Swaraj (Swarajya) Party was born on January 1, 1923. Its ideological birth may be traced to the Gaya Session of the Indian National Congress in December 1922, when some leading members (of the Congress) including C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru, Hakin] Ajamal Khan, Vithalbhai Patel and others, declared that the Non-cooperation Movement had been a failure and, with the detention of Gandhi, had lost its momentum. They proposed an alternative programme of diverting the movement from widespread mass civil disobedience programme to a restricted one which would encourage Congress members to enter the Legislative Councils established under the Montford Reforms of 1919 and to use moral pressure to compel authority concede the popular demand for self-government. Remarkable seats in 1924-elections were achieved by the members but their triumph had been short-lived.