‘The Triple Stream’

‘Triveni’ seeks to draw together cultured men and women in all lands and establish a fellowship of the elect. All movements that make for Idealism in India as well as elsewhere, receive particular attention in these columns. We count upon the willing and joyous co-operation of all lovers of the Beautiful and the True.

May this votive offering prove acceptable to Him who is the source of the ‘Triveni’–the Triple Stream of Love, Wisdom and power!

...he that laboureth right for love of Me
Shall finally attain! But, if in this
Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!

–The Song Celestial

BY K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAU ¹

A SAD CHAPTER

The Calcutta session of the All India Congress Committee has ended the impasse in Congress affairs. From the election of Mr. Bose as President on the 29th of January to the resignation of Mr. Bose on the 29th of April, the Congress was faced with an internal crisis of the first magnitude. Here was the duly elected President of a great national organisation who, strangely enough, forfeited the confidence of his colleagues and failed to command a majority either in the Subjects Committee or the open session of the Tripuri Congress. Illness laid him low, and an attempt to discredit him and rob him of all initiative was successful, just because the delegates who had voted for him refused now to stand by him. They justified their action by pleading that, when they voted for Mr. Bose, they had not counted on losing the leadership of Gandhiji. The Socialists, who formed the main voting strength on Mr. Bose’s side, remained neutral, as they were torn between conflicting loyalties, and, in any event, they would do nothing to disturb the two-decade-old leadership of Gandhiji. According to the central resolution of the Tripuri Congress, the new Working Committee was to be appointed by the President in accordance with the wishes of Gandhiji.

For weeks on end, long letters were exchanged between Mr. Bose and Gandhiji with regard to the formation of the Cabinet, and finally they met at Calcutta on the eve of the A. I. C. C. session. Every attempt to harmonise opposing points of view broke down completely. Gandhiji insisted on a homogeneous Cabinet of the Rightists; if this was not acceptable to Mr. Bose, he was free to form his own Cabinet from the Left. Mr. Bose pleaded hard for a composite Cabinet: as President he must have the discretion to appoint at least three or four new members to represent the Socialist and the Radical groups. Gandhiji would not agree to any such division of responsibility in the central Executive of the Congress, but if Mr. Bose was keen on a composite Cabinet, he might consult the Rightist leaders and devise some way of mutual approach. But nothing came of these last-minute consultations, and Mr. Bose was left with but two alternatives–surrender or resignation. As was to be expected, he chose the latter course. Babu Rajendra Prasad is now President, and, to all intents and purposes, there is a restoration of the Gandhian regime.

But all this constitutes a sad chapter in the history of our national movement. For months before the Presidential election, and particularly after the Khare episode, the feeling was becoming widespread, even among devoted adherents of Gandhiji, that the Congress Cabinet was carrying things with a high hand. It was not so much their actual doings as the manner of doing them, not so much the ideology that inspired the Cabinet as the haughty temper that brushed aside alternative points of view that inflamed large masses of Congressmen against the inner group within the Cabinet. Even on a non-controversial subject like linguistic Provinces, the Cabinet could not help wording their resolution in such a way as to give the maximum amount of offence to the sub-nationalities concerned. Veteran leaders among the deputationists from the Provinces were victims of the ‘rough and ready tongue’ of Sardar Patel. This was but one of many instances of lack of imagination. On the top of it all, they issued an ukase to the delegates to vote for Dr. Pattabhi which embarrassed him and contributed more than anything else to his defeat at the polls.

After the election, the situation was further complicated by the sickness of Mr. Bose, and his inability to attend the meeting of the Working Committee at Wardha. At this stage, it must be mentioned in fairness to the members of the Working Committee that in resigning in a body they were giving a free hand to Mr. Bose to choose his Cabinet, well in advance of the Tripuri session. There was no point in adjourning the meeting till the Tripuri Congress, for, the new Working Committee nominated by Mr. Bose ought to meet at once and frame the official resolutions for the consideration of the Subjects Committee. Those resolutions would have given an indication of Mr. Bose’s new programme at which he had hinted repeatedly in his election manifestoes; the delegates would have had time to ponder over the new programme envisaged by the President and his Cabinet. But Mr. Bose failed to appoint his Cabinet and to outline his programme. One great obstacle in his path was the refusal of Pandit Jawaharlal to support him. This, in turn, meant the lukewarmness of the Socialist chiefs.

Pandit Jawaharlal had weighty reasons for withholding his support. For one thing, he was incensed at the unworthy aspersions cast by Mr. Bose on his erstwhile colleagues. For another, he perceived that, throughout the previous year of Mr. Bose’s presidentship, Mr. Bose had not placed any new programme before the Cabinet. It was not as if Mr. Bose had made far-reaching proposals and the Cabinet had turned them down. On Mr. Bose’s own admission, the relations between him and the Working Committee were generally very satisfactory till the last presidential election. If he had not insisted on standing for re-election, and if, further, he had not sought to bolster up his candidature by vague insinuations against them, much of the subsequent trouble would have been avoided. It was these, among other reasons, which deprived Mr. Bose of the invaluable assistance of Pandit Nehru. Without Nehru and the Socialists, Mr. Bose could not form a Leftist Working Committee, either before Tripuri or at Calcutta. Even if he had made the attempt, the Cabinet could not have functioned for a day without the requisite majority in the A. I. C. C.

Put briefly, there was discontent against the Working Committee, but there was no corresponding desire to give the elected President the freedom for which he yearned. The only way out of an awkward position was for Mr. Bose to resign. Much as one might regret the result and the series of events that led to it, the result was inevitable.

THE FUTURE

How about the future? There are many within the Congress who are genuinely puzzled and anxious that all controversies of a personal nature should cease. To them, the distinction between Right and Left seems largely artificial. The country needs rest from internecine warfare which makes it difficult for any vigorous programme to be planned or executed. To go about shouting that Gandhiji is a spent force in Indian public life and that a new leadership is needed, is the height of folly. Even Mr. Bose, who has announced the formation of a ‘Forward Bloc’ within the Congress, professes allegiance to Gandhian principles. The ‘Bloc’ is therefore, not a new party with a distinctive programme (like the Swarajists of the late C. R. Das) but just a platform to rally the many discordant groups which, for one reason or another, are dissatisfied with the dominant section of the Working Committee. In the absence of any principle of cohesion, the groups will soon fall apart, or come to terms with their common opponents. But Babu Rajendra Prasad need not wait for such developments. Now that the possibility of the Radical groups controlling the Congress organisation has been ruled out, the new President should make a gesture of peace, and invite a few Socialist leaders like Acharya Narendra Deo to accept places on the Congress Cabinet. Only thus could the unhappy memories of Tripuri and Calcutta be effaced. Moderation in the hour of triumph, and a readiness to accommodate honest and disciplined opposition–these are traits which the reinstated Working Committee might cultivate, with advantage to themselves and to the Nation.

The immediate task of the leaders on either side is the restoration of internal harmony, and the launching of a programme which will inspire the devoted allegiance of all sections of Congressmen. Federation, the States, Hindu-Muslim Unity, economic re-adjustment, are the problems that await solution; but the problem of problems is how to fight Imperialism. Federation is the form in which Imperialism presents itself at the moment. While everyone is emphatic about opposing Federation, we are yet as far as ever from any definite indication of the lines on which the fight might proceed. Should the Ministers resign if Federation is sought to be thrust on us? Should a campaign of civil disobedience be inaugurated? Or, in the event of war, will the united wisdom of Britain and India find a way out, and permit reformist and constitutional methods to achieve ends deemed revolutionary? There is nothing inherently wrong in reformism; it is no shame to be a constitutionalist. But even if war comes, no miraculous re-adjustments in our relations with Britain are likely to be achieved. The last war was an eye-opener in this respect. So, instead of banking on possible results of the situation in Europe, the Congress ought to evolve its own plan of action. Indeed the challenge has already been thrown to India in the shape of war measures like the Amending Bill to the Government of India Act. Under a united leadership, the Congress can meet this challenge. The resolution of the A. I. C. C. at Calcutta may be the prelude to great happenings.

RADIO PROGRAMMES IN MADRAS

It is now nearly an year since the inauguration of the Madras Station of the All India Radio. Though the number of receiving sets within the Province does not indicate a phenomenal rise, the number of listeners is certainly mounting up. People are becoming radio-minded, and the radio habit will persist. The broadcasting of programmes in Telugu and Tamil has revealed new possibilities of entertainment for the town-dweller as well as the villager. South Indian classical music is coming into its own, while to the credit of the organisers of programmes it must be mentioned that even folk-music with its simple, yet moving appeal has received a fresh impetus. The talks and the plays have been particularly successful, and every month brings pleasant surprises in the shape of improvised playlets touching some intimate aspect of contemporary social life or re-interpreting the men and movements of the classic times of ancient India.

Criticism, loud and insistent, has not been lacking. The musicians, it is said, are not always of the first rank; some of the talks are not such as to sustain the listener’s interest even for the brief period of fifteen minutes; the plays are apt to become propaganda. It may at once be conceded that the criticism is sometimes just. But the difficulty of filling in five to six hours every evening with first-rate items must, I imagine, be as great as the difficulty of publishing uniformly high-brow stuff month after month in a cultural journal. Even if the highest level of talent, musical or literary, were always available, the Radio staff must, like their fellow-labourers, the Editors of journals, search incessantly for promising members of the younger generation. It is always easy to honour those who have already won their laurels, but it is exceedingly difficult to seek out new talent and nourish it into fame. This is work of supreme importance.

One instance of this type of achievement will always dwell in my memory. One evening, among rural programmes in Telugu, I found the name of Prayaga Narasimha Sastri set down for the old-world musical play, ‘Bhama Kalapam,’ depicting the love of Satya for Krishna. In Andhra, the heroine of Krishna’s love-episodes is Satya more often than Radha. Generations of Telugus have been charmed by the open-air representations of the theme in connection with village fairs and festivals. Now Narasimha Sastri was a new name, and I was not hopeful. But as the soul-filling strains of his music, and the delicate nuances of the dialogue were wafted on the air, I was thrilled beyond words. I have yet to meet this Narasimha Sastri who, I learn, is a young graduate intent on reviving the things of beauty that enriched life in our villages. If he perseveres, his work will be as significant as that of Nanduri Subba Rao, who composed his famous ‘Yenki Songs’ years ago while yet in the Law College.

The talks have somehow a great appeal for me, and I mention with pleasure that the best Telugu talks I have heard during the year are those of Prof. Ananta Krishna Sarma of Mysore on the ‘Mixture of Styles in Music’ and of Adivi Bapiraju on ‘Ajanta.’