N. S. Hardikar

As office bearers of the Home Rule League, Rai and Hardikar addressed the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.

This resistance prompted the Congress to set up an organisation along the lines of the Mandal to groom a band of volunteers to combat the British Raj.

[2] Dr Hardikar was elected general secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and published the monthly journal Volunteer.

Although Jawaharlal Nehru supported Hardikar, the idea of forming a militia like organisation faced much resistance from Congressman who feared it would lead to the erosion of civilian authority within the party and who argued that it contravened the principle of non-violence.

[1] The Dal played a stellar role in the Civil Disobedience Movement, organising mass picketing and enrollment of new members into the Congress party.