The Council of State has passed, with a single dissentient, the Finance Bill which thrown out by the Legislative Assembly by the Nationalist Party. Even the Swarajist member, Mr. R. R. Karandikar of Satara voted for the Bill. The Right Hon. Srinivasa Sastri who was reported, in one of the messages to the Bombay Chronicle from its special correspondent at Delhi, to have instigated the Nationalists in the Assembly to throw out the Finance Bill, also supported the Bill on the ground that the stage had not arrived for seriously minded politicians to take the step taken by the Assembly. We do not know what the Swarajists propose to do now. It is inconceivable that Pandit Motilal Nehru had not considered beforehand the line of action to be taken in the circumstances. Mr. Vithalbhai Patel declare in the Assembly that the Party will have to appeal to the masses if Government did not comply with its demands, but, so far as we know, he is about the only politician of any note who has hopes in that direction. We venture to think that it is extremely ill-advised for a responsible public man to use such language unless he had made quite sure that it could be justified. The all but unanimous vote of the Council of State and the complete equanimity with which the country has taken its acceptance of the modified Finance Bill, show that Mr. Vithalbhai was speaking much in advance of public opinion. It may be possible by special effort to start an agitation against the Council of State, but the agitation in that case will not be the direct consequence of the rejection of the Budget by the Assembly. Mr. Patel's position in the Swaraj Party, however, has always been something of a puzzle, and we doubt if he will be able to continue in it. If we may make a suggestion to that Party, it will be somewhat as follows. The Swarajist Party, having demonstrated its strength, may now modify its programme in the Assembly and the Councils. A great deal, in our opinion, can be done by the Party to advance the constructive Programme through the legislature, and we hope it will now decide to take it up.
Source : The Indian Social Reformer - March 29, 1924
VANDE MATARAM
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