{"id":310,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=310"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","slug":"031-the-president-of-the-berhampur-conference-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/031-the-president-of-the-berhampur-conference-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-031_The President of the Berhampur Conference.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe President of the Berhampur Conference<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n 
\n               
\n<\/span><\/font>W<\/font><\/span><\/b>HEN<\/b>
\nthe Moderate caucus which arranges our Congresses and Conferences selected Srijut Deepnarain Singh to preside at Berhampur, they thought, no doubt, that
\nthey had hit upon a doubly suitable choice. As a young man and one known to be
\nan ardent patriot he would not disgust Bengal by an ultra-moderate
\npronouncement; as a Zemindar he might be expected to have the fear of the
\nGovernment before his eyes and to avoid giving open support to the ideas and
\nprogramme of the New School. It was this latter apprehension, we believe, that
\nlay at the root of the dissatisfaction expressed by some of ourselves at the
\nchoice. For our part, we shared neither the hopes of the Moderates nor the fears
\nof our own party. We happen to know something of Srijut Deepnarain Singh by
\nreport when he was in England, and we could not believe that so much fire,
\nsincerity and ardour had been quenched in so short a time or even subdued by his
\nposition as a rich man and a Zemindar. We confidently expected from him a
\npronouncement worthy of the occasion, and we have not been disappointed. The
\nspirit of true nationalism underlies his address, as reported in substance; the
\nprogramme of the New School, so far as it has yet taken concrete shape either in
\npractice or in immediate urgency, has been accepted and the declaration for
\nBoycott is satisfactorily clear and unmistakable. By bringing Srijut Deepnarain
\nforward, it is probable that the real service will have been done to Bihar,
\nwhich is in bad need of men who can understand the drift of the times and direct
\nthe political activities of the province towards the future instead of trying to
\nkeep them clamped to a dead and rotting past. Bihar has a future of its own as a
\nHindi-speaking sub-race of our nationality; and in that
\nUnited
\nStates of India, which the prophetic vision of the Presi<\/span>dent
\nhas forecast, it will have its individual station. But in order to carry weight
\nin that Union Bihar must take up its destinies<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-226<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nand
\nbecome an active force in the general movement towards independence. Whether the
\nBiharees are wise in desiring administrative separation from Bengal under the
\npresent bureaucracy, it is difficult to say. For our own part, we are inclined
\nto doubt whether Bihar is as yet quite strong enough to stand by itself
\nunassociated with Bengal or the United Provinces in resistance to a bureaucratic
\noppression; but if the Biharees generally think themselves strong enough and
\ndesire to stand apart, we should be the last, professing the principles we do,
\nto oppose the idea. Administrative arrangements have ceased to be of vital
\nimportance. But the attempt which has been made in recent times to estrange the
\nBiharees from the Bengalis in spirit is a more serious matter. There can be no
\nground of quarrel between the two peoples except such as arises from the unholy
\npassion for Government service, places and favours; and this ignoble cause of
\ndissension the new spirit will, we hope, destroy before long by making place and
\nservice a brand of dishonour rather than of distinction. Judging from Srijut
\nDeepnarain’s address we seem to have in him a Biharee of spirit, judgment and
\nintellectual ability who has already grasped the future in anticipation and is
\nlikely to model the activities of his province in accordance with that larger
\nvision and not under the stress of petty and evanescent interests. No province
\ncan advance under a more unerring guide or shape its activities to the demands
\nof a more infallible ideal than this vision of an India united in its variety.
\nRegional and communal individualities and activities cannot be blotted out from
\nthis vast country, but they can be harmonised into a dominating unity.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>For the rest, it is curious to note how invariably the manoeuvres of the
\nModerates turned against themselves. This is
\nindeed
\ninevitable, for when Fate is against men, their likeliest <\/span>measures
\nand best-concerted combinations act to their own detriment. Dadabhai Naoroji was
\nmade President in order to dish the Extremists; yet it was this Moderate
\nPresident who gave us the cry of Swaraj which the Extremists have made their own
\nand which is stirring the blood of the nation to great actions and great ideals.
\nMadras and the United Provinces were declared to be unanimous against Boycott in
\norder to prevent the Boycott<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/h2>\n

\nPage-227<\/font><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

\nResolution
\nfrom passing through the Congress; but the only result has been to raise a storm
\nof Extremism in South and North alike, and set the cry of Boycott ringing from
\none end of India to the other. The shamelessly arbitrary action of the Moderate
\ncaucus at Allahabad has done more to kill the old and help the new than the free
\nadmission of the Boycotters could possibly have done. The selection at the last
\nmoment of Srijut Deepnarain as President in the hope of a "safe"
\naddress, <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>just as
\nBerhampur was selected as a "safe" place<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>only resulted in a fresh testimony to the
\ngrowth of the new ideas. How long will you try with these two-penny half-penny
\nbrooms of party manoeuvring to sweep back the ocean?<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> April 2, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font>228<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President of the Berhampur Conference                     WHEN the Moderate caucus which arranges our Congresses and Conferences selected Srijut Deepnarain Singh to preside…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","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=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}