councils.
Relationship with the Congress As early as February 1923, Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad tried to narrow down the differences between the two Congress
factions. Finally in May, the Congress Working Committee endorsed the
Swaraj Party demand to contest elections on its own. Gandhi also relented by
1925 and accepted the Swaraj Party as the political wing of the Congress.
Activities In the general elections held in November 1923, the Swarajists
successfully routed the Moderates as well as the Liberals. In the Central
Provinces, they gained an absolute majority of seats while in Bengal, the
United Provinces, Bombay and Assam their gains were sizeable. Fortyeight
members of the party were returned to the Central Legislative Assembly,
where they joined with the Independents, under M.A. Jinnah, to form the
Nationalist Party.
    They voiced grievances and demanded the release of political prisoners
and Indianisation of the civil as well as the defence services. They also
attacked government policies, and exposed its various acts of omission and
commission. In the Central Legislative Assembly the finance bill was
rejected and thrown out in 1924. To pacify the Nationalists and Independents.
the government set up the Muddiman Committee to inquire into the working
of the Reforms of 1919.
Decline But gradually differences began to appear among the Swarajists,
and in the elections of 1926 the party lost much ground-faring especially
badly in the Punjab and the United Provinces and not much better in Madras,
Bengal and Assam. Finally in 1930, the Swarajists boycotted the legislatures
and returned to the parental Congress fold.
Muddiman Committee (1924)
A nine-member Reforms Enquiry Committee under the chairmanship of Sir
Alexander Muddiman was set up to examine the working of Dyarchy of the
Montague-Chelmsford Reforms. Its report, submitted in 1925, consisted of
two parts. The majority consisting of officials and loyalists felt that the
system had not been given a fair trial and hence recommended only minor
changes. The minority (consisting of only non-official Indians), on the other
hand, felt that Dyarchy had clearly failed. It also opined that what was needed