M. K. GANDHI 57 ~on Dcember 21 and requested him to call a Round Table Conference of representatives of people of all shades of opinion with a view to bring about a final settle- ment, Lord Reading replied at some length and defined the attitude of the Government. He regretted that " it is impossible even to consider the convening of a conference if agitation in open and avowed defiance of law is mean- while to be continued." Mr. Gandhi’s refusal to call off the hartal in connection with H R.,H. the Prince of Wales' visit to Cilcutta. on December 24, apparently stiffened the attitude of the Government. Interviewed by the Associat- ed Press, Mr. Gandhi made the following statement re—_ garding the Vicerofs reply to the Deputation :-—— I repeat for the theusandth time that it is not hostile to any nation or any body of men but it is deliberately aimed at the system under which Government of India is being to·day con- ducted, and I promise that no threats and no enforcement of threats hy the Viceroy or any body of men will strangle that agitation or send to rest that awakening. Tm; AHMEDABAD CONGRESS Meanwhile the Annual Session of the Congress met at Ahmedabad, the headquarters of Mr. Gandhi. It was virtually a Gandhi Session. The President—elect, Mr. C, R. D is, was in prison and so were many other lead- ers besides. Hakim Ajrnal Khan was elected to take the chair and the proceedings were all in Hindi and Gujarati. Mr. Gandhi was invested with full dictatorial powers by the Congress and the central resolution of the session, which he moved, ran as follows: " This Congress, whilst requiring the ordinary machinery to remain intact and to be utilised in the ordinary manner when- ever feasible, hereby appoints, until further instructions, Mahatma Gandhi as the sole executive authority of the Con- gress and invests him with the full power to convene a special session of the Congress or of the All-India Congress Committee or the Working Committee and also with the power to appoint a successor in emergency. " This Congress hereby confers upon the said successor and all subsequent successors appointed in turn by their predeces- sors, all his aforesaid powers, provided that nothing in this resolution shall be deemed to authorise Mahatma Gandhi or any of the aforesaid successors to conclude any terms of peace
