{"id":2757,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2757"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:39","slug":"170-bande-mataram-18-12-07-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\/170-bande-mataram-18-12-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-170_Bande Mataram 18-12-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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

\n

\n\t
\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, December 18th, 1907 }
\n\t<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n“Capturing the Congress”
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWe have asked the Nationalists all over India to muster strong at Surat during the Congress session. It is believed in some quarters
\nthat we intend to march upon the Congress and re-enact a Pride’s Purge. Another insinuation is that we form a band of vain,
\npetulant upstarts who delight in wrecking and breaking for its own sake. The
\nBengalee <\/i>calls upon the people to repudiate these
\ntraitors, and the Tribune <\/i>of Lahore, the Indu Prakash <\/i>and Social<\/i>
\nReformer <\/i>of Bombay, the Indian People <\/i>of Allahabad have by
\nthis time swelled that cry. The principle that underlay our attempt to get Lajpat elected to the Presidential chair has not been
\nappreciated by the Punjabee<\/i>, the Hindu <\/i>and even Lala Lajpat Rai himself. Capital is being made of this fact and unworthy
\nmotives attributed to the Nationalists. Our enemies have got a splendid opportunity to discredit the Nationalist movement by
\nsaying that even those who are avowedly sympathetic towards the propaganda cannot support all its senseless manifestation.
\nThe emergence of a new school of thought, their vigorous and menacing activity and enthusiasm have always made the votaries
\nof established order uneasy and vindictive. In the frenzied anxiety to retain all power, in a paralysing fear of change they raise a
\nterrible clamour and try to play upon the timidity and the spirit of routine of the unthinking people. They cry for the blood
\nof the new messengers without even patiently listening to their message. Even master-minds succumb to this weakness. When
\nDr. Price delivered his eloquent sermon on the great impetus given to national freedom by the revolutionary propaganda in
\nFrance, Burke became quite unnerved and was so much carried away by an unreasonable fear as to wreck his own reputation as
\n   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 799<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\ta sedate and practical statesman by setting to work to write that
\nhysterical diatribe against the French Revolution which even his admirers could not help regretting.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt is no wonder therefore that the Nationalists should be assailed with the most unjustifiable vehemence in their attempt
\nto awaken and organise the people and to shift the centre of power and authority to them. But while the Nationalists should
\npursue their line of action with unabated zeal they are also to consider, in view of the fierce and vindictive opposition which
\nthey have provoked not only from the bureaucracy but also a section of their own countrymen, whether they should not
\nwork in their own way without coming into collusion with those whose ideals and methods of work render any concerted
\naction hardly possible. We invite the Nationalists to Surat not so much to capture the Congress by violence, as our enemies
\nmaliciously put it, but to see that the Nationalist sentiment and Nationalist programme find their place in the deliberations and
\nfinally prevail. Many of us think that the Nationalists cannot pull on with the Moderates and Loyalists who determined to
\nbaffle their patriotic activities to democratise the Congress by a cobweb of malicious misrepresentation and vilification. The
\nNationalists indulge in no vague charges against the Moderates. They expose their high-handedness with an unequivocal statement of facts. But these people do not meet us on the charges brought against them but try to evade the real issue by irrelevant
\nand senseless denunciations. Under the circumstances some of us thought it wiser and easier for the Nationalists to have an
\norgan of their own, without giving the Moderates and Loyalists a chance of misrepresenting and vilifying them. The experience
\nof the Midnapore Conference shows that the delegates young and old all smart under the autocracy of the old workers, which
\nis leading many to think a separatist movement preferable to a perpetual friction. But for the present we must put all such
\nthoughts from us. It has been decided to continue the attempt to fight out the battle of Nationalism in the Congress Pandal
\n\tuntil at last a majority of the delegates declare for our views. To that end
\n\twe must now devote all our energies.  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\t
\n\tLala Lajpat Rai’s Refusal
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tThe refusal of Lala Lajpat Rai to accept nomination to the Presidentship of the Congress as against Dr. Rash Behari Ghose has
\ngiven great cause for rejoicing to the Moderates and to Anglo-Indian journals like the
\nEmpire<\/i>. The refusal is natural enough,
\nfor when a man who has not been nominated is under such circumstances pressed for a reply to the question whether he
\nwill accept nomination or not, he is put into a delicate position in which he must either appear to be wanting in modesty or
\ngive away his supporters. This was the dilemma in which the Loyalists have placed Lala Lajpat Rai. Evidently, he has been
\npersuaded to think that he was being asked to stand against Dr. Rash Behari Ghose and that the proposal of the Nationalists was
\nintended as a personal honour to himself. Needless to say, the Nationalists have not asked Lajpat Rai to stand as a candidate.
\nThe step they have taken is simply to ask from Dr. Rash Behari Ghose the magnanimity to withdraw and leave the field clear so
\nthat a great principle might be vindicated in the most striking way of which the circumstances admitted. Had Dr. Ghose shown
\nthat magnanimity there would have been no necessity for Lajpat Rai to be asked to stand as a candidate; the unanimous will
\nof the country would have called him to the Presidential chair. Our proposal was not meant as an invitation to do honour
\nto a particular individual, nor, great as is our personal regard for Lajpat Rai, was it dictated by personal affection. We look
\nupon him as the embodiment of an ideal and his nomination as the nation’s answer to the repressions of the bureaucracy. Lala
\nLajpat Rai, out of feelings which we respect, has declined to give us that opportunity. We are sorry to have lost it, but glad at
\nleast that of the two men put forward one should have shown the magnanimity to which the other has not been able to rise.
\n    <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Delegates’ Fund
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\tMany who are desirous of contributing to the Delegates’ Fund, have addressed enquiries to us about the manner in which it is
\nto be disposed of. The object of the fund is to send to Surat a number of delegates with uncompromising views and of an
\nuncompromising spirit who will see to it, so far as lies in their power, that the Congress at Surat shall make no backward step
\nbut, if possible, move a step further towards associating itself with the new life of the country. We hope that no attempt will
\nbe made to take any backward step, but we know that there is a reactionary element in the Congress which would be only
\ntoo glad to recede, and if by negligence we give them their opportunity, the responsibility for any backsliding will be ours.
\nWe hope also that Bengal will present a solid front against any reaction, but we have no right to be sure of it, and only
\nif there is the strong moral backing of a number of delegates who will not compromise with their principles or allow respect
\nof persons or utter persuasion or browbeating to sway them from their firm position, can we expect the Bengal leaders to
\nstand fast against the pressure that may be brought to bear on them. The delegates who will be assisted out of the fund
\nmust therefore pledge themselves to stand firm for Boycott as a general principle for the Swadeshi resolution as it was framed
\nlast year, for National Education and Arbitration as prominent planks in the Congress platform and to do their best to see that
\nthe Congress takes up the cause of the Transvaal Indians, rejects Mr. Morley’s reforms or any other sham and simulacrum of
\n\t\tself-government and takes a sensible step forward in the direction of national organisation. The precise proposals which will be
\npressed upon the Subjects Committee will be formulated after due discussion in the Nationalist Conference which meets on
\nthe 24th at Surat, but these are the broad lines on which we propose to frame them. We may mention finally that all we
\npropose to give out of the fund is assistance; no single delegate will be given all his expenses to and from or at Surat. If it should
\nbe decided to propose constitutional changes in the direction   <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 802<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tof democratising the Congress, our delegates will support such
\n\tproposals. Those, therefore, who contribute to the Fund should understand
\n\tthat they are contributing to send delegates who will support progress and
\n\tto save the National Assembly from the danger of a disastrous and
\n\tignominious relapse into the past methods and ideas which the nation is fast
\n\toutgrowing and which Bengal has altogether renounced.    
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 803<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, December 18th, 1907 } “Capturing the Congress”   We have asked the Nationalists all over India to muster strong at Surat…<\/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-2757","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\/2757","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=2757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}