M. K. GANDHI 5I \Vith the change of creed and the wholesale adoption ~of the programme of Non·Co-operation the old Congress was virtually dead. The New Congress was inspired by a new hope and sustained by new methods altogether alien to the faith of men like Dadabhai and Gokhale who had guided it in its years of infancy and adolescence. Mr, Gandhi was not slow to use his great authority over the Congress to further the movement of which he was the directing head. At his command were all the Congress and Klnlafat organisations, and he set out on an extensive tour of the country preaching the new cult with the fervour of a prophet. Everywhere he was received with ovation. His Nagpur triumph was the beginning of an agitation before which even his Satyagraha demonstra- tions were as nothing. Mr. Gandhi, as might be expected of one of his ardent and generous impulse, staked his life on the agitation, and day after day he was unwearied in his services and unsparing of himself in his devotion to what might be called the most supreme and desperate adventure of his life. As he went from place to place accompanied by the Ali Brothers the movement became popular among the ignorant and the literate. His fourfold programme of boy- cotting schools, cloths, councils and Government Service was the theme of his multitudinous discourses. But the most painful result (at any rate to those who are not of his pursuasien) was the calling away of youths from their schools and colleges. Many a lad, led away by the glamour of the great ideal and the irresistable appeal of a saintly leader, gave up their school education, the only education available at present. THE STUDENT MOVEMENT At Aligarh and Benares great efforts were made to call away the students from the Muslim and Hindu Uni- versities, if they could not nationalise them. They were not quite successful though a few joined the Congress, but in Bengal, at the instance of Messrs. C. R. Das and Jitend- ralal Banerjea, a large number of students flocked t0 their standard and deserted the schools. It was such appeals
