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The
Times on Congress Reforms
THE
pronouncement of the Times on the proposal of the Congress for a further
reform and expansion of the Indian Councils is significant for the thoroughness
with which the futility and impossibility of the entire Congress ideal is
exposed by the writer. Mr. Gokhale took great pains last year in his address as
President of the Congress to point out, in detail, how the present Council of
the Indian Viceroy might be remodelled, without disturbing the present position
of the Government. His idea is that the elected members of the Viceregal Council
may well be increased from five to twelve, of whom two shall be elected by the
Chamber of Commerce and the representative of some important industry, and ten
by the different Provinces. The two representatives of Commerce and Industry
will, Mr. Gokhale opined, be Europeans, as there shall be 10 Indian members
elected to the Council, out of 25, the total strength of that body; and even if
they voted together they would be in a permanent and absolute minority; and the
only effect of any vote they might give against the Government would be a moral
effect. This is Mr. Gokhale's position and programme; and neither the Times nor,
we are afraid, anybody else outside the ranks of those who hold that everything
that is unreal and moderate is the product of sound statesmanship, clearly sees
what the gain either to the people or to the Government will be from the
acceptance of this wise and cautious counsel. The ten Indian members will form
H.M.'s permanent Opposition in India: that is all; but a permanent Opposition
has all the evils of irresponsible criticism without the advantages of a real
Opposition which can some day hope to be the Government, and whom this
possibility always makes sober and responsible. "The policy proposed by the
Congress," says the Times, "is a policy for bringing the
Government into disrepute without the safeguards which all popular constitutions
provide; it is a policy for generating steam without the precaution
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of
supplying safety-valves;" and the justice of this criticism cannot be
honestly denied.
If Mr. Gokhale's programme does not guarantee any benefit to the
Government, neither is it likely to confer any benefit on the people except, of
course, on a handful of men who shall enjoy the luxury of being Hon'bles and get
enlarged opportunities of recommending their friends, relatives and protégés
for office under the Government. The people will take little interest in
these
Council-elections, because they will soon find out
—
as they have
already done in Bengal, that the elected members cannot carry any popular
measure successfully through the Council or oppose effectively even the most
mischievous ones. Mr. Gokhale is not only anxious to keep the elected members
perpetually in the minority, but though he wants them to be vested with the
right of moving amendments on the Budget, the Viceroy must have the right of
vetoing them even if they are carried. The fact is, there is absolutely no
seriousness about the whole thing. It is all to be a mere child's play. Or, Mr.
Gokhale thinks, perhaps, that by gradually securing these so-called rights, he
will ultimately get real constitutional rights and privileges from his British
masters, but he forgets that these masters have never in the past done anything
that has directly affected their interests and status as a sovereign power, nor
will they do any such thing in the future, unless, of course, they are compelled
to do it, by apprehensions of some great loss or danger. As for the idea that
this so-called reform in the Legislative Council will, in any way, make for
popular freedom by educating the people, that also is evidently without any
reasonable justification for its success; for, as the Times very justly
points out, Mr. Gokhale's programme has no room for any real political education
for the people. To quote it in full: —
"Nor
is the policy one which offers any substantial advantage to the people of India;
it gives them increased opportunities of criticism but no increase of
responsibility; it does nothing to give the people that education in politics
which is essential if... they are now for the first time to have some share in
the management of their own affairs. By the scheme under consideration the
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leaders
of Indian opinion would not acquire that sense of responsibility which
necessarily comes to men who expect that they will shortly be in power
themselves; they are to have opportunities for finding fault with the Government
but they will never have to make their words good; they can with a light heart
demand a reduction of taxation or denounce the Government for not putting a stop
to famines, because they know that they can never themselves be called upon to
prove that these reforms are practicable. It is the prospect of office which
sobers
and
restrains a European Opposition! Is it wise to assume that
Indian politicians will be moderate and without this restraint?"
And the justice of this criticism who will deny? Mr. Gokhale's programme
if accepted by Government, can have only one effect on the growth of public
opinion and political life in India: it will prove the utter futility of any
half-measures like these to secure real and substantial rights for the people.
Such an education through failure was needed twenty-five years ago, when people
still had faith in British shibboleths or had confidence in British character
and British policy; it is absolutely needless and involves sheer waste of time
and energy that have much greater calls on them for more substantial and urgent
work now, — today when the people have already commenced to
realise that their future must be shaped by themselves, without any help from
their British masters, and indeed in spite of the most violent opposition that
will, naturally, be offered by them. Mr. Gokhale's creed and his policy are
anachronisms in the India of 1906; the one stands absolutely discredited with
the people, the other is declared unwise and impracticable by the Government.
The Congress must give these up, or continue as an effete anachronism in the
country, or probably turn by the logic of this creed and this policy, into a
loyalist opposition to all true and forceful popular movement and propaganda in
India. Can we afford to allow an institution that we have all served so
faithfully all these years, and that may at once become an organised institution
of popular deliberation and effective public life, to grow
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effete
and useless? Much less can we afford to place it in the hands of the enemies of
popular freedom. That is the question before the country now. The coming
Congress in Calcutta will perhaps decide this question. Friends of popular
freedom should understand this and gather their forces accordingly for saving
the Congress from both these calamities.
By The Way
The
Mirror complains piteously that the country is in the hands of extremists
on one side and ultra-moderates on the other, while the voices of sitters on the
fence, like the Indian Mirror, go totally unheard. It is hard on our
contemporary. But he should
realise that a time has come in the history of the nation when men must take one
side or the other, if they wish to count for anything in the making of the
future. To preside at a boycott meeting and disparage the boycott is a course
which the politician concerned may reconcile with his own conscience, but it is
not likely to increase the weight of his influence with his countrymen.
*
We are surprised to see the Pioneer join in the extraordinary can-can
which the Englishman has been performing ever since the Fuller
dismissal. We were accustomed to regard the Pioneer as a sober and
well-conducted journal, though its political views are no less pernicious than
the Englishman's; but it is surpassing Hare Street itself in journalistic
high-kicks. "Beware, beware, Bengalis," it shouts, "if you rebel,
we will exterminate you with fire and sword, we will outdo the atrocities we
committed during the Mutiny; we are tigers, we are tigers! Look at our
claws." All this is very bloody indeed and paints the Pioneer one
red. But it does seem as if Anglo-India had gone clean mad. Such a pitiful
exhibition will not increase the respect of the subject race for its rulers.
*
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The Indian Mirror comes out with an article on the selfishness of
Indian patriots. According to this self-satisfied critic Mr. T. Palit and the Indian
Mirror are the only unselfish men in Bengal. Raja Subodh Mullick and
Brajendra Kishore of Gauripore are notoriety-hunters who have chosen to pay
heavily in cash and land for the titles of Raja and Maharaja. Babu Shishir Kumar
Ghose is a humbug who poses as an Avatar; Babu Surendranath Banerji is a humbug
who poses as a Martyr; there is a third patriotic humbug somewhere who poses as
a Hero, — we cannot fix this gentleman at present. The country does not want
these gentlemen at all; it wants people who can dare and die for their country.
Whether this dying is to come about by fire and sword, and the claws of the
British tiger, as the Pioneer threatens, or by influenza, cholera or
fright, is not clear. We gather, however, that Mr. Palit and Babu Narendranath
Sen have entered into a league to dare and die for their country, and we rejoice
to hear it. While waiting for this glorious consummation, we would suggest to
the latter that he might expect his martyrdom with more meekness and, secondly,
that if he has to attack people, he might just as well cross his t's and dot his
i's instead of employing the method of half-veiled allusions. It is a method
which some people might call cowardly.
The Englishman still pegs away at his portentous discovery of a
secret society with the romantic name. His knowledge about it increases every
day. It is not a Chinsurah society, it appears, but a Calcutta affair which is
especially active in Mymensingh. This ubiquitous monster seems to be under the
direction of Tibetans: probably the Tashi Lama formed it when he came to
Calcutta. For it appears that the word "Golden" is a piece of Oriental
symbolism and is employed by the Tibetans to signify men who are sworn to die
for this or that purpose. As a matter of fact, the word Sonar is an
ordinary Bengali term of pride and affection no more mystic or symbolic than
Shakespeare's "golden lads and girls". The Englishman seems
determined to supply the absence of a good comic paper in Calcutta. Apparently
its descent to anna-price has not increased its circulation.
Bande
Mataram,
September 8, 1906
Page-156
The
"Sanjibani" on Mr. Tilak
The
Sanjibani pronounces in its last issue against Mr. Tilak, on the ground
that he is unpopular. But unpopular with whom? With a certain section of the old
Congress leaders. Is then unpopularity with a section to be a bar against
filling the Presidential chair? If so, the circle of choice will become
extremely limited; for just as there are some leaders who are unpopular with the
ultra-moderate section, there are others who are unpopular with the advanced
section. Mr. Gokhale, for instance, is by no means popular in his own country,
the Deccan, especially since his notorious apology. His support of the boycott,
qualified though it be, has somewhat rehabilitated him in the eyes of many, but
he is still strongly distrusted by great numbers. Yet none dreamed of opposing
his selection to the Presidential chair, on the mere ground of a partial
unpopularity. If, however, the Congress leaders are going to publicly proclaim
such a principle, it will be applied freely on both sides and the treasured
"unanimity" of the Congress will disappear.
The
telegram from our correspondent in Mymensingh, which we publish in another
column, is extremely significant. It is now an open secret throughout the
country that the Swadeshi movement has developed two distinct parties in the
country. One of these desires to use Boycott as a political weapon merely in
order to force on the annulment of the Partition and there finish; its quarrel
with the bureaucracy is a passing quarrel and it is ready to be again hand in
glove with the Government as soon as its turn is served; it still desires to sit
on the Legislative Councils, figure on the Municipalities, and carryon politics
by meetings and petitions. The other party will be satisfied with nothing less
than absolute control over our own affairs and is not willing to help the
Government to put off the inevitable day when that demand must be conceded; it
is therefore opposed to any co-operation with the Government or to the adoption
of a suppliant attitude in our re-
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lations
to the Government; it desires the Boycott as a necessary part of our economic
self-development and by no means to be relinquished even if the Partition be
rescinded. Here are definite issues which have to be fought out until some
definite settlement is reached. We desire the issue to be fought out on a fair
field, each party seeking the suffrages of the country and attempting to educate
the great mass of public opinion to its views. Unfortunately, the Leaders of the
older school are not willing to give this fair field. They prefer to adopt a
Machiavellian strategy and work in the darkness and by diplomatic strokes and
secret coup
ďétat. They do not wish to work with the
prominent and most militant members of the new school on the Reception
Committee, they will not admit the country to their councils for fear the
strength of the new school might increase, and they attempt to follow the
example of the Fuller Government, to prevent them from holding public meetings.
Recently the new school have put forward Mr. Tilak as the fittest name for the
Presidentship, and the country has already begun to respond to the suggestion.
The old leaders cannot publicly confess their reasons for not desiring Mr.
Tilak, but they seem to be attempting cleverly to get out of the difficulty by
bringing Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji over from England. We should have thought the
Grand Old Man of India was a name too universally revered to be made the
stalking-horse of a party move. But quite apart from this aspect of the
question, we would draw attention to the indecorous and backstairs manner in
which this important step is being made. It is the work of the Reception
Committee to propose a President for the Congress; but the old leaders have been
carefully avoiding any meeting of the Reception Committee and are meanwhile
making all arrangements for the Congress and Exhibition secretly, unconstitutionally, and among a small clique. Had the name of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji
been proposed constitutionally in the Reception Committee, all would have been
well; as it is, the most venerable name in India is in danger of being
associated with a party stratagem carried through by unconstitutional means.
Meanwhile, there is no reason why the meetings for Mr. Tilak's Presidentship
should not be proceeded with; until the Reception Committee meets and Mr.
Naoroji accepts an invitation from
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them,
the question remains open. But the attitude of the old leaders shows a settled
determination to exclude the new school from public life. If that be so, the
present year will mark a struggle for the support of the country, and the
control of the Congress which, however long it may last, can only have one end.
The
Indian Mirror sympathises with the strikers, but is quite opposed to the
strike. Workmen should not combine to get their rights; they must, like good
slaves, appeal to the gracious generosity of their masters! The spirit of the
serf which governed our agitation in pre-Swadeshi days, still disports itself in
the columns of the Mirror, naked and unashamed.
*
We
confess the pother the Anglo-Indian press has raised over the matter has
surprised us. A certain amount of ridicule we expected, but that the
Kamboliatola affair should be magnified into sedition and by people calling
themselves sane! We are informed, though we can hardly credit it, that Hare
Street has been at the expense of telegraphing columns of matter on the subject
to England, apparently in order to convince the British public that Bengal has
revolted and chosen a King. Verily, the dog-star rages.
*
Hare Street, having failed to impress the public with that fire-breathing
seditious monster of Chinsurah, "Golden Bengal", turns sniffing round,
nose to earth, for a fresh trail, and finds it in our own columns. We also, it
appears, no less than Babu Surendranath and "Golden Bengal" have
declared "open war" against King Edward VII; we wish to get rid of "British control". Beside this the manifesto of "Golden
Bengal" fades into insignificance. That Indians should openly express their
aspiration to
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govern
themselves and yet remain out of jail is a clear sign that the British Empire is
coming to an end.
*
The Statesman has at last come to the rescue anent the moral
belabouring of Babu Surendranath Banerji for his Shanti-Sechana indiscretion.
The Statesman sees two dangers looming through the dust which has been
kicked up over the affair. One is that the ignorant peasantry may imagine a King
has been crowned in India to whom they must give their allegiance. We confess
this alarming idea never occurred to us; and when we spoke of Surendra Babu as
King of independent Bengal, we thought we were indulging in a harmless jest. The
Statesman has opened our eyes. It is an alluring idea and captivates our
imagination. But what has happened to our sober-minded contemporary? Has the
madness of the Englishman infested even him that he should see such
alarming visions?
*
The other danger is that the Anglo-Indian Journals in their wild career
may discredit constitutional agitation and play into the hands of the
extremists. The extraordinary demoralisation of the Anglo-Indian press has
indeed been painfully evident throughout the affair; but the Statesman does
not see his friend's point of view. To Hare Street Babu Surendranath Banerji is
not a moderate and constitutional leader, but a dangerous and fiery red
revolutionist charging full tilt at British supremacy in India, with other
revolutionists more or less scarlet in colour rushing on before or behind him.
Hare Street has gone mad and, as is natural to a distracted John Bull, sees
everything red. Sedition to right of him, sedition to left of him, sedition
before and behind him, and through it all the Englishman like a heroic
Light Brigade, charges in for King and Motherland.
Bande
Mataram,
September 10, 1906
Page-160
There
is every sign that the issue on which the future of the national movement
depends, will soon become very acute. Babu Bhupendranath Bose has put it with
great frankness when he says that we must act in association with and not in
opposition to the Government. In other words, the whole spirit which has
governed the national movement, must be changed and we must go back to the
policy of pre-Swadeshi days. This then is the issue before us. We declared a war
of passive resistance against the bureaucracy on the 7th of August; and we
understood that the struggle was not to end
—
till such a regime as Lord Curzon's should
be rendered for ever impossible in the future. Are we now to declare peace and
alliance with the bureaucracy and blot out the last twelve months from our
history? Babu Ananda Chandra Ray made the proposal a little while ago; a much
more considerable politician makes it today. It is for the country to judge.
Babu
Naresh Chandra Sen Gupta, at a meeting of the Students’ Union, made certain
remarks upon the new party and the old. The spirit of the remarks was good, but
the information on which they were based seems to be remarkably one-sided. He
said, for instance: "The old leaders never forgot to take counsel with the
new party; but the new party had spurned the old men." When, may we ask,
except at Barisal where the new school was in a majority, did the old leaders
take counsel with the new? Since then it has been the deliberate policy of the
old leaders to exclude the new party from their counsels, and some influential
men among them have even declared that they will not work with the principal men
of that party. We do not pretend to dictate to the old leaders or to the
Congress, or to any other public body; we wish to have an opportunity of
pressing our views on the Congress as the views of increasing numbers in the
country.
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The
future is ours and we are content to conquer it by degrees. But the
determination of the old leaders is to give us no foothold on the present. A
great and growing school of politics cannot consent to be treated in such
cavalier fashion.
Bande
Mataram,
September 11, 1906
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