{"id":378,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=378"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:38","slug":"019-the-mirror-and-mr-tilak-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\/019-the-mirror-and-mr-tilak-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-019_The Mirror and Mr. Tilak.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nThe "Mirror" and Mr. Tilak<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>
\nT<\/font><\/b>HE<\/font><\/span> Indian Mirror<\/i>, <\/i>which is now the chief ally
\nof Government among the Congress organs in Bengal,
\nhas chosen, naturally enough, to fall foul of Mr. Tilak. Our contemporary, it appears,
\nhas heard that some people propose to put forward Mr. Tilak’s name as President
\nof the next Congress, and it hastens to point out how extremely distasteful
\nthe idea is to all thoughtful and enlightened men, that is to say, to all whose
\nviews agree with the Mirror’s<\/i>. <\/i>Mr. Tilak, we learn, has seriously
\noffended our contemporary by giving honour to Mr. Bhopatkar on his release from
\njail; his speeches on the occasion of the Shivaji festival were displeasing to
\nthe thoughtful and enlightened men who congregate in the office of the Indian
\nMirror<\/i>; <\/i>and to sum up the whole matter, he is a man of extreme views and
\nwithout "tact". Ergo, he is no fit man for the presidential chair of
\nthe Congress.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>It is
\ninteresting to learn on this unimpeachable authority what are the
\nqualifications which the moderate and loyalist mind demands in a President of
\nthe "National" Congress. It is not, apparently, the acknowledged
\nleader of one of the greatest Indian races who can aspire to that post; it is a
\nman of "tact" \u2014 one, in other words, who does not like to offend the
\nauthorities. It is not the great protagonist and champion of Swadeshi in
\nWestern India; it is a man of moderate views, one, let us say, who dare not
\nlook Truth in the face and speak out boldly what he thinks. It is not the one
\nman whom the whole Hindu community in Western India
\ndelights to honour, from Peshawar
\nto Kolhapur and from Bombay to our own borders; it is one who will not talk about
\nShivaji and Bhavani \u2014 only about Mahatmas. It is not the man who has suffered
\nand denied himself for his country’s sake and never abased his courage nor
\nbowed his head under the most crushing persecution; it is
\none who by refusing to honour a similar courage in others, dishonours the
\ncountry for which they have suffered.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-140<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIf
\nthis is the creed of our contemporary and those whose opinions it
\n"mirrors", it is not the creed of the country at large. With the
\nexception of a fast-dwindling minority of Anglophiles, the whole of <\/p>\n

India<\/p>\n

has learned to honour the name of the great
\nMaratha leader and patriot. His social and religious views may not agree with
\nthose of the "enlightened", but we have yet to learn that the Congress
\nplatform is sacred to advanced social reformers, that the profession of the
\nHindu religion is a bar to leadership in its ranks. Mr. Tilak’s only other
\noffence is the courage and boldness of his views and his sturdiness in holding
\nby them. He has dared to go to jail and honour those who follow his example, \u2014
\nthe bold bad man! And yet we seem to have somehow or other a dim recollection of
\na venerable Congress leader named Babu Narendra Nath Sen figuring prominently at
\na meeting in which men and boys who had gone to jail for resisting the
\nGovernment were honoured and saluted as national heroes. Evidently we have been
\nunder an error. Evidently our contemporary is at heart a favourer of the
\ndoctrine of self-help and action. It is talking and writing against the
\nGovernment that he condemns, but to act against the Government, rebellion
\nagainst constituted authorities has Babu Narendra Nath’s full approval. Wearing
\nthe outward guise of a loyalist, he is at heart revolutionary. Otherwise would
\nhe have presided at the 7th of August celebration and countenanced the raising
\nof the National flag? Now, at last, we understand the policy of the <\/font>
\nMirror<\/i>.
\n<\/i>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

\nWhether
\nloyalism likes it or not, Mr. Tilak is now the leader of the
\nDeccan, a man whom twenty millions look up to as their
\nchief and head. If Mr. Mehta is the "uncrowned King" of <\/p>\n

Bombay
\nCity, Mr. Tilak is the uncrowned King of all
\nMaharashtra. The attempt to exclude such a man from his
\nrightful place and influence in the counsels of the nation can only recoil on
\nits authors.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span>Leaders in Council<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n                                  
\n  The conference held in the Land-holders Association on Sunday<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-141<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tseems
\n to have been very select in its composition, the organisers confining
\n themselves mostly to staunch congress-men or those who might be supposed to
\n hold fast by Congress views. It must have been a disagreeable surprise to them
\n to find that even in this small circle a strong opposition was offered to the
\n renewal of a petitioning policy. Babu Motilal Ghose could not be excluded
\n and the views of this veteran leader on the question of action versus <\/i>resolution
\n are well known. But Babu Motilal was backed up by strong voices from the
\n Mofussil and we understand that it was only by the old plea of its being the
\n very last time that the conference was persuaded to agree to something in the
\n shape of a memorial. We know that "last time" well. It was the very
\n last time on the occasion of the Town Hall; it was the very last time at<\/p>\n

Barisal; and now again this long-lived old friend of
\n ours crops up like the clown of the pantomime with his eternal smirk and his
\n eternal "Here I am". Our leaders resemble English theatrical
\n managers, when their audiences grow small. They declare that today is the last
\n night of the piece; next day it becomes the very last night; then it is absolutely
\n the last night, and so on till it is absolutely quite the very very last, last
\n night of all. Meanwhile audiences increase and the shillings pour in.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\tBande
\n Mataram<\/i>,
\n\t<\/i> <\/font>
\n August 28, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t
\n  <\/font> <\/font>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t
\n BY THE WAY<\/a><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

 <\/font> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\tDiogenes
\n in the Statesman <\/i>indulges himself in a paragraph of grave advice to the
\n ‘self-constituted’ leaders of the Indian labour movement. For a philosopher,
\n our friend takes singularly little trouble to understand the opponents’ case.
\n Neither Mr. A. K. Ghose nor Mr. Aswini Banerji nor any of their assistants proposes,
\n so far as we know, to benefit labour by getting rid of English capital. What
\n they do propose is to get rid of the exceedingly unjust conditions under which
\n Indian labour has to sweat in order to enrich alien capitalists. And by the
\n way, as it were, they also propose to get rid of the habit of coarse insult
\n and brutal<\/font><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n Page-142<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nspeech
\nwhich Englishmen have accustomed themselves to indulge in when dealing with
\n‘low-class’ Indians.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Are the leaders of Indian labour self-constituted? One would imagine that
\nmen whom Indian workers naturally turn to in difficulty and who can organise in
\na few weeks so large an affair as the Railway Union have vindicated their claims
\nto be the national leaders of Labour. At any rate, their constituents have very
\nenthusiastically ratified their ‘self-constituted’ authority. But perhaps
\nDiogenes has been converted from cynicism to Vedanta, and sees no difference
\nbetween the self of the railway employees and the self of Mr. A. K. Ghose.
\nStill, the tub from which he holds forth is a small one, and he should not
\ncumber one-sixth of his space with such cumber.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The rift between the Labourites and the Liberals grows daily wider. The
\nalliance was never natural and cannot in its nature be permanent. But official
\nLiberaldom will be foolish indeed if it declares war on Labour at the present
\njuncture. The Socialistic element in <\/p>\n

England<\/p>\n

is quite strong enough to turn the Liberal
\ntriumph of 1905 into a serious disaster at the next elections. Nor are the
\nLabourites likely to be frightened by Ministerial menaces. Mr. Winston Churchill
\nand the Master of Elibank may thunder from their high official
\nOlympus, but Mr. Keir Hardie will go on his way unscathed
\nand unmoved. He knows that the future is with Socialism and he can afford to
\ndespise the temporary and imperfect fruits which a Liberal alliance promises.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>For us English politics have small personal interest. From the
\nConservatives we can expect nothing but open oppression, from the Liberals,
\nnothing but insincere professions and fraudulent concessions, \u2014 shadows
\ncalling themselves substance. Can we hope better things from Labour? Many whose
\njudgment we
\n respect think that there is a real ally \u2014 that the friendship of Labour for <\/p>\n

India<\/p>\n

is sincere and disinterested. For the present,
\nyes. But when Labour becomes a power and sits on front benches we fear that it
\nwill be as intolerant and oppressive as Conservatism itself. <\/p>\n

Australia<\/p>\n

is a <\/p>\n

Labour<\/p>\n

Commonwealth, and we know the attitude of the Australian
\nworking-man to Indians and Asiatics generally. <\/p>\n

India<\/p>\n

‘s hope lies not in English Liberalism or<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-143<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nLabour,
\nbut in her own strong heart and giant limbs. Titaness, who by thy mere attempt
\nto rise can burst these Lilliputian bonds, why shouldst thou clamour feebly for
\nhelp to these pigmies over the seas?<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>
\nAugust 30, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-144<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The "Mirror" and Mr. Tilak   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 THE Indian Mirror, which is now the chief ally of Government among the Congress organs in Bengal, has…<\/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-378","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\/378","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=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}