{"id":2751,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2751"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:37","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:37","slug":"167-bande-mataram-13-12-07-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\/167-bande-mataram-13-12-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-167_Bande Mataram 13-12-07.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, December 13th, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Surat Congress
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhen the All-India Congress Committee first betrayed its charge and degraded itself from the position of a high arbiter and guide
\nin all national affairs to that of a party machine subservient to a single political tactician, we said that there were but two courses
\nopen to us, either to refuse to accept a party trick engineered in defiance of justice, decency and all the common rules of public
\nprocedure and to hold our own Congress at Nagpur, or to go in force to Surat and, if we could not swamp the Congress,
\nat least to show that into whatever farthest nook or corner of India Sir Pherozshah Mehta might fly for refuge, he could
\nnot get rid of the presence of Nationalism, to fling ourselves at once on
\nGujarat and organize Nationalism there, so that the
\nLoyalist’s chosen haven of refuge might become another place of shipwreck. In any case, we said, we must have a Conference
\nof Nationalists this year and organise Nationalism all over the country. We have not concealed our opinion that the session at
\nNagpur would be the preferable course, as being both the most logical and the manliest and involving the least waste of energy
\nnow and in future. But such a course was out of the question unless all could agree upon it, and this was not found possible.
\nEspecially when Mr. Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai, fresh from his exile, were in favour of attending the Surat session, there could
\nbe no further question of our course. It has been decided, then, to attend the Surat Congress in what force we can muster at this
\nshort notice and do our best to hold the ground we have gained, as well as to see that certain questions which were held over last
\nyear are not held over again. A Nationalist Conference has also been arranged by the efforts of the Nationalists at Surat and
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013
\n\t786<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tarrangements will be made for Nationalist delegates, a ticket
\n\tof one rupee being issued to each delegate for the recovery of expenses.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tWe
\n\tcall upon Nationalists in Calcutta and the Mofussil, who are at all desirous
\n\tof the spread of Nationalist principles and Nationalist practice all over
\n\tIndia, to make ready at whatever inconvenience and, if they find it humanly
\n\tpossible, go to Surat to support the Nationalist cause. We are aware of the
\n\ttremendous difficulties in our way. Surat is far-distant, the expenses of
\n\tsuch a journey are almost prohibitive, for only a small percentage of our
\n\tparty are men of means, and the time for preparation is almost nil. And yet
\n\twe must go. What is a Nationalist good for if he cannot make up by his
\n\tenthusiasm and energy for his other deficiencies, if he cannot make nothing
\n\tof difficulties and turn the impossible into the possible? It is to sweep
\n\taway difficulties and to strike the word impossible out of the Indian's
\n\tdictionary that our party has arisen. The leaders of the Deccan call us;
\n\tLala Lajpat Rai, a name now made sacred to us all, is waiting to see the
\n\tfirst fruit of his sufferings in the increase of patriots wedded to the
\n\tprinciples for professing and practising which he has suffered, and the
\n\tpeople of Gujarat are waiting eagerly for our advent. If Bengal goes there
\n\tin force it will, we believe, set flowing such a tide of Nationalism as
\n\tneither bureaucrats nor Bombay Loyalists are prepared to believe possible.
\n\tThe Christmas concessions given by the Railway companies reduce the expense
\n\tto a minimum and for those who travel by the intermediate, Rs. 75 at the
\n\toutside should be enough. For we are going not as holiday sightseers making
\n\ta national occasion an excuse for a Christmas jaunt and we do not demand
\n\tcomfort on the way or luxuries when we arrive. We must go as poor men whose
\n\twealth is our love for our Motherland, as missionaries taking nothing with
\n\tthem but the barest expenses of the way, as pilgrims travelling to our
\n\tMother's temple. We have a great work to do and cannot afford to be
\n\tnegligent and half-hearted. Be sure that this year, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b>, is a turning-point of our destinies
\nand do not imagine that the session of the Surat Congress will be as the sessions of other years. Let us fear to miss by absenting
\n    <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 787<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tourselves the chance of helping to put in one of the keystones
\nof the house we are building for our Mother’s dwelling in the future, the house of her salvation, the house of Swaraj.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tMisrepresentations about Midnapore <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tA correspondent has written to the Bengalee
\n<\/i>denying the truth
\nof certain statements in the Bande Mataram<\/i>‘s account of the Midnapore Conference which the
\nBengalee <\/i>characterises as misrepresentations. We are willing to be corrected in any points of fact where we may have made a mistake, but the correspondent
\nin question is either ill-informed or is ignoring facts.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t(1) He says that the Magistrate was not invited but came to
\nthe meeting apprehending a row. We ask, who gave the Magistrate the information that there was likelihood of a row? Who
\nwrote the letter which the Magistrate declared to be Mr. K. B. Dutt’s and which was in Mr. K. B. Dutt’s handwriting? What was
\nthe object of the letter if not to invite the presence of the Magistrate and the police to overawe Mr. K. B. Dutt’s opponents?
\nIt is possible that none formally invited the officials. Why then were the volunteers informed that the Magistrate was coming
\nand they must give up their lathis? It is entirely untrue that the “rowdiness of a section of the meeting nearly culminated in a
\ndisturbance,” in the sense of a resort to violence. There was plenty of shouting and confusion, but never any likelihood or
\nthe appearance of a likelihood of a resort to violence. The only violence was the assault on a delegate by the Moderates on the
\nsecond day.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t(2) The statement about the bomb-incident, by which is
\napparently meant the attempt by unknown persons to wreck the Lieutenant-Governor’s special seems to have been an afterthought. The incident was not known in Midnapore till Sunday evening and not a word was breathed about it by Mr. K. B.
\nDutt as a reason for putting by the volunteers’ lathis. It is not true that the Captain of Volunteers was sent for by the Magistrate
\nand readily yielded. The Captain was sent to the Magistrate,    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 788<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tdoubtless at the latter’s request, and made to resign because he
\ncould give no assurance about the lathis. Not a single volunteer gave up his lathi, nor was there any prohibition of lathis in the
\nMagistrate’s orders forbidding processions.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t(3) It matters little by what stages the enthronement of the
\nPolice Superintendent was prepared. The fact remains that he was given the central chair on the platform to which only a distinguished guest invited by the Committee or a visitor whom the whole country respects is entitled. It is a fact that the President
\nfrequently turned to confer with him when there was disorder and on at least one occasion made use of his presence to
\nthreaten his opponents, declaring that he would see that law was enforced. All this, it seems, was only common courtesy. It
\nmay be so; we as “rowdies” cannot be expected to understand Moderate courtesy but it seems to us that such courtesy is an
\ninsult to the whole nation.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t(4) Mr. Dutt was certainly understood by many of the delegates to say that those who would not obey him as chairman (before he was elected President) might go out. It is possible that
\nhe may have been misunderstood or has forgotten it, and we do not care to press the point, as its only importance was an
\nincident throwing light on his temper and attitude. As for the correspondent’s nonsense about discretion and valour, we did
\nnot know that it needed so much valour to leave the presence of K. B. Dutt, the Bold. The delegates were restrained by other
\nNationalists from leaving the Pandal and it was certainly discretion to allow another chance to the President designate before
\ntaking the serious step of secession.    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 789<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, December 13th, 1907 } The Surat Congress   When the All-India Congress Committee first betrayed its charge and degraded itself from…<\/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-2751","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\/2751","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=2751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}