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Facts and Opinions Volume I - Nov. 20, 1909 - Number 20 A Hint of Change
The end of our long waiting for the advent of strength into the hearts and minds of the people may yet be distant, but one sign of an approaching change is growing more and more manifest, the intense yearning for a field, an outlet, a path open to the pent-up activities of an awakened nation. Arising from long sleep and torpor, the nation threw itself with energy into a field of activity which seemed immeasurably vast and full of a glorious promise. One would have said that no one could stop that mighty outpouring of enthusiasm, unselfishness and heaven-aspiring force. But there was a flaw, a source of weakness. Our past defects, hesitations, timidities, weaknesses, vices, arrogance, light-headedness, selfishness, scepticism, inconsistency, our readiness to succumb to difficulties, to despair at the first check, — all these things were in us, trampled down by the inrush of higher feelings and a greater and nobler energy, but not thrown out, not utterly replaced. The nation had entered headlong into a wonderful Sadhana, but without knowledge, without the deliberate samkalpa, the requisite dīksā. It was the only way it could be begun. But the Sadhak has to have cittaśuddhi before he can attain realisation; he must cleanse his bosom of much perilous stuff. That cleansing is done partly by replacing the lower feelings by the higher, cowardice by courage, hatred by love, weakness by strength, partly by working out the evil in imagination or action and rejecting it as it comes up into the mind or the life. It was the first process that took place in the beginning of the movement, it is the second that is now in progress. In the first years of the movement a nation of cowards became heroes, sceptics became blind believers, the light-minded full of serious purpose, men eaten up by selfishness martyrs and ascetics, waverers full of tenacity, the low, loose and immoral inspired by a high and generous idealism and purity. But the work was not com-
Page – 273 plete. In the groundwork of the new nation the old evil stuff lingered, and therefore God trampled our work to pieces in order to have it out, so that it might be seen, recognised and rejected. It was that work the repressions and reforms have come to do, and it is almost done. Had we gone on in our first victorious rush, unhampered and undefeated, we would have entered the kingdom of Swaraj with an imperfect national character, full of temporarily repressed vices which would have come to the surface as soon as the great stimulus of a successful struggle had been removed, and the last state of the nation might have been worse than its first; at any rate there would have been infinite troubles, reverses and disasters for the liberated nation, such as are in store for a nation like Persia where the struggle for freedom has not been sufficiently intense, arduous and complicated in its features to purify the people and build its character. It is well to have done with our troubles, reverses and defeats before the end is gained, so that we may enter our kingdom pure and strong. We ought now to be able to recognise what it was that has made us fail in the hour of trial; for there can be no doubt that we have partially failed. To recognise the defects is to reject them, and with the will to rise, will come the means which will help to raise us. The spirit of the nation is rising again. Only it must be clearly recognised that old outlets are not the right ones. Solid and thorough work, self-discipline by means of noble and orderly action, this is the path by which we shall arrive at a higher national character and evolution.
In an unguarded moment our friend and India's, the Statesman of Chowringhee, has for once blurted out the truth. While, in common with other Anglo-Indian papers, it descants in strains of dithyrambic eloquence on the magnitude of the reforms the Government in its deep, wise and impossibly sagacious generosity has given and this thrice blessed country has been privileged to receive, it inadvertently admits that the Legislative Councils, as they hitherto existed, were pretentious shams. As we point out
Page – 274 in our article this week, the new Councils differ in no way from the old except in being more pretentious. The old were shams because they gave no control to the people while affecting to listen and give consideration to the popular voice, which was, as a matter of fact, only heard to be ignored, — except in very occasional instances which only accentuated the sense of dependence on the caprice of the official governors. The new Councils are of precisely the same character, and the only differences of importance are the non-official majority — so carefully arranged as to secure a permanent popular minority, — the increased number of the elected members, and the facilities given for debate. With a permanent popular minority and the denial of all control, this is mere heaping of gilt on the surface of the toy. The Indian papers have recognised the nugatory character of the reforms and the tone of cold dissatisfaction in their comments is very marked. When the Councils begin to work, even the Moderates will realise that the new Councils are not only void of any true principle of popular representation and control, but injurious to the interests of the people.
Under the new conditions, the Municipalities and District Boards form a substantial part of the electorate and return a certain proportion of the members. We do not think we exaggerate when we say that the only chance of any really independent popular representatives entering the new Councils is provided by these bodies. The University member or one or two of the landholders may occasionally assert independence, but the chances, at present, are in favour of their belonging to that type of representatives who are satisfied if they can pose as representatives of the nation by merely refusing to agree with the Government in all the details of their policy and measures. The one chance of a robust and healthy opposition lies in the election of independent men by the Municipalities and, to a lesser extent, by the District Boards. They will, however, be in a hopeless minority and will always be liable to disqualification by any of the engines provided for that
Page – 275 purpose in the rules, if they support their opposition in the Council by agitation in the country. And we have yet to see what changes will be made in the District Boards and Municipalities under the new policy. Great hopes have been entertained that, whatever may be done in the Councils, the Municipalities will be made really free and popular bodies, and, we remember, that expectation was urged at the Hughly Conference as a reason for not rejecting the reforms. We doubt whether this expectation will be any more fruitful than the hopes of a great advance towards popular institutions in the reform of the Councils. Under the new scheme the Municipalities are the only weak point in the Government armour, and we rather fancy the Government will follow the policy of thorough and mend that point as well. Time will show whether we or the Moderates are right. So far we have always been right in these matters and they have always been wrong, the new Councils being only the latest of numerous instances during the last few years.
The action of some of the statesmen of this country seems to be guided by the principle that the best way to bring about a particular object is to try and promote its opposite. They certainly desire the political unrest to cease, but their action seems to be carefully calculated to prolong it. No more irritating action could have been taken in the present state of the public mind than the persistence in sedition-hunting which is being practised on a large scale in the Punjab. There is not the least sign of trouble or violence or even widespread agitation of any kind in that province. The causes which excited agitation and violence formerly were purely local and, with the removal of the cause, the effect, as it was bound to do, disappeared. Since then, the Punjab has been profoundly quiet, and the opposition to the Convention Congress and the convocation of the Hindu Sabha, presided over by so inoffensive a personage as Sir Pratul Chandra Chatterji, were the only signs of life it gave. We wonder, is it the first-mentioned activity which has led to the raids, searches and
Page – 276 arrests ? The almost universal opposition to a body which has faithfully excluded the Nationalists and enjoys the support and patronage of Mr. Gokhale, may seem to the authorities a certain sign of widespread seditious feeling in the land. Is it by stirring up sedition with a police pole that the Punjab bureaucrats think they can get rid of unrest ?
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