Bande Mataram

 

CONTENTS

 

Pre-content

 

 

Part One

Writings and a Resolution 1890 ­ 1906

 

India Renascent

India and the British Parliament

 

New Lamps for Old

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

At the Turn of the Century

Old Moore for 1901

The Congress Movement

Fragment for a Pamphlet

Unity: An open letter

The Proposed Reconstruction of Bengal

On the Bengali and the Mahratta

Bhawani Mandir

Ethics East and West

Resolution at a Swadeshi Meeting

A Sample-Room for Swadeshi Articles

On the Barisal Proclamation

 

 

Part Two

Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Bipin Chandra Pal 6 August ­ 15 October 1906

 

Bande Mataram 20-8-06

Darkness in Light 20.8.06

Our Rip Van Winkles 20.8.06

Indians Abroad 20.8.06

Officials on the Fall of Fuller 20.8.06

Cow Killing: An Englishman's Amusements in Jalpaiguri 20.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 27-8-06

Schools for Slaves 27.8.06

By the Way 27.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 28-8-06

The Mirror and Mr. Tilak 28.8.06

Leaders in Council 28.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 30-8-06

Loyalty and Disloyalty in East Bengal 30.8.06

By the Way 30.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 1-9-06

Lessons at Jamalpur 1.9.06

By the Way 1.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 3-9-06

By the Way 3.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 4-9-06

Partition and Petition 4.9.06

English Enterprise and Swadeshi 4.9.06

Sir Frederick Lely on Sir Bampfylde Fuller 4.9.06

Jamalpur 4.9.06

By the Way 4.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 8-9-06

The Times on Congress Reforms 8.9.06

By the Way 8.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 10-9-06

The Pro-Petition Plot 10.9.06

Socialist and Imperialist 10.9.06

The Sanjibani on Mr. Tilak 10.9.06

Secret Tactics 10.9.06

By the Way 10.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 11-9-06

A Savage Sentence 11.9.06

The Question of the Hour 11.9.06

A Criticism 11.9.06

By the Way 11.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 12-9-06

The Old Policy and the New 12.9.06

Is a Conflict Necessary? 12.9.06

The Charge of Vilification 12.9.06

Autocratic Trickery 12.9.06

By the Way 12.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 13-9-06

Strange Speculations 13.9.06

The Statesman under Inspiration 13.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 14-9-06

A Disingenuous Defence 14.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 17-9-06

Last Friday's Folly 17.9.06

Stop-gap Won't Do 17.9.06

By the Way 17.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 18-9-06

Is Mendicancy Successful? 18.9.06

By the Way 18.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 20-9-06

By the Way 20.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 1-10-06

By the Way 1.10.06

 

Bande Mataram 11-10-06

By the Way 11.10.06

 
 

Part Three

Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo 24 October 1906 ­ 27 May 1907

 

Bande Mataram 29-10-06

The Famine near Calcutta 29.10.06

Statesman's Sympathy Brand 29.10.06

By the Way. News from Nowhere 29.10.06

 

Bande Mataram 30-10-06

The Statesman's Voice of Warning 30.10.06

Sir Andrew Fraser 30.10.06

By the Way. Necessity Is the Mother of Invention 30.10.06

 

Bande Mataram Nov-Dec

Articles Published in the Bande Mataram in November and December 1906

 

Bande Mataram 26-12-06

The Man of the Past and the Man of the Future 26.12.06

 

Bande Mataram 31-12-06

The Results of the Congress 31.12.06

 

Bande Mataram 25-2-07

Yet There Is Method in It 25.2.07

 

Bande Mataram 28-2-07

Mr. Gokhale's Disloyalty 28.2.07

 

Bande Mataram 15-3-07

The Comilla Incident 15.3.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-3-07

British Protection or Self-Protection 18.3.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-3-07

The Berhampur Conference 29.3.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-4-07

The President of the Berhampur Conference 2.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-4-07

Peace and the Autocrats 3.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-4-07

Many Delusions 5.4.07

By the Way. Reflections of Srinath Paul, Rai Bahadoor, on the Present Discontents 5.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-4-07

Omissions and Commissions at Berhampur 6.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-4-07

The Writing on the Wall 8.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 9-4-07

A Nil-admirari Admirer 9.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 10-4-07

Pherozshahi at Surat 10.4.07

A Last Word 10.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-4-07

The Situation in East Bengal 11.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-23-4-07

The Doctrine of Passive Resistance 11 ­ 23.4.07

I. Introduction

II. Its Object

III. Its Necessity

IV. Its Methods

V. Its Obligations

VI. Its Limits

VII. Conclusions

 

Bande Mataram 12-4-07

The Proverbial Offspring 12.4.07

By the Way 12.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-4-07

By the Way 13.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-4-07

The Old Year 16.4.07

Rishi Bankim Chandra 16.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-4-07

A Vilifier on Vilification 17.4.07

By the Way. A Mouse in a Flutter 17.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-4-07

Simple, Not Rigorous 18.4.07

British Interests and British Conscience 18.4.07

A Recommendation 18.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-4-07

An Ineffectual Sedition Clause 19.4.07

The Englishman as a Statesman 19.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-4-07

The Gospel according to Surendranath 22.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-4-07

A Man of Second Sight 23.4.07

Passive Resistance in the Punjab 23.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-4-07

By the Way 24.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-4-07

Bureaucracy at Jamalpur 25.4.07

Anglo-Indian Blunderers 25.4.07

The Leverage of Faith 25.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-4-07

Graduated Boycott 26.4.07

Instinctive Loyalty 26.4.07

Nationalism, Not Extremism 26.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-4-07S

hall India Be Free? The Loyalist Gospel 27.4.07

The Mask Is Off 27.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-4-07

Shall India Be Free? National Development and Foreign Rule 29.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 30-4-07

Shall India Be Free? 30.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 1-5-07

Moonshine for Bombay Consumption 1.5.07

The Reformer on Moderation 1.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-5-07

Shall India Be Free? Unity and British Rule 2.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-5-07

Extremism in the Bengalee 3.5.07

Hare or Another 3.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-5-07

Look on This Picture, Then on That 6.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-5-07

Curzonism for the University 8.5.07

Incompetence or Connivance 8.5.07

Soldiers and Assaults 8.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 9-5-07

By the Way 9.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 10-5-07

Lala Lajpat Rai Deported 10.5.07

 

 

Bande Mataram 11-5-07

The Crisis 11.5.07

Lala Lajpat Rai 11.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-5-07

Government by Panic 13.5.07

In Praise of the Government 13.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-5-07

The Bagbazar Meeting 14.5.07

A Treacherous Stab 14.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 15-5-07

How to Meet the Ordinance 15.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-5-07

Mr. Morley's Pronouncement 16.5.07

The Bengalee on the Risley Circular 16.5.07

What Does Mr. Hare Mean? 16.5.07

Not to the Andamans! 16.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-5-07

The Statesman Unmasks 17.5.07

Sui Generis 17.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-5-07

The Statesman on Mr. Mudholkar 20.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-5-07

The Government Plan of Campaign 22.5.07

The Nawab's Message 22.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-5-07

And Still It Moves 23.5.07

British Generosity 23.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-5-07

An Irish Example 24.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-5-07

The East Bengal Disturbances 25.5.07

Newmania 25.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-5-07

The Gilded Sham Again 27.5.07

National Volunteers 27.5.07

 

 

Part Four

Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo 28 May ­ 22 December 1907

 

Bande Mataram 28-5-07

The True Meaning of the Risley Circular 28.5.07

Cool Courage and Not Blood-and-Thunder Speeches 28.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-5-07

The Effect of Petitionary Politics 29.5.07

The Sobhabazar Shaktipuja 29.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 30-5-07

The Ordinance and After 30.5.07

A Lost Opportunity 30.5.07

The Daily News and Its Needs 30.5.07

Common Sense in an Unexpected Quarter 30.5.07

Drifting Away 30.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 1-6-07

The Question of the Hour 1.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-6-07

Regulated Independence 4.6.07

A Consistent Patriot 4.6.07

Holding on to a Titbit 4.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-6-07

Wanted, a Policy 5.6.07

Preparing the Explosion 5.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-6-07

A Statement 6.6.07

Law and Order 6.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-6-07

Defying the Circular 7.6.07

By the Way. When Shall We Three Meet Again? 7.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-6-07

The Strength of the Idea 8.6.07

Comic Opera Reforms 8.6.07

Paradoxical Advice 8.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-6-07

An Out-of-Date Reformer 12.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-6-07

The Sphinx 14.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-6-07

Slow but Sure 17.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-6-07

The Rawalpindi Sufferers 18.6.07

Look on This Picture and Then on That 18.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-6-07

The Main Feeder of Patriotism 19.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-6-07

Concerted Action 20.6.07

The Bengal Government's Letter 20.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 21-6-07

British Justice 21.6.07

The Moral of the Coconada Strike 21.6.07

The Statesman on Shooting 21.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-6-07

Mr. A. Chaudhuri's Policy 22.6.07

A Current Dodge 22.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-6-07

More about British Justice 24.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-6-07

Morleyism Analysed 25.6.07

Political or Non-Political 25.6.07

Hare Street Logic 25.6.07

The Tanjore Students' Resolution 26.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-6-07

The Statesman on Mr. Chaudhuri 26.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-6-07

"Legitimate Patriotism" 27.6.07

Khulna Oppressions 27.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 28-6-07

The Secret Springs of Morleyism 28.6.07

A Danger to the State 28.6.07

The New Thought. Personal Rule and Freedom of Speech and Writing

28.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-6-07

The Secret of the Swaraj Movement 29.6.07

Passive Resistance in France 29.6.07

By the Way 29.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 1-7-07

Stand Fast 1.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-7-07

The Acclamation of the House 2.7.07

Perishing Prestige 2.7.07

A Congress Committee Mystery 2.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-7-07

Europe and Asia 3.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-7-07

Press Prosecutions 4.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-7-07

Try Again 5.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 9-7-07

A Curious Procedure 9.7.07

Association and Dissociation 9.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-7-07

Industrial India 11.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-7-07

From Phantom to Reality 13.7.07

Audi Alteram Partem 13.7.07

Swadeshi in Education 13.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 15-7-07

Boycott and After 15.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-7-07

In Honour of Hyde and Humphreys 16.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-7-07

Angelic Murmurs 18.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-7-07

A Plague o' Both Your Houses 19.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-7-07

The Khulna Comedy 20.7.07

A Noble Example 20.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-7-07

The Korean Crisis 22.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-7-07

One More for the Altar 25.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-7-07

Srijut Bhupendranath 26.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-7-07

The Issue 29.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 30-7-07

District Conference at Hughly 30.7.07

Bureaucratic Alarms 30.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-8-07

The 7th of August 6.8.07

The Indian Patriot on Ourselves 6.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-8-07

Our Rulers and Boycott 7.8.07

Tonight's Illumination 7.8.07

Our First Anniversary 7.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-8-07

To Organise 10.8.07

Statutory Distinction 10.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-8-07

Marionettes and Others 12.8.07

A Compliment and Some Misconceptions 12.8.07

Pal on the Brain 12.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-8-07

Phrases by Fraser 13.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-8-07

To Organise Boycott 17.8.07

The Foundations of Nationality 17.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-8-07

Barbarities at Rawalpindi 20.8.07

The High Court Miracles 20.8.07

The Times Romancist 20.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 21-8-07

A Malicious Persistence 21.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-8-07

In Melancholy Vein 23.8.07

Advice to National College Students [Speech] 23.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-8-07

Sankaritola's Apologia 24.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-8-07

Our False Friends 26.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-8-07

Repression and Unity 27.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 31-8-07

The Three Unities of Sankaritola 31.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-9-07

Eastern Renascence 3.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-9-07

The Martyrdom of Bipin Chandra 12.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-9-07

Sacrifice and Redemption 14.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-9-07

The Un-Hindu Spirit of Caste Rigidity 20.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 21-9-07

Caste and Democracy 21.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-9-07

Bande Mataram Prosecution 25.9.07

Pioneer or Hindu Patriot? 25.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-9-07

The Chowringhee Pecksniff and Ourselves 26.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 28-9-07

The Statesman in Retreat 28.9.07

The Khulna Appeal 28.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-10-07

A Culpable Inaccuracy 4.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-10-07

Novel Ways to Peace 5.10.07

"Armenian Horrors" 5.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-10-07

The Vanity of Reaction 7.10.07

The Price of a Friend 7.10.07

A New Literary Departure 7.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-10-07

Protected Hooliganism -A Parallel 8.10.07

Mr. Keir Hardie and India 8.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-10-07

The Shadow of the Ordinance in Calcutta 11.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-10-07

The Nagpur Affair and True Unity 23.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-10-07

The Nagpur Imbroglio 29.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 31-10-07

English Democracy Shown Up 31.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-11-07

Difficulties at Nagpur 4.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-11-07

Mr. Tilak and the Presidentship 5.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-11-07

Nagpur and Loyalist Methods 16.11.07

The Life of Nationalism 16.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-11-07

By the Way. In Praise of Honest John 18.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-11-07

Bureaucratic Policy 19.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-12-07

About Unity 2.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-12-07

Personality or Principle? 3.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-12-07

More about Unity 4.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-12-07

By the Way 5.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-12-07

Caste and Representation 6.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-12-07

About Unmistakable Terms 12.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-12-07

The Surat Congress 13.12.07

Misrepresentations about Midnapore 13.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-12-07

Reasons of Secession 14.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-12-07

The Awakening of Gujarat 17.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-12-07

"Capturing the Congress" 18.12.07

Lala Lajpat Rai's Refusal 18.12.07

The Delegates' Fund 18.12.07

 
 

Part Five

Speeches 22 December 1907 ­ 1 February 1908

 

Speeches 13-1-08

Our Experiences in Bengal 13.1.08

 

Speeches 15-1-08

National Education 15.1.08

 

Speeches 19-1-08

The Present Situation 19.1.08

 

Speeches 24-1-08

The Meaning of Swaraj 24.1.08

 

Speeches 26-1-08

Swadeshi and Boycott 26.1.08

 

Speeches 29-1-08

Bande Mataram 29.1.08

 

Speeches 30-1-08

The Aims of the Nationalist Party 30.1.08

 

Speeches 31-1-08

Our Work in the Future 31.1.08

 

Speeches 1-2-08

Commercial and Educational Swarajya 1.2.08

 

 

Part Six

Bande Mataram

under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo with

Speeches Delivered during the Same Period 6 February ­ 3 May 1908

 

Bande Mataram 6-2-08

Revolutions and Leadership 6.2.08

 

Speeches 12-13-2-08

Speeches at Pabna 12 ­ 13.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 18-2-08S

waraj 18.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 19-2-08

The Future of the Movement 19.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 20-2-08

Work and Ideal 20.2.08

By the Way 20.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 21-2-08

The Latest Sedition Trial 21.2.08

Boycott and British Capital 21.2.08

Unofficial Commissions 21.2.08

The Soul and India's Mission 21.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 22-2-08

The Glory of God in Man 22.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 24-2-08

A National University 24.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 3-3-08

Mustafa Kamal Pasha 3.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 4-3-08

A Great Opportunity 4.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 5-3-08

Swaraj and the Coming Anarchy 5.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 7-3-08

The Village and the Nation 7.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 10-3-08

Welcome to the Prophet of Nationalism 10.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 11-3-08

The Voice of the Martyrs 11.3.08

Constitution-making 11.3.08

What Committee? 11.3.08

An Opportunity Lost 11.3.08

A Victim of Bureaucracy 11.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 12-3-08

A Great Message 12.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 13-3-08

The Tuticorin Victory 13.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 14-3-08

Perpetuate the Split! 14.3.08

Loyalty to Order 14.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 16-3-08

Asiatic Democracy 16.3.08

Charter or No Charter 16.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 17-3-08

The Warning from Madras 17.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 19-3-08

The Need of the Moment 19.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 20-3-08

Unity by Co-operation 20.3.08

The Early Indian Polity 20.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 21-3-08

The Fund for Sj. Pal 21.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 23-3-08

The Weapon of Secession 23.3.08

Sleeping Sirkar and Waking People 23.3.08

Anti-Swadeshi in Madras 23.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 24-3-08

Exclusion or Unity? 24.3.08

How the Riot Was Made 24.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 25-3-08

Oligarchy or Democracy? 25.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 26-3-08

Freedom of Speech 26.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 27-3-08

Tomorrow's Meeting 27.3.08

Well Done, Chidambaram! 27.3.08

The Anti-Swadeshi Campaign 27.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 28-3-08

Spirituality and Nationalism 28.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 30-3-08

The Struggle in Madras 30.3.08

A Misunderstanding 30.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 31-3-08

The Next Step 31.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 1-4-08

India and the Mongolian 1.4.08

Religion and the Bureaucracy 1.4.08

The Milk of Putana 1.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 2-4-08

Swadeshi Cases and Counsel 2.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 3-4-08

The Question of the President 3.4.08

The Utility of Ideals 3.4.08

Speech at Panti's Math 3.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 4-4-08

Convention and Conference 4.4.08

By the Way 4.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 6-4-08

The Constitution of the Subjects Committee 6.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 7-4-08

The New Ideal 7.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 9-4-08

The Asiatic Role 9.4.08

Love Me or Die 9.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 10-4-08

The Work Before Us 10.4.08

Campbell-Bannerman Retires 10.4.08

 

Speech 10-4-08

United Congress [Speech] 10.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 11-4-08

The Demand of the Mother 11.4.08

 

Speech 12-4-08

Baruipur Speech 12.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 13-4-08

Peace and Exclusion 13.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 14-4-08

Indian Resurgence and Europe 14.4.08

Om Shantih 14.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 18-4-08

Conventionalist and Nationalist 18.4.08

 

Speech 20-4-08

Palli Samiti [Speech] 20.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 22-4-08

The Future and the Nationalists 22.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 23-4-08

The Wheat and the Chaff 23.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 24-4-08

Party and the Country 24.4.08

The Bengalee Facing Both Ways 24.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 25-4-08

The One Thing Needful 25.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 29-4-08

New Conditions 29.4.08

Whom to Believe? 29.4.08

By the Way. The Parable of Sati 29.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 30-4-08

Leaders and a Conscience 30.4.08

An Ostrich in Colootola 30.4.08

By the Way 30.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 2-5-08

Nationalist Differences 2.5.08

Ideals Face to Face 2.5.08

 

 

 

Part Seven

Writings from Manuscripts 1907 ­ 1908

 

The Bourgeois and the Samurai

The New Nationalism

The Mother and the Nation

The Morality of Boycott

A Fragment

 

 

Appendixes

 

Appendix One

 

Incomplete Drafts of Three Articles

Draft of the Conclusion of "Nagpur and Loyalist Methods"

Draft of the Opening of "In Praise of Honest John"

Incomplete Draft of an Unpublished Article

 

 

Appendix Two

 

Writings and Jottings Connected with the Bande Mataram 1906 ­ 1908

"Bande Mataram" Printers & Publishers, Limited.

Draft of a Prospectus of 1907

Notes and Memos

 

 

Appendix Three

 

Nationalist Party Documents

 

 

Appendix Four

 

A Birthday Interview

 

NOTE ON THE TEXTS

Bande Mataram


{ CALCUTTA, July 20th, 1907 }


 

The Khulna Comedy

 

The result of a political case is always a foregone conclusion in this country in the present era of anti-Swadeshi repression, for the object of the proceedings is not to detect and punish crime but to put down Swadeshi under the forms of law. Whether the accused is innocent or guilty of the particular charge it has been thought convenient to formulate against him, is a matter of very trifling importance. Neither the people nor the bureaucracy really accept a conviction as proof of any offence against the law. Indeed it is more or less a matter of caprice or convenience whether one offence or another is selected. When the crime is not chosen with a view to the punishment it is desired to inflict, or the greater ease of securing evidence, or the necessity of convicting when there is no evidence, the problem is probably determined by the sense of humour of the prosecuting Magistrate or by an aesthetic perception of the fitness of things. Generally the Swadeshi worker is charged with sedition or assault or breach of the peace or wishing to break the peace or thinking of doing something which somebody in authority pretends to believe likely to break the peace but he might just as well be charged with burglary or abduction or with contempt of the Magistrate's khansamah or with the Bengal stare or the Coconada grimace. The main object is to send him to prison or bind him over not to do any work for Swadeshi for six months or a year, and the pretext is a mere bagatelle. The real point is not whether the accused is innocent or guilty of the particular offence but whether he is innocent or guilty of Swadeshi, whether he is innocent or guilty of patriotism, whether he is innocent or guilty of Nationalism. For this reason no disgrace attaches to conviction,   

 

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rather it is the passport to fame, honour and public esteem. The prosecution is a farce, the defence is a farce, and the judgment is the most exquisite farce of all. The bureaucracy go through the farce because they cling to the shadow of moral prestige even when the substance of it is gone: they like to adopt Russian methods, but they do not like them to be called Russian and still hug the delusion that by going through the legal forms of which Justice makes use they can cover the nakedness of their tyranny with the rags of law. The accused go through the farce with the sole object of so managing the defence as to dispel even the last shadow of the old moral prestige and to expose the nakedness of bureaucratic oppression more and more. It is a political fight with the law-courts for its scene.

In no recent political case except Rawalpindi has the veil of law been so ridiculously thin as in the Khulna case. Partly, no doubt, this is due to the personal gifts of the prosecuting Magistrate who decided the case. Mr. Asanuddin Ahmed is a very distinguished man. The greatest and most successful achievement of his life was to be a fellow-collegian of Lord Curzon. But he has other sufficiently respectable if less gorgeous claims to distinction. Arithmetic, logic, English and Law are his chief fortes. His mastery over figures is so great that arithmetic is his slave and not his master; it is even said that he can assess a man at Rs. 90 one day and bring him down 200 per cent in estimation the other. It is whispered that it was not only for a masterly general incompetence but also for this special gift that he was transferred to Khulna. His triumphant dealings with logic were admirably exampled by the original syllogism which he presented to the startled organisers of the District Conference. "I, Asanuddin, am the District Magistrate; the District Magistrate is the representative of the district; ergo, I, Asanuddin, am the one and only representative of the district. Now only a representative of the district has a right to hold a District Conference or to do anything in the name of the district, or to use any expression in which the word district occurs; I, Asanuddin, am the sole and only representative of the district; ergo, I, Asanuddin, have the sole and only right to call a District Conference." Mr. Ahmed's   

 

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English is the delight of the judges of the High Court, who are believed to spend sleepless nights in trying to make out the meaning of his judgments. In one case at least, it is said, a distinguished judge had to confess with sorrow and humiliation that he could make nothing of the English of the learned Magistrate and after reading the judgment in the present case we can well believe the story. As for his knowledge of law, the best praise we can give it is that it is on a level with his knowledge of, say, English. Such was the brilliant creature who appointed himself prosecutor, jury and judge in the Khulna sedition case.

Under such auspices the conduct of the case was sure to be distinguished by a peculiarly effulgent brilliancy. In order to prove that Venibhushan Rai talked sedition it was thought necessary to prove how many volunteers were present at the Conference. This is a fair example of the kind of evidence on which the case was decided and which the great Asanuddin declared to be particularly relevant. Beyond evidence of this stamp there was no proof against the accused except the evidence of police officers unsupported by any verbatim report, while on the other side were the statements of the respectable pleaders, the verbatim copy of the speech and a whole mass of unshaken testimony. But our one and only Asanuddin declared that the evidence of respectable men was not to be believed because they were respectable and graduates of the Calcutta University and partakers in the Conference; the police apparently were the only disinterested and truthful people in Khulna. But the most remarkable dictum of this remarkable man was that when one is charged with sedition it is not necessary to prove the use of any particular seditious utterances; it is quite enough for the Magistrate to come to the conclusion that something untoward might, could or should have happened as the result of the accused having made a speech. In fact, it is hardly necessary under the section as interpreted by Daniels of this kind, to prove anything against the accused; the only thing necessary is that the Magistrate should think it better for convenience official or unofficial that he should be bound over. The section answers the same purpose in minor cases which the regulation of 1818

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answers in the case of more powerful opponents of irresponsible despotism.

The Khulna case has been from the point of view of Justice an undress rehearsal of the usual bureaucratic comedy; from the point of view of Mr. Asanuddin Ahmed it has been a brilliant exhibition of his superhuman power of acting folly and talking nonsense; from the point of view of Srijut Venibhushan Rai it has been a triumph greater than any legal victory, a public certificate of patriotism, courage and sincerity, an accolade of knighthood and nobility in the service of the motherland.

__________

 

A Noble Example

 

The proprietors of the Ahmedabad Fine Mills have been doing substantial work not only for the industrial progress of the country but for Indian unity. At the First Industrial Conference held at Benares in December, 1905, Dewan Bahadur Ambalal Sakerlal Desai promised on behalf of this firm that they would undertake to train Indian students in the art of weaving free of charge in their mill. Since then no less than thirty students have started for Ahmedabad and are there receiving instruction, some in weaving and some in spinning and Mechanical Engineering. Another leading mill in the country offered to teach weaving through a six months' course for a fee of no less than one thousand rupees; the Ahmedabad Mill has undertaken it as a labour of love. The students will be taken through a three years' course, and if any of them wants to be specially trained as an expert he will have to stay on for a longer period. The proprietors are willing to take a fresh batch of students, but as they want to make sure that the students trained by them should not suffer from lack of employment and as no fresh mills are being started in Bengal, they have for the present stopped taking in fresh students. The capitalists of Bengal should take note of this and now that there will be no lack of trained experts should see that their expert knowledge is not wasted simply because there are no enterprising capitalists to utilise them. The whole country, and   

 

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specially Bengal, owes a deep debt of gratitude to the authorities of the Ahmedabad Fine Mills, and most of all to the weaving master, Mr. Keshub Lall Mansukram Mehta, not only for their generous and patriotic work, but also for the almost paternal care they are bestowing on the young men placed under their charge.

We remember in this connection that Mr. Giridhari Lal, Government Pleader, Delhi, also promised at the same Conference that he would undertake to make provision for teaching the art of spinning free of charge to Indian students in a certain cotton mill. We have not heard if this offer also has been taken advantage of, like the above, by intending students, and should be glad to have further information on the subject.   

 

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