{"id":1964,"date":"2013-07-13T01:38:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T08:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2013-11-30T00:51:18","modified_gmt":"2013-11-30T08:51:18","slug":"35-private-letters-to-public-figures-1948-1950-vol-36-autobiographical-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/36-autobiographical-notes\/35-private-letters-to-public-figures-1948-1950-vol-36-autobiographical-notes","title":{"rendered":"-35_Private Letters to Public Figures 1948 &#8211; 1950.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"center\">\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\">\n<tr>\n<td><span lang=\"en-gb\"> <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<b><font size=\"4\"><a name=\"Notes_and_Letters_to_the_Editor_of_Mother_India_on_Indian_and_World_Events,_1949_\u0096_1950_\">Notes and Letters <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">to the Editor of <i>Mother India<\/i> <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">on Indian and World Events <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">1949 \u00ad 1950<\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<b><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">On Pakistan<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">I don&#8217;t want Pakistan to endure, made perfectly clear. Division<br \/>\nmust go \u2014 does not mean that division must be allowed to last in some form or other. Continued partition of India into two<br \/>\nFederations one Hindu and one Muslim even if somehow connected together is no part of my idea of the Union of India. <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">March 1949 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><br \/>\n\t\t\t<a name=\"On_the_Commonwealth_and_Secularism__\">On the Commonwealth and Secularism<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIndia can&#8217;t remain in Dominion. It had decided to be a free republic and that can&#8217;t be changed. On that basis it can have<br \/>\nrelations with Commonwealth if it wants.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tSpirituality cannot be affirmed in a political constitution.<br \/>\nYou can add spirituality in a matter of the Spirit and not of constitutional politics. <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">April 1949<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><br \/>\n\t\t\t<a name=\"On_the_Unity_Party__\">On the Unity Party <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">Amal<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Unity Party, Sri Aurobindo says, cannot be said to<br \/>\nrepresent Sri Aurobindo&#8217;s views [nor can it be said]<sup><font size=\"2\">1<\/font><\/sup> that<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;its political programme is backed up by him. But perhaps without<br \/>\ncommitting yourself you can say there is a Party, especially in Bengal, which is working for Indian Unity<br \/>\n\u2014 apart from the <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">1 <i>MS (dictated) <\/i>or &nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>514<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nwell-known Forward Block which has the same end in view though working on a different line. <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n25.4.1949 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<b><a name=\"On_French_India_and_on_Pakistan__\">On French India and on Pakistan<br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0;margin-left:300pt\"> June 27 1949 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nAmal, <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tI sent you a telegram asking you to withhold the spokesman&#8217;s statement.<sup><font size=\"2\">2<\/font><\/sup> It was not to be republished. The statement<br \/>\ndoes not adequately represent Sri Aurobindo&#8217;s views. It overstresses one point and leaves out others which are as important,<br \/>\nbut I see that you have already featured it in Mother India. Anyway Sri Aurobindo doesn&#8217;t want anything further to be<br \/>\nwritten about his view on the French India question; what is done is done but in future he wishes to remain silent unless an<br \/>\nimperative need arises for a statement. Just now Sri Aurobindo does not want strong attacks to be made on the policy of the<br \/>\nCongress Government as by their action they have removed many of the difficulties of the Asram and all that it needs for<br \/>\nits institutions are coming in freely as a result of special orders given by the Madras Government so he does not want<br \/>\nto figure as their enemy or opponent. Certain things in their attitude may seem doubtful but he does not want them too<br \/>\nmuch stressed at present unless it becomes very necessary to do so. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tAbout your Franco-India article, the main objection is that Mother does not want herself to be represented in that way<br \/>\n(or in any way) and she objects to figuring in any special way as a representative of France or French culture. The article is<br \/>\ninopportune at this moment. It contains many statements that would have to be modified or not put forward at all. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tAs for the contravention article Sri Aurobindo thought that<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">2 <i>This letter, dictated by Sri Aurobindo, was sent over the signature of Nolini Kanta<\/i><br \/>\n<i>Gupta. The &#8220;spokesman&#8217;s statement&#8221; was an interview that Nolini gave to a press<\/i><br \/>\n<i>agency on 14 June that was published in <\/i>Mother India <i>on 25 June. See Note on the<\/i><br \/>\n<i>Texts, pages 604 \u00ad 5, for details. \u2014 Ed.<\/i> &nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/font> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>515<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>one could wait to see what was the further action or attitude or inaction of the Government and whether what was meant<br \/>\nwas a complete prohibition of any dealing with the Pakistan issue before you determined the paper&#8217;s own attitude towards<br \/>\nall that and any extreme action. That does not mean that you will have to postpone indefinitely any necessary decision. If you<br \/>\nthink it necessary to take advantage of Nehru&#8217;s speech that can be done while avoiding committing ourselves to any conflict for<br \/>\nthe moment. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p><b><a name=\"On_Cardinal_Wyszynski,_Catholicism_and_Communism__\">On Cardinal Wyszynski, Catholicism and Communism<br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>As to your proposed article on [Wyszynski]<sup><font size=\"2\">3<\/font><\/sup>, it seems to me that it is better to drop the subject. It had and has no value except<br \/>\nas a stick with which to beat the Soviets and their allies. The sole question is in that case whether the man was justified in his<br \/>\nstand for liberty even in that restricted area of religious freedom and the freedom especially of the Catholic religion to be itself,<br \/>\nas every religion has a right to be in all civilised countries and whether it was worth while fighting out that question when the<br \/>\nreal question is how to get rid, if now it is at all possible, of the Bolshevik monstrosity and the tyranny with which it threatens<br \/>\nthe world. That can&#8217;t be done by subtly philosophical and even metaphysical articles balancing the rights and wrongs on each<br \/>\nside and the relative wickedness of the Soviets and the Western nations. Many readers might even take it as a justification or at<br \/>\nleast a partial condemnation of the prosecuting Government and the martyrdom it has chosen to inflict on the rebellious Cardinal.<br \/>\nAnd what is the pertinence of the past history of the Roman Catholic Church, especially at a time when we have one of the<br \/>\nmost liberal minded Popes or even the most liberal minded Pope in Roman Catholic history? Even if it is only a fight between the<br \/>\nHoly See of Rome and the unholy See of the Kremlin the fight is between one centre of religious intolerance and another centre<br \/>\nof a still more damnable and intolerant religion, \u2014 for that is<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">3 <i>MS (dictated)<br \/>\n<\/i>Midsentzy<br \/>\n &nbsp; <\/font> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>516<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nwhat Bolshevism is, \u2014 still why give any latitude to what is by far the worse of the two? <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n3 August 1949 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<b><a name=\"On_the_Kashmir_Problem__\">On the Kashmir Problem<br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nNow let us come to your article. All you have written up to the X mark against the beginning of a para is very good and needed<br \/>\nto be said; but after that there are certain things to which I have to take objection. For instance, why suggest a slur on the whole<br \/>\nMohammedan population of Kashmir by speaking of &#8220;fanatic spell of the name of Allah&#8221;? This cannot apply to the Kashmiris<br \/>\nwho follow Abdullah and who are in a large majority, they are for his idea of a secular state. The others in Gilgit and elsewhere<br \/>\nare not actuated by religious fanaticism but by political motives. The rest of the sentence should be modified accordingly; the people in the districts who have been rescued from the grip of the rebels have shown strong gratitude for their release and it would<br \/>\nbe quite impolitic to ignore by such doubts the sincerity of this gratitude. I am not enamoured of your idea of an understanding<br \/>\nbetween Pakistan and India, it is not likely that the Pakistan Government will consent to any understanding except one which<br \/>\nwill help to perpetuate the partition and be to their advantage. It would be most dangerous to forget Jinnah&#8217;s motive and policy<br \/>\nin establishing Pakistan which is still the motive and policy of the Pakistan leaders,<br \/>\n\u2014 although it would not be politic to say<br \/>\nanything about it just now. If you keep what you have written it should be with the proviso, if there is a change of heart and<br \/>\nif Pakistan becomes willing to effect some kind of junction with India or some overtopping Council of cooperation between the<br \/>\ntwo federations. But the most amazing thing is your disastrous suggestion of a coalition Government between the loyalists and<br \/>\nthe rebels in Kashmir. That would give a position and influence and control over all the affairs of the State to the supporters of<br \/>\nPakistan which they can never hope to have under the present circumstances. They would be able to appoint their own men<br \/>\nin the administration, use intimidation and trickery in order to press people to vote against their will and generally falsify<br \/>\n &nbsp; <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>517<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>the plebiscite, and they certainly would not hesitate to do all that they could for that end. It might very well knock all the<br \/>\ngood cards out of Abdullah&#8217;s hands and smash up his present predominant chances of a favourable issue of the plebiscite. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tThere is a passage in your article containing a trenchant suggestion which has puzzled me. You seem to say that India<br \/>\nhas been beaten on the military ground in Kashmir and there is no hope of her keeping it or clearing out the invaders; her last<br \/>\nchance is the plebiscite and that is the reason why she is insisting on the plebiscite. Is that at all true? It would mean that Indian<br \/>\nmilitary strength is unable to cope with that of Pakistan and then, if she cannot cope with it in Kashmir in spite of her initial<br \/>\nadvantage, can she do it anywhere? If she gives up Kashmir because of her military weakness that encourages Pakistan to<br \/>\ncarry through Jinnah&#8217;s plan with regard to the establishment of Muslim rule in Northern India and they will try it out. I don&#8217;t<br \/>\nthink this is really the case. It was for political motives, I take it, and not from a consciousness of military weakness that India did<br \/>\nnot push her initial advantage, and she insisted on the plebiscite, not because it was her last or only chance but because it gave<br \/>\nher the best chance. In a plebiscite on the single and straight issue of joining either Pakistan or India she was and is quite<br \/>\nconfident of an overwhelming majority in her favour. Moreover, she does not cling to the plebiscite from motives of ideological<br \/>\npurity and will even refuse it if it is to be held on any conditions other than those she has herself clearly and insistently laid down.<br \/>\nShe is quite prepared to withdraw the case from the cognizance of the U.N.O and retain Kashmir by her own means and even,<br \/>\nif necessary, by fight to the finish, if that is unavoidable. That Patel has made quite clear and uncompromisingly positive and<br \/>\nNehru has not been less positive. Both of them are determined to resist to the bitter end any attempt to force a solution which<br \/>\nis not consistent with the democratic will of the Kashmir people and their right of self-determination of their own destiny. At the<br \/>\nsame time they are trying to avoid a clash if it is at all possible.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tOne thing which both Abdullah and the India Government<br \/>\nwant to avoid and have decided to resist by all possible means &nbsp; <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>518<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nis a partition of Kashmir, especially with Gilgit and Northern Kashmir going to Pakistan. This is the greatest danger but the<br \/>\ndetails and the reasons for the possibility of its materialising, though they are plain enough, have to be kept confidential or, at<br \/>\nany rate, not to be discussed in public. But if you take account of it, it will be easier to understand the situation and the whole<br \/>\npolicy of the India Government. That at least is the stand taken by them and the spirit of the terms they have laid down for the<br \/>\nconditions of the plebiscite. These conditions have been just at this moment published in the newspapers and the whole course<br \/>\nof negotiations with the U.N.O. Kashmir Commission has been laid bare in a public statement. Practically, the Commission<br \/>\nrepresentative has conceded on its part almost all the essential demands and conditions laid down by Nehru. All, however,<br \/>\nremains fluid until and unless the Security Council acquiesces in the arrangements proposed by their own Commission or else<br \/>\ntake a different decision and until the plebiscite Administrator is appointed and makes the final arrangements. What will finally<br \/>\ntranspire from all this lies as the Greeks used to say on the knees <i>\u00af<\/i><br \/>\nof the Gods, <i>theon en gounasi keitai<\/i>. It lies also with the reactions of the Pakistan leaders which are more easily calculable,<br \/>\nbut may not show themselves until a possibly much later date.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tIn any case, it seems to me that our only course is to support<br \/>\nthe India Government in the stand they are taking in regard to Kashmir and the terms and conditions they have made, so long<br \/>\nas they do not weaken and deviate from their position. Nothing should be said which would discourage the public mind or call<br \/>\naway the support which the Government needs in maintaining the right course. What I have written on Kashmir is only my<br \/>\npersonal view at present based on the information I have and must be kept quite private. But it may perhaps be of some help to<br \/>\nyou in determining what you may say or not say about Kashmir.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tSince the above was written there has appeared Pakistan&#8217;s interpretation of the Commission&#8217;s arrangement for the plebiscite. It looks as if Lozano had made his statements<br \/>\nas smooth as possible to either party so that they got very different impressions of what was meant to be done. However<br \/>\n &nbsp; <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>519<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>there is only one important point and that is about the Azad armies. If these are allowed to remain in arms in the places they<br \/>\nnow occupy the plebiscite will become a farce. But the India authorities seem to have received a definite promise from Lozano<br \/>\nthat it will be otherwise. We shall have to wait and see what will be the definite arrangements and how the Commission will<br \/>\nget out of this imbroglio. But Pakistan in this matter is showing a mentality that makes one wonder whether it is worth while<br \/>\nyour suggesting the possibility of an amicable rapprochement between the two parts of partitioned India such as you have<br \/>\ngone out of your way to elaborate in your article. <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>c. September 1949 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p><b><a name=\"On_New_Year_Thoughts__\">On &#8220;New Year Thoughts&#8221; <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>Some of the statements in your article<sup><font size=\"2\">4<\/font><\/sup> do not seem to me quite<br \/>\nconvincing, as for instance, the suggestion that one cannot be highly ethical or exaltedly ethical without being religious or<br \/>\nhighly religious or even a mystic without knowing it. The article is tremendously manysided and some readers might find it difficult to fit all the sides together; but I put this remark forward as an observation and not as an objection. Manysidedness is a<br \/>\nmerit and cannot be regarded as objectionable. Finally I want my &#8220;face&#8221; in the last sentence to be left out of the picture. I feel its<br \/>\nappearance as an unexpected intrusion there; it had better retire into privacy. As for Nehru, I suppose the fling at him cannot be<br \/>\nregarded as offensive, but I would rather like it, for reasons of my own, if there came upon you a temporary amnesia about his<br \/>\nexistence. <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>1 January 1950 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p><b><a name=\"Rishis_as_Leaders__\">Rishis as Leaders <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>The article can go as the editorial as you propose and the other<br \/>\narrangements are all right. But I must insist that the last words<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">4 <i>&#8220;New Year Thoughts on Pacifism&#8221;, by K. D. Sethna. This article was published in<\/i><br \/>\nMother India <i>on 7 January 1951. The printed version incorporated changes suggested<\/i><br \/>\n<i>by Sri Aurobindo in this letter. \u2014 Ed.<\/i><br \/>\n<\/font><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<span lang=\"en-gb\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>520<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>\t\t\t<span lang=\"en-gb\"> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&#8220;till we put ourselves in the care of some Rishis among leaders&#8221;<br \/>\nshall go out. I do not know of course who may be acclaimed as the Rishi in question,<br \/>\n\u2014 the only one with a recognised claim to<br \/>\nthe title is not likely to be called from Tiruvannamalai to Delhi and would certainly refuse his consent to the transfer. But it is<br \/>\nevident that the eyes of your readers will turn at once towards Pondicherry and consider that it is a claim for my appointment<br \/>\neither to the place filled so worthily by C. R. or the kindred place admirably occupied by Nehru. I am a candidate for neither office<br \/>\nand any suggestion of my promotion to these high offices should be left to other announcers and the last place in which it should<br \/>\noccur is Mother India. So out with the &#8220;Rishi&#8221;. You may say if you like &#8220;till the eyes of India&#8217;s leaders see more clearly and we<br \/>\ncan take our place at your side&#8221; or any other equally innocent phrase. <\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nJanuary 1950 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<b><a name=\"On_Military_Action__\">On Military Action<br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nAmal,<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo&#8217;s information is that the India Government<br \/>\ncannot be justly taxed with unwillingness to take even the strongest action demanded by the situation. But there are difficulties in the way hinging on the [attitude]<sup><font size=\"2\">5<\/font><\/sup> of the U.N.O. and the possibility of taking action which could from the military<br \/>\npoint of view disable a successful prosecution of the necessary action involved in the step we want them to take. Certain means<br \/>\nare necessary for military success and we can have them only from America. So it is better not to write in haste or to get the<br \/>\nfacts of the situation and base what you write upon that. This does not mean that the action has not to be taken but that it<br \/>\ncannot be lightly done; if by a little delay and some secrecy and caution the difficulty can be overcome or avoided, that may be<br \/>\nnecessary however unpalatable. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">6.3.50 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">5 <i>MS (dictated) <\/i>altitude &nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/font> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>521<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p><b><a name=\"The_Nehru-Liaquat_Pact_and_After__\">The Nehru-Liaquat Pact and After<br \/>\n<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>Amal <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tI am writing to explain the indications I had given of my view that a change has taken place in the situation owing to<br \/>\nthe Nehru-Liaquat Pact making the position I took in the letter to Dilip<sup><font size=\"2\">6<\/font><\/sup> no longer quite valid and necessitating a halt for a<br \/>\nreconsideration and decision of policy. I gather from what you have written that you are rather surprised by my view of things<br \/>\nand think that there is no change in the situation; you seem to regard the Pact as a futile affair not likely to succeed or to make<br \/>\nany change in the situation and foredoomed to speedy failure. I would like to know what are the grounds for this view if you<br \/>\nreally hold it. I am quite prepared to learn that the situation is quite different from what it seems to be but that must be based<br \/>\non facts and the facts published in the newspapers or claimed as true by the Congress leaders point in a different direction. There<br \/>\nseems to be something, initially at least, like a radical change in the situation and I have to face it, look at the possible and<br \/>\nprobable consequences and decide what has to be done.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tWhat was the situation when the Dilip letter was written and what is it today? At that time everything had been pushed to a point at which war still seemed inevitable. The<br \/>\ntension between Pakistan and India had grown more and more intolerable in every aspect, the massacres in East Bengal still<br \/>\nseemed to make war inevitable and the India Government had just before Nehru&#8217;s attempt to patch up a compromise made<br \/>\nready to march its army over the East Bengal borders once a few preliminaries had been arranged and war in Kashmir<br \/>\nwould have inevitably followed. America and Britain would not have been able to support Pakistan and, if our information is<br \/>\ncorrect, had already intimated their inability to prevent India Government from taking the only possible course open to it in<br \/>\nface of the massacres. In the circumstances the end of Pakistan would have been the certain consequence of war. The object we <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">6 <i>See the letter of 4 April 1950, published on pages 506 \u00ad 7. \u2014 Ed.<\/i> &nbsp;<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>522<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\nhad in view would have been within sight of achievement.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tNow all this is changed. After the conclusion of the Pact,<br \/>\nafter its acceptance by the Congress Party and the Assembly and its initial success of organisation and implementation, its<br \/>\nacceptance also in both Western and Eastern Pakistan, no outbreak of war can take place at least for some time to come and,<br \/>\nunless the Pact fails, it may not take place. That may mean in certain contingencies the indefinite perpetuation of the existence<br \/>\nof Pakistan and disappearance of the prospect of any unification of India. I regard the Pact as an exceedingly clever move of<br \/>\nLiaquat Ali to fish his &#8220;nation&#8221; out of the desperate situation into which it had run itself and to secure its safe survival. I will<br \/>\nnot go elaborately into the reasons for my view and I am quite prepared for events breaking out which will alter the situation<br \/>\nonce more in an opposite sense. But I had to take things as they are or seem to be, weigh everything and estimate the position and<br \/>\nmake my decisions. I will not say more in this letter, though I may have much to say hereafter: you should be able to understand<br \/>\nfrom what I have written why I have reversed my course. Our central object and the real policy of the paper stands, but what<br \/>\nsteps have to be taken or can be taken in the new circumstances can only be seen in the light of future developments. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\tMeanwhile I await your answer with regard to the question I have put you. Afterwards I shall write again especially about<br \/>\nthe stand to be taken by Mother India. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">3.5.50 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<a name=\"On_the_Communist_Movement__\"><b>On the Communist Movement<\/b><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">September 19, 1950 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">Naturally I am in agreement with the views expressed about Communism in the Manifesto,<sup><font size=\"2\">7<\/font><\/sup> but before associating myself<br \/>\nfully with Masani&#8217;s organisation and his movement I will have to wait and see how it develops in the field of practical politics. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;text-indent: 25pt;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">7 <i>&#8220;Manifesto for the Defence of Democracy and Independence in Asia&#8221;, by Swatantra<\/i><br \/>\n<i>Party leader Minoo Masani. \u2014 Ed.<\/i><br \/>\n &nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/font> <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>523<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n<p>For similar reasons I might expect you as editor of M.I. to wait and see and in that case it would be logical to withhold your<br \/>\nsignature while expressing your sympathy with the movement. Whatever is done must be something strong and effective, a blow<br \/>\nthat can tell; otherwise, the Communist movement has become so powerful that it can feed upon the shocks one tries to give<br \/>\nit as one can see in the tussle that is going on in the UNO. As to Desai&#8217;s objections, it seems to me that if any movement of<br \/>\nthe kind is made it would be worth while to make it as widely representative as possible and in that case the Socialists like Jai<br \/>\nPrakash who distrust and are opposed to Communism would have to be included. There is such a thing as social democracy<br \/>\nwhich need not be confused with Communism as it has its own more manageable standpoints: of course I agree with Desai as<br \/>\nregards our standing on the side of Western democracies. &nbsp; <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page <font face=\"Times New Roman\">\u2013 <\/font>524<\/font><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notes and Letters to the Editor of Mother India on Indian and World Events 1949 \u00ad 1950 On Pakistan &nbsp; I don&#8217;t want Pakistan to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-36-autobiographical-notes","wpcat-42-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964","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=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9635,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions\/9635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}