MAHATMA GANDHI ON "SWARAJ"

 MAHATMA GANDHI ON "SWARAJ"

Gandhi expressed the truth first -that Indians must shape their own destiny, that only in the hand of Indians could India become herself -when in 1922 he said that

Swaraj would not be the gift of the British Parliament , but must spring from 'the wishes of the people of India as expressed through their freely chosen representatives'.

Twenty -four years later these words were repeated during the opening session of the constituent Assembly : they were , some said , the Assembly's origin ; all agreed that they were its justification.

            The Indian National Congress made the demand for a constituent assembly part of its official policy in 1934. Refusing to accept the 1933 White paper , because it did not express ' the will of the people of India' , the Congress Working Committee stated.