Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/196

 upon certain matters. Whichever side might claim to have climbed up or climbed down, the simple issue at the moment was nothing more than the issue of the form in which the Nationalists who separated at Surat should enter the Congress. As the statement issued from the Servants of India Society dated 9th December 1914 substantially put it, the nationalists were willing to join the Congress but they felt that they were humiliated by the way in which the Congress constitution was framed especially with reference to the election of delegates. They did not want to come into the Congress Committee and objected to personal inquisitions not regulated by rules, which had then to be framed. They did not desire to apply for the affiliation of their associations to the then Provincial Congress Committees. They wished to join the Congress, only if separate and independent constituencies (of course accepting article I of the constitution) were created which should automatically give the right to elect delegates either at meetings of such bodies or at public meetings convened under their auspices. This looked certainly very fair to ask and Mr. Gokhale, the great man that he was, really felt