Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/89

Rh * * If the friends of Social Reform are not willing to respect public opinion, which I regret to say, some of them are prepared to characterise as brute force—I for one am not * * prepared to make a split in the Congress camp by persisting in claiming a recognition of the views of the majority of the public * * ."

When the work of the Congress was to be commenced, the Reformers were in a great glee, as, happening to command a majority in the Standing Congress Committee, they expected to carry things in their own way. But Mr. Tilak soon made it clear to them that he would be no party to such a manifestly unjust arrangement. They, therefore had to set up a working Committee consisting of an equal number of members belonging to both the parties. How to neutralise this "concession" was a question which seriously occupied some mischievous spirits of the Reform Party and they hit upon a very ingenious trick by means of which they hoped either to place Mr. Tilak in an awkward situation or to create a split in his party, which would give numerical superiority to the Reformers in the Working Committee. They stirred up the fury of the ultra-orthodox section of the people by constantly boasting that the Social Conference, so disliked by the majority—would be held in the Congress pavilion in the teeth of their opposition. The result was that Sardar Balasaheb Natu, with others belonging to the extreme wing of the Orthodox Party issued a circular, demanding that the Social Conference should not be held in the Congress Mandap. Thus a split was created in the Orthodox Camp.

Regarding the relations of the Social Conference with the National Congress, a contemporary paper wrote as