While the Civil & Military Gazette's Shimla correspondent says that Mahatma Gandhi told him that he did not want Pandit Malaviya to accompany him to London, and that his place was in India along with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, an A. P. I. telegram from Simla states that "it is understood that Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya will accompany Mahatma Gandhi to England by the S. S. Multan sailing on the 15th August." For our part we would much rather credit the second statement than the first. It is inconceivable, writes the Tribune of Lahore, that the Mahatma could in this matter, have bracketed Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, besides being the President of the Congress for the year, is a follower of Mahatma Gandhi in the strictest sense of the term. Pandit Malaviya, on the other hand, though in the Congress, holds a distinctly independent position, and in many matters of vital importance he has consistently opposed Mahatma Gandhi. Mainly for this reason he has not the same influence in Congress circles that Sardar Patel or Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru commands, though, of course, he is universally respected and revered. It cannot therefore, be said either that the Pandit's presence in India is needed in the same sense or to the same extent as the presence of Sardar Patel is needed in the opinion of the Mahatma, or that his presence of Sardar Patel is needed in the opinion of the Mahatma, or that his presence in England along with Mahatma Gandhi would be superfluous. He would undoubtedly, in many matters, bring an independent mind to bear on the questions that will come up for discussion; and both on account of the ripeness of his judgment and his vast and almost unrivalled experience of public life in India, his advice is bound to be of the greatest value both to Mahatma Gandhi himself and to the generality of delegates, both Indian and British. We, therefore, earnestly hope, whether the Congress delegation is or is not enlarged, that Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and some other leading Indians, including a number of nationalist Muslims like Sir Ali Imam and Dr. Ansari, will be definitely included in the Indian delegation.
Source : Indian Social Reformer - 25 July 1931
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