{"id":311,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=311"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:15","slug":"114-the-surat-congress-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\/114-the-surat-congress-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-114_The Surat Congress.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Surat Congress<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n 
\n               
\n<\/span><\/font>W<\/font><\/b><\/span>HEN<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span>
\nthe All-India Congress Committee first betrayed its charge and degraded itself
\nfrom the position of a high arbiter and guide in all national affairs to that of
\na party machine subservient to a single political tactician, we said that there
\nwere but two courses open to us, either to refuse to accept a party trick
\nengineered in defiance of justice, decency and all the common rules of public
\nprocedure and to hold our own Congress at Nagpur, or to go in force to Surat
\nand, if we could not swamp the Congress, at least to show that into whatever
\nfarthest nook or corner of India Sir Pherozshah Mehta might fly for refuge, he
\ncould not get rid of the presence of Nationalism, to fling ourselves at once on
\nGujerat and organise Nationalism there, so that the Loyalist’s chosen haven of
\nrefuge might become another place of shipwreck. In any case, we said, we must
\nhave a Conference of Nationalists this year and organise Nationalism all over
\nthe country. We have not concealed our opinion that the session at Nagpur would
\nbe the preferable course, as being both the most logical and the manliest and
\ninvolving the least waste of energy now and in future. But such a course was out
\nof the question unless all could agree upon it, and this was not found possible.
\nEspecially when Mr. Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai, fresh from his exile, were in
\nfavour of attending the Surat session, there could be no further question of our
\ncourse. It has been decided, then, to attend the Surat Congress in what force we
\ncan muster at this short notice and do our best to hold the ground we have
\ngained, as well as to see that certain questions which were held over last year
\nare not held over again. A Nationalist Conference has also been arranged by the
\nefforts of the Nationalists at Surat and arrangements will be made for
\nNationalist delegates, a ticket of one rupee being issued to each delegate for
\nthe recovery of expenses.<\/font><\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>We call upon Nationalists in Calcutta and the Mofussil, who are at all
\ndesirous of the spread of Nationalist principles and<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-638<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Nationalist
\npractice all over India, to make ready at whatever inconvenience and, if they
\nfind it humanly possible, go to Surat to support the Nationalist cause. We are
\naware of the tremendous difficulties in our way. Surat is far-distant, the
\nexpenses of such a journey are almost prohibitive, for only a small percentage
\nof our party are men of means, and the time for preparation is almost nil. And
\nyet we must go. What is a Nationalist good for if he cannot make up by his
\nenthusiasm and energy for his other deficiencies, if he cannot make nothing of
\ndifficulties and turn the impossible into the possible? It is to sweep away
\ndifficulties and to strike the word impossible out of the Indian’s dictionary
\nthat our party has arisen. The leaders of the Deccan call us; Lala Lajpat Rai, a
\nname now made sacred to us all, is waiting to see the first fruit of his
\nsufferings in the increase of patriots wedded to the principles for professing
\nand practising which he has suffered, and the people of Gujerat are waiting
\neagerly for our advent. If Bengal goes there in force it will, we believe, set
\nflowing such a tide of Nationalism as neither bureaucrats nor Bombay Loyalists
\nare prepared to believe possible. The Christmas concessions given by the Railway
\ncompanies reduce the expense to a minimum and for those who travel by the
\nintermediate, Rs. 75 at the outside should be enough. For we are going not as
\nholiday sight-seers making a national occasion an excuse for a Christmas jaunt
\nand we do not demand comfort on the way or luxuries when we arrive. We must go
\nas poor men whose wealth is our love for our Motherland, as missionaries taking
\nnothing with them but the barest expenses of the way, as pilgrims travelling to
\nour Mother’s temple. We have a great work to do and cannot afford to be
\nnegligent and half-hearted. Be sure that this year 1907 is a turning-point of
\nour destinies, and do not imagine that the session of the Surat Congress will be
\nas the sessions of other years. Let us fear to miss by absenting ourselves the
\nchance of helping to put in one of the keystones of the house we are building
\nfor our Mother’s dwelling in. the future, the house of her salvation, the house
\nof Swaraj.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/font><\/i>,<\/font> <\/font><\/i>
\nDecember 13, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-639<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Surat Congress                     WHEN the All-India Congress Committee first betrayed its charge and degraded itself from the position of a high arbiter…<\/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-311","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\/311","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=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}