98 THE MAKING OF FEDERAL INDIA

of rooks in the nesting season/' were anxious to put forward
their proposals drafted by what is known as the "All-
Parties Conference/' The proposals for securing the co-
operation of the Indian Legislatures through committees
and <{ Joint Free Conference " alarmed the boycott leaders,
and they decided to form a body under the designation
of the All-Parties Conference in order to draw up proposals.
At a meeting of this conference, held in Bombay in May
1928, a committee was appointed under the chairmanship
of Pandit Motilal Nehru "to consider and determine the
principles of the Constitution for India/' It was this
Committee, composed of a number of distinguished "All-
India " leaders, that produced the scheme embodied in the
document known as the Nehru Report, published in
August 1928. Consistent with their determination of
boycotting the Statutory Commission, the Report was not
directly submitted to that body but was proclaimed from
the house-tops as having contained proposals that would
satisfy " All-Parties" in India. The Committee declared
that there was no half-way house between the present
hybrid system (that is, Dyarchy) and genuine responsible
government. The All-Parties Conference, convened for the
purpose of considering the Nehru Report, unanimously
passed a resolution accepting the goal of Dominion Status,
" without restricting the liberty of action of those political
parties whose goal is complete independence/' But the
sponsors of the Nehru Report failed to grasp the realities
of the problems and passed lightly over the complexity
of the issues at stake by vague generalizations. Take one
instance. It is known that the circumstances of the
North-Western Frontier Province and Baluchistan warrant
special arrangements for their administration; but the
Report declares that t( the status of these areas must be
made the same as that of the other Provinces; we cannot
in justice or in logic deny the right of any part of India
to participate in responsible government." Again, the
demand that the administration of the Army should be