{"id":2685,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2685"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:13","slug":"77-bande-mataram-15-5-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/77-bande-mataram-15-5-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-77_Bande Mataram 15-5-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBande Mataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, May 15th, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n
\nHow to Meet the Ordinance
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhen we come to look at it closely, the new policy of the British Government in India is a real blessing to the country. We find
\nourselves in unexpected agreement with the Anglo-Indian Press in this matter. The Anglo-Indian Press is full of joy at these
\ndepartures from pre-established policy and assevers in one chorus though in many keys,
\nekam bahudha<\/i>, that it is the very best
\nthing the bureaucracy could have done in the interests of its own continued supremacy. We will not question their authority in a
\nmatter in which they alone are interested, but we can certainly add that it is the very best thing the bureaucracy could have
\ndone in the interests of the country. Lord Minto ought therefore to be a very happy man, for it is not everyone whose actions are
\nso blessed by Fate as to command equal approbation from the Englishman <\/i>and the
\nBande Mataram.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur reasons for this approval are obvious on the face of it. The great strength of British despotism previous to Lord Curzon’s regime was its indirectness. By a singularly happy policy it was able to produce on the subject nations the worst moral
\nand material results of serfdom, while at the same time it never allowed them to realise that they were serfs, but rather fostered
\nin them the delusion that they were admirably governed on the whole by an enlightened and philanthropic people. We pointed
\nout the other day that the relics of this superstition still lingered even in the minds of many thoroughgoing Nationalists of the
\nnew school. We did not indeed believe that the bureaucratic Government was a good government or the British people guided in
\ntheir politics by enlightenment and philanthropy, but many of us believed that there were certain excesses of despotism of which
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 409<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tthey were not capable and that the worst British administration
\nwould not easily betray overt signs of moral kinship with its Russian cousin. We ourselves, although we were prepared for
\nthe worst and always took care to warn the people that the worst might soon come, thought sometimes that there was a
\nfair balance of probabilities for and against frank downward Russianism. For such last relics of the old superstitions, for such
\nover-charitable speculation there is no longer any room. The whole country owes a debt of gratitude to Sirdar Ajit Singh and
\nthe Bharat Mata section of the Punjab Nationalists for forcing the hands of the bureaucracy and compelling them to change
\ndefinitely indirect for direct methods of despotism. It has cleared the air, it has dispelled delusions; it has forced us to look without
\nblinking into the face of an iron Necessity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\tThe question may then be asked, what farther room is there
\nfor passive resistance? A Punjab politician is said to have observed, after the arrests of Lala Hansraj and his friends and the
\nfirst development of violent insanity in the Punjab authorities, “I do not see why the people should go on any longer with open
\nagitation.” But, in our opinion, there is still room for passive resistance, if for nothing else than to force the bureaucracy to
\nlay all its cards face upward on the table; the oppression must either be broken or increased so that the iron may enter deeper
\ninto the soul of the nation. There is still work and work enough for the martyr, before the hero appears on the scene. Take for
\ninstance the Coercion Ukase, the new ordinance to restrict the right of public meeting at the sweet will of the executive. It
\nis obvious that the matter cannot be allowed to rest where it is. We would suggest to the leaders that the right policy to
\nbegin with is to ignore the existence of the Ordinance. So far as we understand, the Lieutenant-Governor of Shillong has been
\nempowered to proclaim any area in his jurisdiction, but as yet no area has been proclaimed. This is therefore the proper time
\nfor the leaders to go to East Bengal and hold meetings in every District; and those who go, should not be any lesser men but the
\nleaders of the two parties in Bengal themselves. We are inclined to think it was a mistake to recall Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal
\n   <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 410<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tfrom Madras at this juncture; but since he has been recalled, it
\nshould be for a joint action in East Bengal against the policy of repression. If the bureaucracy lie low, well and good; it will be
\na moral victory for the people. But the moment any particular area is proclaimed, the leaders should immediately go there and
\nhold the prohibited meetings as a challenge to the validity of the ukase, refusing to disperse except on the application of force by
\nthe police or the military. The bureaucracy will then have the choice either of allowing the Ordinance to remain a dead letter or
\nof imprisoning or deporting men the prosecution of whom will so inflame the people all over India as to make administration
\nimpossible or of breaking up meetings by force. If they adopt the third alternative, the leaders should then go from place to place
\nand house to house, like political Shankaracharyas, gathering the people together in groups in private houses and compounds
\nand speaking to them in their gates, advising them, organising them. In this way the fire of Nationalism will enter into every
\nnook and cranny of the country and a strength be created far greater than any which monster meetings can engender. How
\nwill the bureaucracy meet such a method of propagandism? Will they forbid us to congregate in our own compounds? Will
\ntheir police enter our houses and force us to shut our gates to the guest and the visitor? Whatever they do, the country will gain.
\nEvery fresh object-lesson in bureaucratic methods will be a fresh impulse to the determination to achieve Swaraj and get rid of
\nthe curse of subjection. All that is needed to meet the situation, all that we demand of our leaders is a quiet, self-possessed,
\nunflinching courage which neither the fear of imprisonment, nor the menace of deportation, nor the ulterior possibility of
\nworse than deportation can for a moment disturb.   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 411<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, May 15th, 1907 }   How to Meet the Ordinance   When we come to look at it closely, the new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-07-bande-mataram","wpcat-54-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685","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=2685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}