"This Congress calls upon all students of the age of 18 and over,
particularly those studying in the national institutions and the staff
thereof, immediately to sign the foregoing pledge and become members of
National Volunteer Corps.
"In view of the impending arrest of a large number of Congress workers,
this Congress, whilst requiring the ordinary machinery to remain intact
and to be utilised in the ordinary manner whenever feasible, hereby
appoints until further instructions Mahatma Gandhi as the sole Executive
authority of the Congress and invests him with the full powers of the
All-India Congress Committee including the power to convene a special
session of the Congress or of the All-India Congress Committee or the
Working Committee, and also with power to appoint a successor in
emergency.
"This Congress hereby confers upon the said successor and all subsequent
successors appointed in turn by their predecessors, all this aforesaid
power provided that nothing in this resolution shall be deemed to
authorise Mahatma Gandhi or any of the aforesaid successors to conclude
any terms of peace with the Government of India or the British
Government without the previous sanction of the All-India Congress
Committee to be finally ratified by the Congress specially convened for
the purpose, (and provided also that the present Creed of the Congress
shall in no case be altered by Mahatma Gandhi or his successors except
with the leave of the Congress first obtained).
"This Congress congratulates all those patriots who are now undergoing
imprisonment for the sake of their conscience or country, and realises
that their sacrifice has considerably hastened the advent of Swaraj."