from the moneyed interests affect Congress politics?” I asked. “Doesn’t it create a kind of moral obligation?”
“It creates a silent debt,” he said. “But actually we are very little influenced by the thinking of the rich. They are sometimes afraid of our demand for full independence.”
“The other day,” I said, “I noticed in the Hindustan Times an item to the effect that Mr. Birla had again raised wages in his textile mills to meet the higher cost of living and, the paper continued to say, no other mill owner had done so much. The Hindustan Times is a Congress paper.”
“No,” Gandhi demurred, “it is completely owned by Birla.” He laughed. “I know,” he proceeded, “because my youngest son is the editor. The facts are true, but it has nothing to do with Congress. You are right, however, that the dependence of Congress on rich sponsors is unfortunate. I use the word ‘unfortunate.’ It does not pervert our policy.”
“Isn’t one of the results,” I asked, “that there is a concentration on nationalism almost to the exclusion of social and economic problems?”
“No,” he said, “Congress has from time to time, especially under the influence of Pandit Nehru, adopted advanced social programs and schemes for economic planning. I will have those collected for you.”
