The 28th Month of Government gave a practical taste of power to the Indian Leaders. So, after 1937, the nationalist movement got strengthened. Though the Muslim League leaders and Congress leaders were not finding any common platform to share.
Still, the leaders of Congress were not ready to compromise. Because they knew that Britishers are under pressure due to World War II, Nazism and Fascism in Europe. In this condition, an internal crisis evolved in Congress.
Rift in Congress Leaders
As we know that after Swadeshi Movement, Surat Spilt took place. In the Surat Split, Extremists and Moderates got separated. Congress was also divided into two groups after the Non-Cooperation Movement; Pro-changers and No-changer. Even after the Civil Disobedience Movement, some Congress leaders became a believer in Communist philosophy.
In 1938, the Haripura (Gujarat) Session of the Indian National Congress was held. The eminent young leader of Congress Subhash Chandra Bose won the presidential election of this session unanimously. Subhash Chandra Bose was the most dynamic leader of that time in Congress. When he became the president in Haripura Session the demand for Complete Independence was at its peak.
After the 1857 Revolt, though slowly but steadily the participation of Indian Leaders in Political Affairs was increasing. While Swadeshi, Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements gave foundation to the Indian Industries. Indian Capitalists helped in these movements through their finance.
All these mass movements got leadership from the middle class, finance from the Capitalist class and people from the suppressed class. So, on all the fronts except the military, the Indian Masses were performing very enthusiastically to get independence.
Bose was a nationalist leader who knew that to get independence from the imperialistic power, military empowerment was necessary. So, in the next year 1939, Bose decided to stand again for the INC presidential election. It was the Tripuri Session of the Indian National Congress.
Tripuri Crisis
Bose put forward his candidature on 21st January 1939. Here he said,
I represent new ideologies, ideas, problems and programmes that had emerged with the progressive sharening of the anti-imperialist struggle in India.
But the other Congress leaders countered this statement of Bose and said that all the ideas, ideologies and movements are evolved by the various committees of Congress. They said that the position of Congress president was like that of the Constitutional head who represented and symbolised the unity and solidarity of the nation.
When Bose submitted his candidature form for the Tripuri Session. Gandhi put forward the candidature of Andhra leader Pattabhi Sitaramayya for the President of the Tripuri Session. But the popularity of Bose shattered the hope of Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose winning the presidential election.
Gandhi declared that Sitaramayya’s defeat was ”more mine than his”. Subhash Chandra Bose was of the opinion that 6th month’s time should be given to the British government. And if they did not leave India, then Mass Revolution would take place. So, in this response, the members of Congres’s working committee resigned because they followed the Gandhian opinion, which was not troubling Britishers during World War II!!!!!!
The resignation of the Congress Working Committee was very distressing for Bose. So, Bose left Congress and found a new party Forward Bloc in Calcutta. After this, he also went on some military expeditions with the help of Japan, Singapore etc. Bose also led the Indian National Army during Quit India Movement.
This was a brief about Tripuri Crisis. Thank you so much. 🙂 Stay Connected. 🙂
