{"id":1114,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:37","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:37","slug":"63-facts-and-opinions-8-1-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/02-karmayogin-volume-02\/63-facts-and-opinions-8-1-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-63_Facts and Opinions 8-1-1910.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

Facts and Opinions<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Volume I – Jan.
\n8, 1910 – Number 27<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir
\n Edward Baker’s Admissions<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nOf all the present rulers of India Sir Edward Baker is the only one
\nwho really puts any value on public opinion. He has committed indiscretions of
\na startling character, he has loyally carried out a policy with which he can
\nhave no heartfelt sympathy, but his anxiety to conciliate public opinion even
\nunder these adverse circumstances betrays the uneasiness of a man who knows the
\nforce of that power even in a subject country and feels that the ruling class
\nare not going the best way to carry that opinion with them. While all the other
\nprovincial Governors have confined their inaugural speeches to the most empty
\nplatitudes, he alone has sought to speak as a man would who feels the difficulties
\nof a perplexing situation. But we do not think he has helped the Government by
\nhis speech. It is in fact a series of damaging admissions. He admits that the
\nexclusion of the Calcutta men by the restrictions attending Municipal election
\nis deliberate, and he cannot be ignorant that this means the exclusion of the
\nleading brains and the most influential personalities in the country. He admits
\nthat the Government have taken care to preclude the chance of being face to
\nface with a numerically strong and robust opposition in the Council. If so, the
\nCouncils are not a mirror of the political forces in the country, not a free
\npopular assembly, but a carefully limited council of notables friendly to the
\nexisting state of things. Whether the Government are to blame or not for
\nguarding their interests by this manipulation of electorates, is quite another
\nquestion. All we say is that they have so guarded themselves and, as a result,
\nthese Councils may be the kind of advisory body the Government want, they are
\nnot the popular assemblies, mirrors of public opinion and instruments of rapid
\npolitical development, which the people want. Sir Edward Baker says that no
\nGovernment can be expected to run the risk of putting itself into a permanent<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 341<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

minority,
\n\u2014 such a state of things cannot be allowed for a day. We quite agree. That is
\nwhat we have been telling the people for a very long time. Unfortunately, very
\ndifferent hopes and expectations were raised in the minds of Moderate
\npoliticians and communicated by them to the people at large. If the eulogies of
\nthe Reform Scheme and the benevolent intentions of Government had been couched
\nin less glowing language, with less of misleading fervour, the present
\ndisappointment, irritation and revolt would have been avoided. It is much the
\nbest thing for a Government circumstanced like ours to be quite frank and say
\nfrom the beginning, "This much we mean to give;
\nfarther you must not expect us to go."<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n Calcutta
\n and Mofussil<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The point which
\nSir Edward Baker, in common with all Anglo-Indian publicists, makes of the
\ndistinction between Calcutta and the Mofussil, is quite justifiable if the
\nCouncils are to be only a superior edition of the local Municipalities out of
\nall relation with the political actualities of the country. It is an
\nindisputable fact that a great deal of the best in the life of Bengal
\ngravitates towards the capital and the Partition of Bengal has made no
\ndifference in this powerful tendency. Calcutta is to Bengal what Paris is to
\nFrance. It is from Calcutta that Bengal takes its opinions, its inspirations,
\nits leaders, its tone, its programme of action. One very important reason for
\nthis almost inalienable leadership is the greater independence which men enjoy
\nin Calcutta, another is the higher organisation of life, resources, activity in
\nthis great centre of humanly. So long as
\nthese causes exist, the supremacy of Calcutta will remain. The object of the
\nelectoral rules is to destroy the supremacy of the Calcutta men, whose
\nindependence and freedom of speech and action are distasteful to the instincts
\nof the dominant bureaucrat. The attempt to decentralise the political life of
\nBengal is not new. In the earlier days of the new movement the Nationalist
\nleaders made strenuous appeals to [the Mofussil centres to] liberate themselves
\nfrom Calcutta domination and become equal partners in a better<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 342<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

organised
\nprovincial activity. They thought it possible then because, in the first surge
\nof the movement, the Mofussil centres in
\nEast Bengal had developed a young political vitality and independence far in
\nexcess of the old vitality and independence of Calcutta. But even in these favourable circumstances it was found that, though the districts far outran the
\ncapital in the swiftness and thoroughness of their activity, they always waited
\nfor an intellectual initiative and sanction from the leaders in Calcutta. Barisal under Sj. Aswini Kumar Dutta was the exception. What the people
\nthemselves could not accomplish under the most favourable circumstances, the
\nGovernment is not likely to effect merely by excluding the Calcutta leaders
\nfrom the Council. The very conditions of the problem forbid it. They can only
\ndisturb the present equilibrium by making political life in the Mofussil as
\nfree and well-organised as the life of Calcutta. By their own action they have
\ndestroyed such freedom and organisation as had been created. Nor can they make
\ntheir Councils the instrument of so vital a change unless they also make them
\nthe centre of the political life of Bengal. This they can only do by a large
\nliterate electorate, free elections and effectiveness of the popular vote. But,
\nat present, that is not what the bureaucrats desire. They do not desire a free
\nand vigorous political life evenly distributed throughout the country, \u2014 that
\nis the Nationalist ideal. They desire to foster a faint political life confined
\nto the dignified and subservient elements in the country while killing the
\nindependent popular life, which finds its centre in this city, by an official boycott.
\nThey forget that artificial means are helpless against natural forces.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n The
\n Non-Official Majority<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sir Edward
\ncomplains strongly of the attribution of motives to the Government in the
\nmatter of the non-official majority. He argues in effect that the non-official
\nmajority cannot be described as unreal or a sham merely because the electorates
\nare so arranged as to return a majority of men favourable to Government. The
\nmajority is a non-official majority, but it is not a popu-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 343<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

lar majority. Sir Edward answers
\nthat it was never intended to be a popular majority. It was meant only to
\nrepresent the "honest" public opinion which is capable in most things
\nof seeing eye to eye with the Government; all the rest of public opinion is not
\nhonest and therefore unfit for representation. A most delightful specimen of
\nbureaucratic logic ! The plain question
\nrising above all sophisms is this, is the Government aware or is it not that
\nthe great body of educated opinion in India demand a change in the system of
\nGovernment involving popular control in the administration, a change which
\nLord Morley, with all Anglo-India to echo
\nhim, has declared impossible ? If the
\nGovernment doubts it, dare they take a plebiscite of literate opinion on the
\nquestion ? They dare not, because they know
\nwhat the result will be. Is not this knowledge the reason for so manipulating
\nthe electorates that they shall mainly represent special interests easily
\ninfluenced by the Government and not the mass of the literate population ? We do
\nnot charge the Government with a breach of faith or a departure from their
\noriginal promises. We do say that the Reforms are purely a diplomatic move to
\nstrengthen the Government and weaken the popular interest. Sir Edward stigmatises the popular sentiment which sees an opposition of interest all
\nalong the line between the bureaucracy and the people, as dishonest and unfit
\nfor self-government. What of the very fundamental opposition of interest we
\nhave pointed out ? It is easy to fling
\nepithets; it is not so easy to disprove facts. We do not wish to be unfair to
\nanyone and we acknowledge that Sir Edward Baker has shown a liberality of
\npurpose far superior to that of any other provincial ruler. If there were a
\nchance of any of the Councils being a genuine popular assembly. Sir Edward’s creation would have the best
\nchance. But it is not that and cannot be. If he is satisfied with its present
\ncomposition, his admiration is not shared by the people of this country. He says
\nin effect that it is quite as dignified as any previous Council. We agree, even
\nmore so. But it is not dignity to which popular sentiment is advancing, it is
\ndemocracy. If the Councils do not provide a channel for the advance of that
\nsentiment, it will seek other means of self-accomplishment.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

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\n
\n


\n\t
\n Sir
\n Louis Dane on Terrorism<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The amazing
\nlecture given by the Satrap of the Punjab to the Maharaja of Darbhanga and the other gentlemen who were
\nill-advised enough to approach him with their expressions of loyalty and of
\nabhorrence at the Nasik murder, is a sample
\nof the kind of thing Moderate politicians may expect when they approach the
\nbureaucracy with their "co-operation". What it is precisely that the
\nvarious Satraps want of their long-suffering allies, we cannot conjecture. Some
\nseem to want, like Sir George Clarke, the
\nentire cessation of political agitation, because the political agitator is the
\nspiritual grand-uncle of the political assassin. Others seem to want the entire
\nIndian community to leave their ordinary avocations and turn detectives, in
\norder to supply the deficiencies of that costly police force through which the
\nbureaucracy governs the country. But Sir Louis Dane’s diatribe seems difficult
\nto account for except on the supposition that he is a disciple of Hare Street
\nand believes that the whole population of India, from the Maharaja of Darbhanga
\nto the grocer and the shoemaker, know the personality, intentions, plans and
\nsecret operations of the Terrorists and conceal them from the Government out
\nof innate cussedness or invincible sympathy
\nwith the assassins. It is difficult to have patience with the insensate folly
\nwhich persists in these delusions and, by lumping all political agitation into
\none category, does its best to bring about the calamity which it imagines. The
\nfewer rulers like Sir Louis there are in this country, the better for the
\nnation and the Government; for they are the best allies that
\nTerrorism has.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n The
\n Menace of Deportation<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once more rumours
\nof deportation are rife, proceeding this time from those pillars of authority,
\nthe police. It seems that these gentlemen have bruited it abroad that
\ntwenty-four men prominent and unprominent
\nare within the next six or seven days to be deported from Bengal, and so
\nsuccessfully has the noise of the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 345<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

coming coup d’etat<\/i>
\nbeen circulated that the rumour of it comes to us from a distant corner of Behar. It appears that the name of Sj. Aurobindo Ghose crowns the police list of those who are to
\nbe spirited away to the bureaucratic Bastilles. The offence for which this
\ninclusion is made, is, apparently, that he criticises the Government, by which
\nwe presume it is meant that he publicly opposes the Reforms. It is difficult to
\njudge how much value is to be attached to the rumour, but we presume that at
\nleast a proposal has been made. If we are not mistaken, this will make the
\nthird time that the deportation of the Nationalist leader has been proposed by
\nthe persistence of the police. The third time is supposed to be lucky, and let
\nus hope it will be the last. The Government ought to make up its mind one way
\nor the other, and the country should know, whether they will or will not tolerate
\nopposition within the law; and this will decide it. Meanwhile, why does the
\nthunderbolt linger ? Or is there again a
\nhitch in London ?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 346<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facts and Opinions Volume I – Jan. 8, 1910 – Number 27 Sir Edward Baker’s Admissions   Of all the present rulers of India Sir…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-karmayogin-volume-02","wpcat-23-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}