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Union Day
THE 16th of October is generally known as the Partition Day, and it is inevitable that, so long as the administrative division stands, this feature should be emphasised. Especially now that the Reforms threaten to make the division in our administrative lives permanent and real, a mournful significance attaches to the celebration this year. It is possible that, before the day comes round again, the fatal complaisance and weakness of leaders and people may have effected the division between East and West Bengal which the hand of Lord Curzon attempted in vain. The Reform drives in the thin end of the wedge, the rulers know how to trust to time and national cowardice and inertia to do the rest. But if we can overcome the temptation as we overcame the intimidation, the 16th of October will take its place among the national festivals of the future under the name of Union Day. The unity of Bengal was almost complete when Lord Curzon struck his blow; but there were defects, little fissures which might under untoward circumstances develop into great and increasing cracks. Lord Curzon's blow devised in a spirit of Machiavellian statesmanship, but delivered in a fit of unstatesmanlike haste and fury, instead of splitting asunder, soldered Bengali unity into a perfect whole. Bengal one and indivisible came into existence on the 16th of October. The indivisibility has yet to be confirmed by withstanding the covert and subtle pressure of the reformed Councils, but, even if for a moment there is backsliding, the young hold the future and in their hearts Bengal is one and indivisible. The unity of India has been slowly prepared by the pressure from above and the creation of a reaction from below. It is only by that reaction giving birth to a self-conscious democracy aspirant towards oneness and freedom and reliant on its own manhood, that the dream of an United India can be materialised. The publication of the People's Proclamation on the 16th was
Page – 243 the first self-conscious utterance of such a democracy, as yet imperfect and inchoate but aware of its separate existence and conscious of its potential strength. That democracy is now alive in Bengal and Maharashtra, it is struggling to get existence in Punjab and Madras and, to a slighter extent, in the other provinces. When it is fully awake all over India, the unity of the whole country will be within sight. On the 16th of October, in the People's Proclamation, the first condition of an United India was created. There is yet another unity which is as yet only dimly symbolised in the ceremony of the Rakhi, a unity which cannot come into being until a perfect comradeship in aspiration, in struggle, in suffering shall have been created throughout the length and breadth of the land, — the unity in national comradeship of the children of one mighty Mother, whatever their class or condition, — Indian fraternity based on Indian liberty and Indian equality.
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