{"id":2715,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:25","slug":"75-bande-mataram-13-5-07-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\/75-bande-mataram-13-5-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-75_Bande Mataram 13-5-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

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

\n

\n\t
\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, May 13th, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n
\nGovernment by Panic
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nOne does not know precisely how to take the extraordinary accounts of the charges against Lala Lajpat Rai and the panic
\namong Europeans which have been reaching us from the North. We used to think the English deficient in imagination, but the
\nvivid and fluorescent powers of fancy which this panic has revealed, puts all our preconceived ideas to rout. Not only have the
\nGovernment given vent to an outburst of poetical fancy beyond all parallel but they have insisted on staging and enacting their
\ndramatic creation in real life. Sir Denzil Ibbetson reminds us of that great aesthetic realist, Nero, who made slaves and prisoners enact the parts of classic tragedy and had them actually stabbed or crucified or torn by real wild beasts to embody his
\nmimic imaginations. Sir Denzil has conceived a splendid melodramatic tragedy called
\nThe Rebellion Forestalled <\/i>or British<\/i>
\nEmpire Saved <\/i>and the Punjab Bar have been obliged to play the leading parts. The conception is admirable. An inoffensive
\npleader sitting among his briefs, to all appearance harmless, unmilitary, civilian, but in reality a masked Tamerlane, Napoleon
\nor Shivaji, full of dark and tremendous schemes; a disarmed and helpless mob of workmen and peasants who are really a dangerous, well-equipped and well-organised army of a hundred thousand Jats capable of overthrowing the British Empire; a
\nwidespread and diabolically complex plot on the bursting point, Lahore Fort to be seized and, we presume, Lajpat to be crowned
\nthe first Punjabi Emperor of India,\u2014 when suddenly, lo and behold! the glorified and splendiferous figure of Sir Denzil Ibbetson appears, hurling lightnings and clothed in majesty, catches up the arch-conspirator in his mighty hand and a motor-car
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 400<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ntosses him over the continent to Rangoon or the Andamans,
\nenvelops the rebel province in a cloud of cavalry and siege-guns and the British Empire\u2014 and incidentally Lahore Fort\u2014 is saved. A most admirably dramatic denouement! And to add the right Shakespearian touch of grotesque humour, we are told
\nthat this phantom army foreshadows its attack by throwing stones at the gate of Lahore Fort, whose feelings must have been
\ndeeply hurt by such contumelious behaviour\u2014 either as a sort of chivalrous warning to the garrison or as a symbolic rehearsal
\nof the intended storm! <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAre these the imaginations of sane men, or the diseased
\nand distorted phantasmagoria which presents itself to bemused intellects in a Chinese opium-den? If it had been a little more
\nplausible, we might have thought it a Machiavellian invention of Anglo-Indian statesmen to justify their instituting a Russian
\npolicy of repression. But a lawyer militarist leading an army of Indian peasants, Lahore Fort to be stormed by an unarmed
\nmob with their fists\u2014 or with stones, the British Empire to be overthrown by this extraordinary army\u2014 the whole is a wild
\nnightmare of panic-stricken brains. We are told that the Europeans were so panic-stricken, many of them passed the night
\non the railway platform, ready for flight. The Civil and Military<\/i> Gazette
\n<\/i>also solemnly affirms that Lajpat Rai was an arch-rebel
\nwith a hundred thousand men under his orders and hints pretty plainly that the prompt action of Sir Denzil Ibbetson saved the
\nBritish from a rebellion. And these are the men who think that they can go on ruling a nation of three hundred millions by mere
\nrepression and the terror of the sword, after the moral bases of their supremacy are gone! The great strong successful despots
\nof the world were not men who started at every shadow and took every bush in the darkness for an enemy. Government by
\npanic has never yet been a success and we doubt whether it will be any more successful in India than elsewhere. But here
\nwe find panic initiating a policy, bewilderment approving of it and alarm sanctioning it. Not only the Punjab Government, not
\nonly the “level-headed” Lord Minto, but even the austere and philosophical Mr. Morley has committed himself to government
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\tby panic. It is for us to take full advantage of the mistakes of
\nour political adversaries. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t__________<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tIn Praise of the Government
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tWe cannot sufficiently admire the vigorous and unselfish efforts of the British Government to turn all India into a nation of Extremists. We had thought that it would take us long and weary years to convert all our countrymen to the Nationalist creed.
\nNothing of the kind. The Government of India is determined that our efforts shall not fail or take too long a time to reach fruition.
\nIt will not suffer us to preach Nationalism to the people, but in its noble haste and zeal is resolved to preserve the monopoly of the
\nNationalist propaganda to itself. “Alone I will do it,” they have evidently said to themselves, even as Louis XVI said to his people
\nwhen he resolved to take the work of reform out of the hands of the States General into his own. The Government of India also
\nhas resolved to take the work of inculcating Nationalism into its own hands. There is no farther need of the inspiring oratory or
\ncompelling logic of a Bipin Chandra, the fine and vigorous lucidity and competent organisation of a Tilak, the attractive charm,
\nself-sacrifice, moral force and steady quiet work of a Lajpat Rai. The Government will brush them aside and take their place. We
\ncannot deny that the methods of the Government far excel our poor efforts. Our methods are long, wordy, weary, and when all
\nis said and done, only half-effective; those of the Government are magnificent, brief, laconic, decisive, triumphantly effective.
\nBy its policy of leaving the Mymensingh Mahomedans for weeks together to inflict the utmost horrors of rapine and brigandage
\non a Hindu population sedulously disarmed and terrorised by official severity, they have convinced the country that the Pax
\n\tBritannica is an illusion and no peace worth having which is not maintained
\n\tby our own strength and manhood. By the deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai they
\n\thave destroyed the belief in British justice. By their Resolution for the
\n\tprohibition of meetings they have convinced everyone that we possess the
\n\tright of free speech<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 402<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tnot as a right, not as a possession, but as a temporary and
\nconditional favour depending for its continuance on despotic caprice. We await with confidence fresh developments of this
\nadmirable Nationalist propaganda.    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 403<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, May 13th, 1907 }   Government by Panic   One does not know precisely how to take the extraordinary accounts of…<\/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-2715","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\/2715","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=2715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}