{"id":2773,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2773"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:45","slug":"62-bande-mataram-25-4-07-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\/62-bande-mataram-25-4-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-62_Bande Mataram 25-4-07.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, April 25th, 1907 }
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n
\nBureaucracy at Jamalpur
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe most recent accounts of the Jamalpur outrage emphasise the sinister nature of the occurrence and the defects in our own
\norganisation which we must labour to remove. The most disgraceful feature of the riots has been the conduct of the British
\nlocal official who seems to have deceived and betrayed the Hindus into the hands of the Mahomedan
\ngoondas<\/i>. The nature
\nof the attack, its suddenness and completeness, show beyond doubt that it had been carefully planned beforehand and was
\nno casual outbreak either of fanaticism or rowdyism. It is impossible to believe that the Joint Magistrate, responsible for the
\npeace of the country, was totally uninformed of the likelihood of an organised attack which was generally apprehended by
\nthe Hindus. Yet it is reported that the local official induced the Hindus to be present at the
\nmela <\/i>by a distinct pledge that
\nthey had nothing to fear from the Mahomedans, and then, in violation of his pledge, left them utterly unprotected for brutality and sacrilege to work their will upon them. If he had any inkling of the outbreak which was then in preparation, his action
\namounted to cynical treachery. Even if he was so imbecile as to be unaware of what was going on in his own jurisdiction, his
\nfailure to provide against the possibility of his pledge coming to nothing lays him open to the worst constructions. At the
\nvery least he showed a light-hearted disregard for his official obligations and his personal honour. His subsequent action was
\nequally extraordinary. All the accounts agree in saying that the police were quite inactive until the anti-Swadeshists had their fill
\nof plunder and violence and were making for the station. Even then, they confined themselves to depriving them of their
\nlathis<\/i>,
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 344<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\u2014 the mischief being done and further violence superfluous,\u2014 and with a paternal indulgence dismissed them to their homes unarrested. The only people arrested were a few of the Hindus
\nwho, if they were guilty of anything, can have only been guilty of self-defence. The accounts on which we base these comments
\nare unanimous and have not up to the present moment met with any denial. We can only conclude therefore that, as at Comilla,
\nthe local officials looked with sympathy on the rioters as allies in the repression of Swadeshism, and acted accordingly. To stand
\nby while the Mahomedans carry out that violent repression of Swadeshism which the sham Liberalism of the present Government policy forbids them to undertake themselves; to clinch this illegal repression by legal repression in the form of prosecution
\nof respectable Hindus for the crime of self-defence; to strain every nerve to prevent outside help coming to the distressed
\nand maltreated Swadeshists, and finally to save appearances by sending a few of the Mahomedan rioters to prison\u2014 a punishment which has no terrors for them, since they are all hooligans and some of them old jailbirds:\u2014 such has been the consistent
\nattitude of the local officials. The only new circumstance in the Jamalpur incident has been the assurance given by the local official which amounted to a promise of protection and which alone made the outrage possible. For the last century the British have
\nbeen dinning into our ears the legend of British justice, British honour, British truth. The belief in the justice of the British
\nnation or of British Magistrates is dead. Generated by liberal professions it has been killed by reactionary practice. The belief
\nin the personal honour and truth of individual Englishmen has somehow managed to survive; but it will not stand such shocks
\nas the East Bengal bureaucrats have managed to administer to it. We would earnestly press upon the people of East Bengal
\nthe unwisdom of trusting to official promises or to anything but their own combination, organisation and the strong arm for
\ntheir protection. We have already pointed out more than once what the Comilla officials took some pains to point out to those
\nwho applied to them for protection, that it is folly to raise the cry of Swadeshi and Swaraj and yet to expect protection from the
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 345<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tbureaucrats whose monopoly of power the movement threatens.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tAnglo-Indian Blunderers <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Englishman <\/i>has its own standing suggestion for the treatment of incidents like the Jamalpur disturbances. The theory is, the riots are the result of Mahomedan indignation at the
\nSwadeshi Boycott; therefore Swadeshi is the cause of the whole trouble; therefore put down Swadeshi with the strong hand. No
\none knows better than the Englishman <\/i>that the disturbances have been caused by the sinister alliance of Anglo-India with
\nthe Nawab of Dacca and his following, contracted to put down Swadeshi by fair means or foul. For our part we should welcome open oppression by the bureaucracy; it would be more honourable at least than local connivance at violence and brutal
\nlawlessness, and it would be a pleasure to meet an open and straightforward opponent. But open or secret, direct or indirect,
\nno measures whatever will succeed in crushing the insurgent national spirit. We wonder whether these complacent bureaucrats and exploiters have any idea of the growing mass of silent exasperation to which the present policy is rapidly giving shape
\nand substance. Possibly, the idea is to force the exasperation to a head and crush it when it breaks into overt action,\u2014 the
\nold policy of the English in Ireland. But we would remind these blundering Anglo-Saxon Machiavellis that India is not Ireland;
\nit is easier to unchain the tempest than to decree to it what course it shall take and what it shall spare or what destroy.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t_________<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Leverage of Faith <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is said of Guru Nanak that on the eve of his departure from the
\nbody he was asked to name a successor to his gadi<\/i>. A great storm was raging at the time\u2014 the disturbance of nature synchronising
\nwith the passing away of a great spirit. Nanak was then sitting under a tree surrounded by his disciples. It was evening and the
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 346<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tGuru perceiving that his chelas <\/i>badly needed food and drink,
\nasked his sons Shrichand and Lakshichand to go in quest of food. But the sons inherited none of the spiritual qualities of
\ntheir father; they thought him to be no better than a maniac and were not inclined to take his request seriously; rather they
\nmocked at the idea of a search for food when none could stir out of doors for the wild rain and storm without. Nanak then turned
\nto a devoted disciple who simply enquired where he should go for food and was told that he had only to ask of the tree under
\nwhich they were then sitting and it would give them all they required. The disciple did Nanak’s bidding and, as the story
\ngoes, was rewarded with sufficiency of sweetmeats. Nanak went afterwards with his disciples to the riverside and when, on the
\nway, they came across a dead body, he bade his sons partake of this strange food. His sons took the command as conclusive
\nproof of their father’s lunacy, but the disciple was prepared to obey unquestioningly and only paused to ask from where to
\nbegin, whether from the head or from the foot. Nanak, entirely satisfied with the steadfast faith of his disciple, named him the
\nsuccessor to his gadi <\/i>in preference to his own sons.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not given to all to possess this heroic spiritual faith
\nwhich all religious teachers have insisted on as the first preliminary to any difficult
\nsadhana<\/i>; but the moral underlying it is
\none which all experience justifies. Faith is the first condition of success in every great undertaking. It is no exaggeration
\nto say that faith moves mountains. It is faith that makes the men of will and thought persevere in spite of apparently insurmountable difficulties. They start with a strong confidence in the ultimate success of a noble undertaking and are therefore
\nnever daunted by difficulties, however formidable. Faith is the one predominating characteristic of all great souls. The vision of
\nfaith penetrates into the remote future and turns the impossible into the possible. In the region of politics faith is the result of
\nimagination working in the light of history; it takes its stand on reason and experience and aspires into the future from the
\nfirm ground of the past. Other nations have risen from the lowest depths of degradation\u2014 the weaknesses which prevent us
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 347<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tfrom trying bold and effective remedies were common to all
\nsubject nations before us. It is by nerving the nation’s heart with inspiring literature and inciting it to struggle for emancipation
\nthat freedom has been recovered. For a subject people there is no royal road to emancipation. They must wade to it through
\nstruggle, sacrifice, slaughter, if necessary. History suggests no short-cut. Why should it then involve a strain on our faith to
\nbelieve that if we are only prepared for the necessary sacrifice, we also shall gain the end? Other nations also were weak, disunited
\nand denationalised like ourselves. It is the rallying cry of freedom that combined their scattered units drawing them together
\nwith a compelling and magical attraction. Those who would win freedom, must first imbue the people with an overpowering
\nconviction that freedom is the one thing needful. Without a great ideal there can be no great movement. Small baits of material
\nadvantages will not nerve them to high endeavour and heroic self-sacrifice; it is only the idea of national freedom and national
\ngreatness that has that overmastering appeal. We must not bend the knee to others but try to be worthy of our past\u2014 here is an
\nideal which, if set forth with conviction and power, cannot fail to inspire self-sacrificing action. We need faith above all things,
\nfaith in ourselves, faith in the nation, faith in India’s destiny. A dozen men rendered invincible by a strong faith in their future
\nhave in other times spread the contagion of nationalism to the remotest corner of vast countries. Unbelief is blind\u2014 it does not
\nsee far ahead, neither stimulates strength nor inspires action. The lack of this faith has kept our moderate politicians tied down
\nto a worn-out ideal which has lost its credibility. No man can lead a rising nation unless he has this faith first of all, that what
\nother great men have done before him he also can do as well, if not better,\u2014 that the freedom other nations have won we also
\ncan win, if only we have the faith, the will.    <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 348<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, April 25th, 1907 }   Bureaucracy at Jamalpur   The most recent accounts of the Jamalpur outrage emphasise the sinister nature…<\/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-2773","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\/2773","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=2773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}