Bombay Swaraj Party—How formed M. R. Jayakar and Jamnadas M. Mehta were asked by C. R. Das to form a branch of the Swaraj Party in Bombay City towards the end of March 1923. Accordingly a meeting was held on March 25th, 1923, when the question of forming the branch was discussed. About two dozen Liberals and Moderates were present. K. Natrajan presided. The majority of those present were in favour of postponing all discussion regarding the formation of a branch until April 30th when the period allowed to the No-change Party within which to raise 50,000 volunteers and rupees 25 lakhs would end. Accordingly the discussion was postponed to 30th April. In the meantime it was decided that the new Party members should sign the Congress Creed. In the beginning of May, M. R. Jayakar and Jamnadas Mehta appointed the following people as the Secretaries of the local branch and opened an office in Khatao Building, Girgaon:— (1)Purshottam Tricumdas, Bar-at-Law. (2)J. K. Mehta. (3)A. G. Mulgaonkar. Office-bearers appointed On 8th May 1923 a private meeting of the new Party took place at Jayakar house when the following office-bearers were appointed:— 1 President K. Natrajan. 4 Vice-Presidents M. R. Jayakar. Vithalbhai J. Patel. Jamnadas M. Mehta. J. K. Mehta. 5 Secretaries A. G. Mulgaonkar. Purshottamdas Tricumdas. S. H. Jhabwalla. B. G. Kher and Jafferbhoy H. Lalji. 2 Treasurers Shantaram N. Dabholkar. Manilal D. Nanawati, Solicitor. The same evening a public meeting was held by the Party and Mr. Jayakar announced that the chief policy of the Party would be to carry on a constitutional fight in the Councils. (A copy of the constitution and programme of the Party were distributed to the public.) Progress By the middle of May 1923, the branch opened offices in four different localities in the city for enlisting members and collecting funds. About 200 members were enrolled and between the 10th May 1923 and the 31st May 1923, nine public meetings advocating the views of Swaraj Parly for entry into Councils had been held. Bombay City, May 28th.—The Swaraj party of Bombay held a meeting in the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya on May 26th when C. R. Das was expected to speak but was unable to appear as he was engaged with the All-India Congress Committee. There was an audience of about 300. 151 Speeches were made by S. Satyamurti, A. Rangaswami Iyengar and Ranga Iyer. The last mentioned speaker said he was opposed to entry into the Councils and favoured the constructive programme. He also advocated the larger vision. By that he meant Asiatic Federation. In ancient times the peoples of China, Japan, Egypt and India were all one. The Hindu in China or Japan ought to feel now that he was the same as the Hindu in India. By Federation Asiatic would enhance their strength. K. Natrajan, in his concluding remarks, laid the blame of not securing the release of Gandhi on the Liberals. He told the story of his having as a member of the Liberal party last year sent a very moderately-worded resolution to the Provincial Liberal Conference, presided over in Bombay by the Honourable Mr. Sastri. The resolution expressed regret at Gandhi's incarceration. It was unceremoniously rejected. Then it was that he left the Liberal party. The Swaraj party held a meeting on May 27th to enable C. R. Das to put the aims and objects of his Swaraj party before the public of Bombay. Mr. K. Natrajan presided and the crowd of some 2,000 persons collected. C. R. Das was late in arriving and S. Satyamurti spoke first to fill in time. He said that Bombay was the great mother of political movements in India. The Congress had been started here 37 years ago. Bombay had brought about union between the two parties in the Congress. Great men like Das, Pandit Motilal Nehru and Hakim Ajmal Khan had started the Swaraj party and there was no reason to distrust that party. C. R. Das had given himself up to Swaraj party propaganda and therefore success was a foregone conclusion. Das arrived at this point and began to speak. He said he was very grateful to the All-India Congress Committee for arriving at a compromise between the two parties in the Congress. The existence of bitterness could not be denied, but even bitterness was a healthy sign. It showed that everyone had learned to think for himself. Non-co-operation had been a success in so far as it had caused an awakening among the people; but at the same time non-co-operation had given the bureaucracy the opportunity of consolidating its powers. The Swaraj party had been started to undermine those powers. Many people distrusted the Swaraj party's intentions, but this distrust would be removed if they carefully read the programme issued by the party. Those who persisted in distrusting the party, he would request at least to remain neutral. The boycott of the Councils had been a failure as had been the boycott of schools and colleges. He himself was a non-co-operator inside the Councils. The only result of the non-co-operator's abstention from the Councils was that undesirable persons had taken advantage of their absence by filling the Councils themselves. Inspite of the boycott of Councils, Government was flourishing Government was passing unjust laws in the name of the reforms. Even if they went out into the jungle still they could not non-co-operate with Government. They had to abide by the Forest Rules. Let them then enter the Councils. As soon as they entered the Council, the Swaraj party would formulate the legitimate national demands and would insist on Government granting them. If Government refused, the Swaraj party would follow a persistent policy of obstruction until the bureaucracy found it impossible to carry on the administration. The bureaucracy would then by these tactics be forced to give way before the national will until the increase of the popular power in the Councils put an end to the irresponsible rule of the bureaucracy. M. R. Jayakar proposed a vote of thanks to the speaker and the meeting broke up at about 8 p.m. 152 The more public meetings of the Swaraj party were held during the week the chief features of which are tabulated below:— Date Place Speakers No. present Remarks 22nd May Kirtiker's Wadi 1. J. M. Mehta. 20 Advocated Council 1923. 2. Purushottamdas entry. Tricumdas. 3. B. G. Kher 26th May Kirtiker's Wadi 1. J. M. Mehta. 500 Do. 1923. 2. N. C. Kelkar. 3. L. B. Bhopatkar. Swaraj Party Office shifted The office of the Swaraj Party was moved on 1st June 1923 from Khatao Building to the office of Hiralal D. Nanawati, Solicitor, at 80, Esplanade Road. New Swaraj Party offices were also opened in June at Arya Bhuwan and in Rambaugh. Nomination of Candidates for Council Elections At a meeting held by the Party on June 23rd, a Selection Committee of 12 persons was appointed to nominate candidates for Council elections. This Committee held a meeting on July 1st at Natrajan's office and the following candidates were nominated for elections:— 1. Vithalbhai J. Patel Legislative Assembly. 2. M. R. Jayakar Do. 1. J. K. Mehta 2. Punjabhai Thakersey For Bombay Council (City North). 3. S. J. Amin 1. K. F. Nariman 2. Balubhai T. Desai For Bombay Council (City South). 3. M. B. Velkar 1. Jafferbhoy A. Lalji For Bombay Council (Moham- 2. I. S. Haji medan Constituency). Difference ending with Resignations On July 7th C. R. Das stopped at Bombay on his way from Madras to Nagpur. the was interviewed at Jayakar's place by Natrajan and 8 other members of the Party who had difference with Patel and Jamnadas Mehta over the question of nomination of candidates for the Legislative Assembly and the Bombay Councils. After seeing Mr. Das off by the Nagpur Mail on July 7th, Natrajan, Jayakar, Dabholkar and 8 others drew up their resignations. The resignations appeared in the Chronicle of July 8th and in the Times of India of July 9th and in it the signatories stated that there was a certain section in the Party in Bombay (obviously referring to Mr. Patel and Mr. Jamnadas Mehta) from which they were fundamentally and irrevocably separated in principles and methods. The first meeting of the Bombay Swaraj Party since the resignations of Jayakar and others came off on July 17th when V. J. Patel presided over an audience of 400. Referring to these resignations Patel remarked that the least said, the soonest method. J. M. Mehta remarked that Natrajan and Jayakar had taken an honourable course in resigning. 153 Form of Undertaking Below is the " Form of undertaking " required to be signed by the Swaraj. Party candidates who sought elections to the Councils :— Bombay ....................................1923. " FORM OF UNDERTAKING " "I .................................. of...................being a member of the Swaraj Party of the Indian National Congress do hereby offer myself as a candidate on behalf of the said Party for election to the Legislative Assembly Council from the constituency of…………. and declare that if my candidature is approved by the General Council/Provincial Committee shall faithfully follow the principles and policy of the Party as laid down in its programme passed at Allahabad on the 22nd February, 1923 and shall strictly conform to all rules and directions which may have been or may hereafter be issued by the General or Provincial Council of the Party or a Sub-Committee appointed by either of the said Councils regulating the conduct of elections by members of the Party.