{"id":2826,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2826"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:03","slug":"26-bande-mataram-12-9-06-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\/26-bande-mataram-12-9-06-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-26_Bande Mataram 12-9-06.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{ CALCUTTA, September
\n 12th, 1906 }<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Old Policy and the New
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tBabu Bhupendranath Bose has issued a manifesto of his views in the Bengalee<\/i>, in which he explains his letter to the Secretary of the People’s Association at Comilla. That document, it seems, was a private letter, although it was obviously intended
\nto produce a public effect, viz<\/i>. to prevent the nomination of Mr. Tilak and to counteract the effect of Babu Bipin Chandra Pal’s
\nmeeting and speeches in Comilla. However, we have now an authoritative statement of Babu Bhupendranath’s “policy”, and
\nno further misunderstanding is possible. This policy is precisely what we expected; it might have been penned in the pre-Partition
\nand pre-Swadeshi days and amounts simply to the old Congress programme. We are to solicit Government help and favours as
\nbefore, to oppose its measures when they are bad, and, when they are very bad, to support this opposition “with the vital
\nenergy of the entire nation”. But we are not to attempt to stand apart from the Government; we are not fit (because we
\nhave castes!) to stand among the self-governing countries of the world. We must therefore accept our subjection and wait for the
\ngolden days when we are thoroughly Europeanised, before we make any attempt to assert our national existence. At the same
\ntime, we may work out our own salvation in industrial matters, by such enterprises as the Banga Lakshmi Mill, in social matters
\nby the abolition of caste, and even in educational matters by\u2014 but no, Babu Bhupendranath Bose has never been a friend of the
\nNational University idea. Such, when stripped of all verbiage, is the programme which Babu Bhupendranath sets before us, and
\nsince, in spite of his modest disclaimer, he has a commanding influence in determining the active policy of our leaders, his
\n    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 157<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tprogramme may be taken as the ultimate programme of his
\nparty. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tWe should like to know what Babu Bhupendranath precisely
\nmeans by opposition to Government schemes. Except in extreme cases, so far as we understand him, he is opposed to bringing the vital energy of the nation to bear on the Government; and the only alternative policy is one of prayer and petition.
\nIt has been demonstrated repeatedly that prayer and petition have no appreciable influence on the British Government and
\nthat whatever slight influence it might have once had, has faded into nullity. It is only when the nation, finding its prayers and
\npetitions rejected, begins to manifest its strength that the British Government inclines its ear and is graciously pleased to withdraw a circular, to dismiss a Fuller or to consider whether it can unsettle a settled fact. But Babu Bhupendranath argues that
\nwe cannot bring “the vital energies of the nation” to support opposition to any and every measure of Government. We are
\nquite at one with him; but we cannot follow him in the strangely illogical conclusion he draws from this premise. He concludes
\nfrom it that our right course is to trust to the broken weapon of remonstrance and futile petition in all but exceptional cases like
\nthe Partition. We conclude that our right course is not to waste unnecessary time over smaller matters, but to go to the root of
\nthe matter, the control over finance and legislation which is the basis of self-government and the first step towards autonomy.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tThe proposal of the old party is to use the great outburst of national strength which the Partition has evoked, in order to get
\nthe Partition rescinded, and then to put it back in the cupboard until again wanted. Such a policy will be absolutely suicidal.
\nThese outbursts can only come once or twice in a century; they cannot be evoked and ruled at the will of any leader, be he
\nSurendranath Banerji or even a greater than Surendranath. Nor would such frequent outbursts benefit the country, but would
\nrather, like frequent occasions of fever, weaken the nation and render it finally listless and strengthless. The problem for statesmanship at this moment is to organise and utilise the energy which has been awakened for an object of the first importance
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 158<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tto our national development. The withdrawal of the Partition
\nby itself will not improve the position of our race with regard to its rulers nor leave it one whit better than before Lord Curzon’s
\nregime. Even if the present Government were overflowing with liberal kindness, it cannot last for ever, and there is nothing to
\nprevent another Imperialist Viceroy backed by an Imperialist Government from perpetrating measures as injurious to the interests and sentiments of the nation. The only genuine guarantee against this contingency is the control by the nation of its own
\ndestinies, and to secure an effective instalment of this control, should be the first aim of all our political action. No British
\nGovernment will willingly concede anything in the nature of effective control. It can only be wrested from them by concentrating “the vital energies of the entire nation” into opposition to the Government and admitting of no truce until the desired
\nend is secured. This is the kernel of the new party’s policy and it differs entirely from Babu Bhupendranath’s meaningless and
\nfutile programme.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t______________<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tIs a Conflict Necessary?
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tThe old leaders are now telling the country that there is no need of a conflict as their ideals are identical with those of the new
\nparty, and it is only the latter who are heating themselves into a passion about nothing. The other day, Babu Naresh Chandra
\nSen Gupta in perfect good faith, accepted this statement and declared it to the assembled students. But yesterday we learned
\nthat Babu Bhupendranath Bose insists on our working in association with the Government and not in opposition! This is
\nemphatically not the ideal of the new party, for we are opposed to any accommodation with the Government which precedes or
\ndispenses with the concession of effective self-government to the Indian people. We shall shortly make a succinct and definitive
\nstatement of our programme and demands; and if there is really no difference of ideals, if the whole quarrel is a misunderstanding
\nand the old leaders are prepared not only to profess but to carry   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 159<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tout those ideals in co-operation with the new party, the conflict
\nwill die a natural death. But it should be realised that without sincerity and frank openness no attempt at an understanding
\ncan be successful or worth making. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Charge of Vilification
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tA charge which is being freely hurled against the new party is that they, or at least an active section of them, indulge in “vile
\nabuse” of the old leaders. We do not care to deny that some of our writers and speakers are unsparing and outspoken in their
\nattacks on individual leaders and that sometimes the bounds are passed. But this is a common incident of any political controversy under modern conditions. Both sides are guilty of such excesses. The correspondence to which the
\nBengalee <\/i>has been
\nrecently giving a large part of its space is often of a poisonous virulence and an almost absurd violence of misrepresentation
\nand the chief vernacular organ of the old party has no better claims to “respectability” in this respect than the most outspoken exponent of a more extreme policy. It is merely party passion which tries to ascribe all the violence and vilification to one side.
\nThese are inevitable concomitants of a party conflict and it will not do for either side to affect a sanctimonious spotlessness of
\ndemeanour; for the affectation will not bear scrutiny.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tAutocratic Trickery
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt is announced that Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji has accepted Babu Bhupendranath’s offer of the Presidentship of the National
\nCongress at Calcutta. No one was likely to oppose Mr. Naoroji as a President and had the proposal been brought forward
\nconstitutionally in the Reception Committee the supporters of Mr. Tilak would have consented to postpone his name till the
\nnext year. But the Secret Cabal which is managing affairs in defiance of all rule and practice, were determined to score a
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 160<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t<\/i>
\n\tparty success and to use Mr. Naoroji, without his knowledge, as
\na tool for their ignoble purpose. They would face the supporters of Mr. Tilak with an accomplished fact, which they must either
\naccept or incur the odium of opposing an universally respected name. They have followed a similar method with regard to the
\nExhibition which they have practically sold to the Government for a price. In this way, the Reception Committee is being turned
\ninto a farce and when they allow it to meet, it will find itself without occupation as all its functions have been performed for
\nit behind its back. It becomes therefore the imperative duty of all who have any desire for national control over the national
\nassembly to demand a settled elective constitution not only for the Congress but for every Congress body and law for its
\nprocedure which the leaders shall not be allowed to violate unless they are prepared to face a public impeachment from the
\nplatform of the Congress.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tBy the Way
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Englishman <\/i>has been making all sorts of remarkable discoveries recently; its activity in this field is stupendous. Recently,
\nit discovered the respectability of the Congress. Yesterday, it suddenly found out that Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji is an angel. A
\ncomparative angel, of course, but still an angel. He is pardoned all his wild and whirling speeches, his fiery denunciations of
\nBritish rule, his immeasured expressions of condemnation; for will he not keep out Mr. Tilak from the Presidential chair of the
\nCalcutta Congress? Why is it that the very name of this man, with his quiet manner of speech, his unobtrusive simplicity and
\nintegrity, his absence of noisy and pushing “patriotism”, is such a terror to Moderate and Anglo-Indian alike? Far more tactful and
\nmeasured in speech than Mr. Naoroji, the idea of him yet causes them an ague. It is because he is the one man among us who sees
\nclearly and acts. The man of action in the Presidential chair of the Congress! The Anglo-Indian envisages the idea and sees in
\nit the very image of his doom. Of course, it is the appearance of   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 161<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tthat wild new species, the “extremist”, that is responsible for Mr.
\nNaoroji’s angelic transfiguration. There is a delightful flexibility about this word “extremist”. It is imbued with a thoroughly
\nprogressive spirit and never stands still. Once quite within the memory of man, Babu Surendranath Banerji was an “extremist”
\nbut his scarlet coat is growing quite a dull and faded pink in these latter times. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji was once denounced as a
\nblatant extremist\u2014 that was the day before yesterday. But now that Mr. Shyamji Krishnavarma and his Home Rulers raise their
\nwild heads above the terrified horizon, Mr. Naoroji is on a fair way to being admitted into the sacred fold of the “statesmanlike” and “moderate”. A still worse species of fire-breathing monster has recently turned up in the Bengal extremist. And we
\nlook forward with blissful hope to the day when the Englishman<\/i> will learn to respect the “notorious Bipin Chandra Pal” and
\nembrace him tearfully as the sole remaining bulwark against more anarchic monsters than himself. The upshot is, that India
\nprogresses.    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 162<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, September 12th, 1906 }   The Old Policy and the New   Babu Bhupendranath Bose has issued a manifesto of his…<\/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-2826","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\/2826","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=2826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}