{"id":2754,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2754"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:38","slug":"151-bande-mataram-8-10-07-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\/151-bande-mataram-8-10-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-151_Bande Mataram 8-10-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
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\n\tBande Mataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, October 8th, 1907 }
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\n

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\n
\nProtected Hooliganism\u2014 A Parallel
\n<\/b>
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\n <\/p>\n

\nWe do not, as a rule, take excursions into foreign politics or like our special friend, the
\nStatesman<\/i>, fix an abstracted eye on the
\naffairs of Germany and Russia while India is being convulsed with conflict and turmoil, but the struggles of Nationalism in
\nother countries, especially in Asiatic or semi-Asiatic countries, have their interest for us and often present a close and informing
\nparallel. Despotic reaction is always the same in all countries and all ages and uses the same methods. One of these methods is for
\nthe police to use the disorderly and dangerous elements of society in order to put down the better elements whom the repression of
\nnoble aspirations has brought into conflict with the instruments of despotism. In badly-governed countries like Russia, Turkey
\nand India, the line of demarcation is very small between the police and the habitual criminal, the
\nbudmash<\/i>, the hooligan whom
\nit is their nominal duty to repress. The necessity of pampering the police so that they may be the faithful instruments of a small,
\nunpopular and insecure ruling class in coercing and breaking the spirit of the great mass of the people, inevitably removes all
\nmoral restraint, the ever-present sense of duty, the fear of punishment and the abiding consciousness of being servants and not
\nmasters of the people, which can alone prevent such dangerous though necessary powers as those wielded by the police from
\nbecoming a curse instead of a protection to society. The almost universal habit of unpunished extortion and corruption, the free
\nindulgence in insolence and brutality which are the hallmark of a serviceable Indian police, are not peculiar to them, but common
\nto all despotically governed countries. Such a police naturally become the patrons and protectors of the
\nbudmash <\/i>element.
\n   
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\nThey keep it in control and punish individuals so far as suits
\ntheir own purposes, so far, that is to say, as is necessary to keep the hooligan in terror and make him feel that the police
\nis his master but if the hooligan is subservient and willing to pay for impunity, the police will wink at his anti-social pursuits
\nand his particular offences and get the innocent punished the better to screen their
\nprot\u00e9g\u00e9s. These are facts of such common
\nknowledge in India that they hardly repay repetition except in order to drive home a truth it has taken our politicians a long
\ntime to realise,\u2014 that no amount of commissions and paper reforms and new methods of recruitment and readjustments of
\nthe scale of pay will destroy or even mitigate the evil which is constitutional, congenital, ingrained, in the very system of government now obtaining in India and cannot be mended or ended unless that system of government is itself mended or ended. Our
\npresent point, however, is that in countries where such relations obtain between the police and the habitual criminal, the latter
\ncan become a very useful instrument in dealing with political discontent, when the police itself is unable to cope with people,
\nor for political reasons, it is thought advisable to screen partially or wholly their use of violent and illegal means of repression,
\nor even when diplomatic considerations make it necessary that there should be a riot or tumult so that nationalism may be
\ndiscredited or an excuse provided for benevolent intervention or philanthropic annexation or the other devices to which civilized
\ninternational piracy has nowadays recourse. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe most complete examples of this protected hooliganism are, of course, to be found in Russia, but the specimens occasionally produced by the Indian police are, perhaps, of a
\nsuperior make and more artistic finish. A still more remarkable and successful specimen, however has been recently revealed
\nto us in Wilfrid Blunt’s remarkable book on the Secret History of English Occupation of Egypt. We shall have occasion
\nto return upon the curious revelations made in this book as to the sinister and Machiavellian methods by which an
\nAnglo-Indian official trained in the arts of government as practised in India, brought about the great act of piracy on the banks of the
\n    <\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\tNile, the characteristic part played by John Morley, that honest
\nbroker of injustice and oppression, in forcing foreign domination on Egypt, and the many striking lessons which the history
\nof Nationalism in Egypt has for the new-born Nationalism in India. We confine ourselves at present to quoting the pointed
\nremarks of historians in the Indian Review <\/i>for September
\n\ton the revelations of Wilfrid Blunt. Speaking of the riot which was
\nmade an excuse for British intervention he says:\u2014 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t“There, it is clearly brought home to the unbiassed readers’
\nmind how Arabi was innocent of the premeditated Alexandrian riot, how Omar Pasha Lufte was the chief culprit, and how the
\ngendarmerie and the police had deliberately purchased beforehand and distributed a large quantity of naboots or lathis to the
\nlowest class of Arabs and Bedouins. The evidence of unofficial and disinterested eyewitnesses has been also recorded to show
\nthat knives and bayonets which the police had supplied were the instruments by which people were killed. Ten European doctors
\nwho had examined the dead bodies at the hospital averred in their report that all the wounds were inflicted either by the lathis
\nor the knives and the bayonets which were the arms of the police, and yet, strange to say, no proceedings had been taken against
\nthe police who took an active part in the riots, under the direct orders of the police prefect, killing many a Christian.” Mr. Blunt
\nproves how Arabi Pasha was entirely guiltless in the matter, for while the riots raged most furiously there was “the utter absence
\nin the streets of the soldiers of the regular troops,” who alone were under the command of that personage. The evidence of one
\nMr. Hewat, an English accountant, is exceedingly corroborative. He had “no hesitation in saying that instead of suppressing the
\nriot,” this police “did all in its power to increase it and their conduct on the occasion was most barbarous, violent and fanatical.”
\nAnd there is the personal testimony of so eminent a person of commercial reputation as the late Mr. Stephen Ralli of the great
\nhouse of Ralli Brothers. “To show the treachery of the authorities one has only to know the following\u2014 the street disturbance
\nbegan at 3 o’clock, the policeman doing the most of the killing, until past 7 o’clock.” But enough of these gruesome details.
\n   
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\n\tThey remind us of the part the Indian police has taken now and
\nagain in past years in promoting riots, suborning witnesses and perjuring themselves with impunity. The strangest part, however,
\nof this deplorable affair is the persistent manner in which Earl Granville, the foreign minister, under the inspiration of the two
\nmen on the spot, endeavoured by hook or by crook, to fasten on Arabi Pasha the responsibility of the bloodshed caused by
\nthe riot when impartial European witnesses had testified that it was the police and the gendarmerie alone who had previously
\narranged for the affray and distributed staves and arms, and had actually done the butchering. Says Mr. Blunt: “The English
\nGovernment apparently only gave the idea of a preconcerted and deliberate massacre on the impossibility being forced on
\nthem of connecting Arabi with that event.” This phase of the incident, too, is not unfamiliar to Indian people, namely, how
\nthe authorities have in the past strained every nerve to screen the actual instigators and wrong doers, namely, the police, and foist
\nupon innocent men the origin of riots. But the dismal analogy does not end here. There is even a third fact which also has
\nits counterpart in the experience of Indians. Mr. Blunt remarks: “The fact that no telegrams or messages between the Governor,
\nOmar Lufti, and the Khedive, between the Khedive and Sir E. Malet, or between the Admiral and Sir E. Malet and the English
\nConsulate, which must have been passing continually while the riots were proceeding, have been produced, is highly suspicious
\nand requires explanation.” Have not Indians, too, been highly suspicious of the absence of important telegrams in Blue-books
\npublished months after the occurrence of events by Parliament under “responsible” Ministers so-called? Blue-books in general
\nnever do contain letters and documents which are of a character to incriminate officials and reflect on the conduct and action of
\nthe highest authorities themselves.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe parallel drawn so ably by historians, to which fresh
\npoint is lent by the disturbances in Calcutta, ends here. Protected hooliganism succeeded in Egypt because the circumstances were
\ndifferent and the Nationalism of the Egyptians at that time of a less robust and less exalted type. If it is tried in India, it cannot
\n   
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\n\tsucceed. The Egyptian nationalists made the mistake of trying to
\naccomplish their ends by diplomacy, by reliance upon European support and, when that failed them, by a military struggle between their armed force and the British intruders, without first awakening the people and inspiring them with the passion for
\nliberty which can alone give a long-subject nation the strength to endure and survive, to thrive on disaster and overcome defeat.
\nThe work of Mazzini must be done before the work of Cavour and Garibaldi can begin. In India the awakening has come, the
\npassion for liberty is abroad, and we have the satisfaction of knowing that the fire we have kindled is unquenchable and the
\nimpetus given is one against which no human power can stand. In Egypt Sir Charles Dilke and Mr. John Morley and their allies
\nhad only to create an excuse for armed interference and to crush a feeble military resistance in order that their nefarious work
\nmight be done. But to coerce indignation and resistance of a whole people is a more difficult task than to win battles, for
\nhere it is not the engines of war, but the engines of the spirit which decide the conflict, and when the motive power on one
\nside comes from Heaven itself while the source is merely human, the task of despotism becomes an impossibility.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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\n\t
\n\tMr. Keir Hardie and India <\/b>
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\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\tThe visit of Mr. Keir Hardie to Bengal, so much feared by the
\nEnglish papers, has come and gone and the reactionist Press have taken care that it should create the right sort of sensation
\nin England so that whatever he may tell of the carefully-hidden truth about the “unrest” in India may be discredited beforehand. We have been watching these manoeuvres with some amusement, mingled with a kind of admiration for the sheer
\nbare-faced impudence of the lies which these amiable gentry are administering so liberally to a willing British public. Anything is
\ngood enough for British consumption, and accordingly Anglo-India sets itself no limits in the grossness and incredibility of the
\ninventions it circulates. Mr. Hardie’s presence is responsible for   
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\n\tthe riots, for the Union Jute Mills strike, for every development
\nof the political struggle which has occurred since the formidable Labourite set foot on Indian soil. We shall hardly be surprised if
\nwe see it next asserted in the Englishman <\/i>and then telegraphed by the
\nEnglishman<\/i>‘s faithful Reuter that the boldness of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay’s statement in the dock was caused by the expectation of Keir Hardie’s visit or that some dim prophetic
\nanticipation of it moved Basanta Bhattacharjee when he faced the terrors of British law. We are ready to give Anglo-India credit
\nfor very great lengths of denseness, ignorance and folly, but it is hard to believe that they cannot realise the change which has
\ncome over Indian political life and still think that the words or presence of an Englishman can ever again influence the minds
\nof the people even in an ordinary way much less in the fabulous fashion which Newmania concocts. Anglo-India feared that if
\nthe truth travelled to England, the campaign of repression might be stopped and measures of conciliation adopted. For ourselves
\nwe never entertained any such fear. It is not ignorance of the truth, but their own self-interest as a nation which determines
\nthe attitude of all English parties, not excluding the Labourites. The interest of the monied classes is bound up with the continuance of arbitrary British domination, and for that domination Liberal as well as Tory will fight tooth and nail. As for the Labour
\nparty, it will support that domination if they think it is to the interest of the working classes; otherwise they will oppose it. We
\nhave met and talked with Mr. Keir Hardie and we found him a strong, shrewd-witted man possessed of a great deal of clear
\ncommon sense. He is a Labourite and a Socialist. As a Labourite he will do whatever he thinks best in the interests of Labour; as
\na Socialist, the interests of whose creed are bound up with the progress of internationalism, he may take Indian questions with
\na greater sincerity than the Cottons and Wedderburns. But as we said before in our article on Mr. Keir Hardie, to suppose that he
\ncan do anything for us is a delusion. India like other countries, must work out her salvation for herself, and the less she trusts
\nto foreign help, the swifter will be her deliverance.   
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\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 717<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, October 8th, 1907 }   Protected Hooliganism\u2014 A Parallel   We do not, as a rule, take excursions into foreign politics…<\/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-2754","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\/2754","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=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}