Congress Crisis on Method of Struggle

• There were issues of bogus membership and unethical means employed in trying to getting into the congressional committees and controlling them.
• Gandhi firmly believed that Congress should first put its house in order before the movement could again be launched; besides, he also felt the masses were not in the mood for a struggle. There were others who felt that the struggle should continue.

Haripura and Tripuri Sessions: Subhash Bose’s Views

• Subhash Chandra Bose was president of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. His main area of work lay in the organization of the youth and promoting the trade union movement. Subhash Bose did not agree with Gandhi and other leaders of the Congress on many aspects of the struggle for freedom.
• He along with Jawaharlal Nehru opposed the Motilal Nehru Report which spoke for dominion status for India. Bose was all for full independence; he also announced the formation of the Independence League. When the Lahore Congress session under Jawaharlal Nehru’s presidency adopted a resolution that the Congress goal would be Toorna Swaraj’, Bose fully endorsed the decision.

Haripura

• At the Congress meeting in Haripura, Gujarat, in February 1938, Bose was unanimously elected president of the session. He was firm in his belief that the Congress ministries in the provinces had immense revolutionary potential, as he said in his presidential address.
• Bose also talked of the economic development of the country through planning and was instrumental in setting up a National Planning Committee later.
• The session adopted a resolution that Congress would give moral support to those who were agitating against the governance in the princely states.

1939: Subhash Wins but Congress Faces Internal Strife

• In January 1939, Subhash Bose decided to stand again for the president’s post in the Congress. Gandhi was not happy with Bose’s candidature.
• Subhash Bose won the election by 1580 votes against 1377, he got the full support of congress.

Tripuri

• In March 1939 the Congress session took place at Tripuri, in the Central Provinces (near Jabalpur in present Madhya Pradesh).
• The working committee, the ruling body of the Congress, is not elected, but nominated by the president; the election of the president is thus a constitutional opportunity through which the members expressed the nature of the leadership of the Congress.
• A resolution was moved by Govind Ballabh Pant, reaffirming faith in Gandhian policies and asking Bose to nominate the working committee Lin in accordance with the wishes of Gandhiji i”, and it was passed without opposition from the socialists or the communists.
• Gandhi was not willing to lead a Congress struggle based on the radical lines preferred by Bose, even as Bose was not willing to compromise on his ideas. They preferred a united Congress led by Gandhi, as the national struggle was of utmost importance
• Bose resigned from the president’s post in April 1939.