{"id":2873,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2873"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:19","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:19","slug":"208-bande-mataram-30-3-08-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\/208-bande-mataram-30-3-08-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-208_Bande Mataram 30-3-08.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, March 30th, 1908 } <\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Struggle in Madras
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe new spirit of spiritual and political regeneration which is today becoming the passion of the country, has arrived at a
\ncrisis of its destinies. All movements are exposed to persecution, because the powers that be are afraid of the consequences which
\nmay result from their sudden success and cannot shake off the delusion that they have the strength to suppress them. When
\nKansa heard that Krishna was to be born to slay him, he tried to prevent the fulfilment of God’s will by killing His instrument,
\nas if the power which warned him of approaching doom had not the strength to enforce the doom. So too, when the vague
\nprophecies of a Messiah reached the ears of Herod and he heard that Christ was born in Bethlehem, the fear of his earthly dominion passing into the hands of another drove him to massacre all the children of the Jews in order to avoid his fancied doom. These
\nexamples are a parable of the eternal blindness of men when face to face with movements divinely inspired which threaten or seem
\nto threaten their temporal dominion. The bureaucracy are here to be replaced when their work is over, and if they had been
\nable to put aside their selfish interests, and were really capable of governing India and India’s interests as they have so long
\nprofessed, they would have recognized in the upheaval of 1905 the signal of their approaching dismissal from their task, and
\nmade the way smooth for a peaceful transference of power to the people, thus securing a glorious euthanasia which would
\nhave been remembered in history as an unique example of self-denial and
\nfar-seeing statesmanship. But human nature is too feeble to arise to such
\nheights of wisdom and self-abnegation except in those rare instances when the
\ndivine breath enters into  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\na nation and lifts it to a pitch of enthusiasm which ordinary
\nhuman weakness cannot support.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe persecution of Swadeshism which is now reaching the
\nmost shameless lengths in Madras, is a sure sign that God has withdrawn Himself from the British bureaucracy and intends
\ntheir rapid fall. Injustice is an invitation to death and prepares His advent. The moment the desire to do justice disappears
\nfrom a ruling class, the moment it ceases even to respect the show of justice, from that moment its days are numbered. The
\ncynical disregard of all decorum with which the shows of law are being used to crush the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company
\nin Tuticorin will exasperate the whole of the mercantile community in the country. It will convince those who still dream
\nthat industrial development is possible without political power, of their mistake. The Marwaris are already alienated, the whole
\nJain community seething with an indignation too deep-rooted for words. The Tuticorin reign of terror directed against the one
\nSwadeshi enterprise which can prevent all the rest from being rendered futile by the refusal of British steam services to help
\nthe carriage of Swadeshi goods, has begun to shake the complaisant acquiescence of the commercial classes in bureaucratic
\nabsolutism. The collapse of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company will mean that from Cape Comorin to Budaricashram
\nthe cry will go forth of “Swadeshi in Danger” with the result that the whole nation will awaken to the necessity of uniting
\nin one desperate struggle to force the bureaucracy to surrender its monopoly of power. Swadeshi is now the dream and hope
\nof all India. Loyalist, Moderate, Nationalist, all are at one on this point, all are agreed, that without Swadeshi there is no
\nhope for the people of India. When it becomes evident that the bureaucracy is bent on destroying the only means by which
\nSwadeshi can be secure of its existence, the greatest supporter of the present Government will feel that his choice lies between
\nloyalty to his country and the hope of her resurgence on the one hand and loyalty to the bureaucracy and the destruction of his
\npeople and his motherland on the other.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWhen Srijut Chidambaram Pillai set himself to the task of
\n   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\testablishing a Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company between
\nTuticorin and Colombo, he was taking a step which meant the beginning of the end for the British commercial monopoly in
\nIndia. There are three departments of Swadeshi which have to be developed in order to make India commercially independent,
\nfirst, the creation of manufactures, secondly, the retail supply, thirdly, the security of carriage from the place of manufacture to
\nthe place of supply. Of all these the third is the most essential, because the others are bound to lead a precarious existence if
\nall the means of carriage are in the hands of the enemies of Swadeshi. The difficulties experienced in East Bengal by those
\nwho tried to import Swadeshi goods from Calcutta in the face of the control of the railway and the steam services by hostile
\ninterests, are only a slight foretaste of the paralysing obstacles which will be thrown in our way the moment it is seen that
\nSwadeshi has got the upper hand. The only remedy for this state of things is for the people of the country to organize steamer
\nservices both by sea and by river, so that all carriage by water at least may be in their hands. The carriage by land cannot come
\ninto our hands without a political revolution, but if we hold the waterways, we shall not only hold an important part of the
\nsystem of communications but be able to use our possession of it as a weapon against British trade if the railway is utilized against
\nus. The instinct of the country had seized on this truth and the organization of Swadeshi steam services has been one of the
\nfirst and most successful outcomes of the new movement. The Chittagong Company and Tuticorin Company have both been
\na phenomenal success and, owing to the spirit of self-sacrificing patriotism which has awakened in the hearts of the people, they
\nhave been able to beat their British rivals without entering into a war of rates, for the British steamers charging extravagantly
\nlow rates have been unable to command as much custom as the dearer Swadeshi services. A network of Companies holding the
\nwater carriage from Rangoon to Karachi and the Persian Gulf would soon have come into existence and the waterways of East
\nBengal would have been covered with boats plying from town to town in the ownership of Swadeshi concerns. If the Swadeshi
\n   <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\tSteam Navigation Company is crushed, this fair prospect will be
\nruined and all hope of commercial independence disappear for ever. The bureaucracy well know the tremendous importance of
\nthe issue at stake and have sacrificed everything, honour, justice, decency, to the one all-important chance of success. We also
\nmust awaken to the necessity of saving Swadeshi in this hour of danger. The time is a critical one and it is as if Providence
\nhad determined to test the spirit of the people and see whether it was strong enough to deserve assistance. The Swadeshi Steam
\nNavigation Company was on the point of crushing its British rival, if the bureaucracy had not interfered; it is now on the
\npoint of being crushed itself unless the people interfere. The people have the power to save it by blotting out its rival. If the
\nmerchants refuse in a body to ship by the alien service, if the people refuse to tread its decks no amount of bureaucratic help,
\nno amount of magisterial injustice and police tyranny can save it from the doom it deserves. We look to the Nationalists of
\nMadras to see that this is done. The British jails are not large enough to hold the whole population of Tinnevelly district; let
\nevery man follow the noble example of Chidambaram Pillai and, for the rest, let God decide.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tA Misunderstanding <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tWe have noticed a paragraph in the last issue of Basumati<\/i>
\nwhich may lead to some misunderstanding in the public mind and needs therefore to be corrected. The
\nBasumati <\/i>practically
\ncharges the National Council with disregarding the claims of Srijut Aurobindo Ghose to reoccupy the post of Principal and
\nSrijut Satish Chandra Mukherji, who has done so much to organize the College, with clinging to the post to the exclusion of his
\ncolleague. We are able to state the real facts. Srijut Aurobindo Ghose left the College when he was implicated in the
\nBande<\/i>
\nMataram <\/i>sedition trial and a conviction seemed, from the temper of the authorities, to be a foregone conclusion. He expressed in
\nhis letter of resignation a readiness to rejoin his duties at some   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 983<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tfuture date if the Council thought his services required. After
\nhis acquittal the Executive Committee at an early date passed a resolution appointing Srijut Aurobindo Ghose a Professor of
\nHistory and Political Science in the College, but as the result of a special request from Srijut Aurobindo himself to the Secretary
\nto excuse him from the onerous duties of a Principal which he had neither the time nor, as he himself thought, the necessary
\ncapacity to discharge, the post of Principal was not included in the reappointment. Srijut Satish Chandra Mukherji had no hand
\nor voice in the matter; he had taken the post of Principal with reluctance and holds it now as a duty until it pleases the Executive
\nCommittee to relieve him. Many groundless rumours have been afloat from time to time about the National College, and it is a
\npity that they should be printed without previous verification. Srijut Aurobindo Ghose sent in his resignation spontaneously,
\nand would certainly not have returned if, as it was at one time persistently rumoured, he had been compelled to retire; and his
\nreturn as Professor and not as Principal was also due to his own unwillingness to accept the latter charge. Neither the National
\nCouncil nor anyone else can be held responsible in either case.   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 984<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, March 30th, 1908 }   The Struggle in Madras   The new spirit of spiritual and political regeneration which is today…<\/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-2873","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\/2873","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=2873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}