the national cause. It is also probable, though not certain, that the conference will be unanimous in its condemnation of the repressive policy. We say “not certain” because, judging from Mrs Besant’s recent articles in New India, she is still of the opinion she expressed on the morrow of the publication of the ordinance. Mr Sastri himself, strongly opposed as he is both to the ordinance and the action recently taken by the Bengal Government under Regulation III of 1818, is not prepared to accept the joint statement of Mahatma Gandhi, CR Das and Motilal Nehru that the objective of the government’s policy is the Swarajya party. It is true that Mrs Besant has coupled her approval of the repressive policy with the declaration that she will withdraw it the moment she is convinced that it is not aimed solely at the party of violence, and that Mr Sastri’s objection can easily be met by a modification of the phraseology adopted in the joint statement.