{"id":379,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=379"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:39","slug":"101-the-nagpur-imbroglio-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\/101-the-nagpur-imbroglio-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-101_The Nagpur Imbroglio.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Nagpur Imbroglio<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n                 I<\/font>T
\nIS<\/font><\/b> <\/span>
\ndifficult to get authentic and undisputed
\nnews of the Nagpur imbroglio, but if report is to be believed, there is a better
\nchance than before of a satisfactory working compromise. It is in every way
\ndesirable that the present difficulties should be smoothed over if that can be
\ndone without any sacrifice to essential principle, and for any such compromise
\nit is essential for both sides to recognise that while they may and should fight
\nstubbornly for their principles both outside and inside the Congress, yet the
\nNational Assembly itself is not the monopoly of either. A great deal of clamour
\nhas been raised by the Moderates of Nagpur and Bombay over the outbursts of
\nexcited popular feeling in which a few Loyalists were roughly handled, and use
\nhas been freely made of them to obscure the real issue. It is well therefore
\nthat this incident, which we must all regret, should be understood in its true
\nlight. The Moderate majority on the Nagpur Reception Committee happens to be a
\nfactitious majority and most of the members take no sustained interest in the
\nCommittee work, while the Nationalist minority are alert and active. At the
\nmeeting which elected the Executive Committee the Moderates did not attend
\nexcept in small numbers and a strong Nationalist majority was elected. The
\ninconveniences of this tactical defeat were very soon felt by the Moderate Party
\nand after a fashion to which they are unfortunately too much addicted, they
\ntried to remedy their original error by riding roughshod over procedure and the
\nunwritten law that guides the conduct of all public bodies. Mr. Chitnavis, one
\nof the Secretaries, called on his own initiative a fresh meeting to elect a new
\nExecutive in which the Moderates should predominate. Dr. Munje, also a
\nSecretary, was perfectly within his rights in opposing the bare-faced illegality
\nof this unconstitutional procedure and refusing to allow the meeting to be held.
\nMeanwhile, great popular excitement had been created and there was a strong
\nfeeling of indignation among the students and people in general<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-569<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nagainst the Moderate aristocrats of Nagpur
\nand when they issued from the abortive meeting, they were angrily received by
\nthe crowd waiting outside and handled in a very rough and unseemly manner. This
\nwas certainly regrettable, but it is absurd to make the Nationalist leaders in
\nNagpur responsible for the outburst. All that they did was to baffle a very
\ndiscreditable attempt to defy all constitutional procedure and public decorum in
\nthe interests of party trickery, and in doing so they were entirely right.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n            A persistent attempt has also
\nbeen made to prejudice the Nagpur Nationalists in the eyes of the country and
\nobscure the real question by grossly misrepresenting their action with regard to
\nthe issue about the Presidentship. By the rule formulated at last year’s
\nCongress \u2014 a rule we have always considered foolish and unworkable
\n\u2014<\/span> the local Reception Committee has to
\nelect the President for the year by a three-fourths majority, and, if they
\ncannot do so, the decision rests with the All-India Congress Committee. This
\narrangement is admirably conceived for swelling the Congress funds on the one
\nhand and for defeating public opinion on the other. The Reception Committee is
\nnot an elected or representative body but is constituted on a money basis, as
\nany one who can pay twenty-five rupees or get another to pay it for him can have
\nhis name enrolled as a member. Whichever side has the longer purse can secure
\nthe election of the President of its choice. Such an election is no more likely
\nto represent public opinion than Mr. Morley’s Council of Notables is likely to
\nrepresent it. Like the Council of Notables, it will represent the opinion of the
\nmoneyed aristocracy, the men of position and purse, the men "with a stake in the
\ncountry". Nevertheless, the rule is there and so long as it stands, it must be
\nobserved. The position in Nagpur as in the Deccan is this, that the Loyalist
\nModerate Party is composed of the wealthy, successful and high-placed men, the
\nretired officials, the Rai Sahebs and Rai Bahadurs, the comfortable professional
\nmen and those who pride themselves on their English education and Western
\nenlightenment and look down with contempt on the ignorant masses. On the other
\nhand, the young men and the poorer middle class form the bulk of the Nationalist
\nParty, although it contains a<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-570<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nminority of the wealthier men. The lines
\nof divergence are therefore somewhat different from those in Bengal and the gulf
\nbetween the two parties wider both in opinion and in spirit. In Bombay or Nagpur
\nit would be perfectly impossible for a man like Srijut Surendranath Banerji to
\nbe a leader of the Moderates; he would be looked on with suspicion, continually
\nchecked, snubbed, thrust into the shadow and eventually forced out of the camp.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n            The struggle over the
\nPresidentship in Nagpur followed lines necessitated by the character of the two
\nparties. The Moderates relied on the length of their purse, the Nationalists
\nappealed to the people. A few Moderates of wealth advanced money and filled the
\nReception Committee with men of their persuasion, who were therefore in a sense
\npaid to vote for any President proposed by their wealthy patrons. The
\nNationalists, on the other hand, created a Nationalist organisation or Rashtriya
\nMandali and invited all who were willing to become members of the Reception
\nCommittee on condition that Mr<\/i>. Tilak became President <\/i>to send in the
\nrequisite sum, not to the Reception Committee but to the Rashtriya Mandali.
\nEventually it was found that though the total sum raised by the Nationalists was
\nmuch larger than that contributed by the Moderate magnates, yet the votes it
\nrepresented fell short of three-fourths. It was decided, therefore, after paying
\nin the sums sent in unconditionally to the Congress funds, to devote the rest to
\nsome Nationalist purpose, preferably the creation of a National School in Nagpur.
\nThis decision has been deliberately misrepresented as a perversion of Congress
\nfunds and a refusal on the part of the Nationalist Party to contribute their
\nshare of the Congress expenses. The money was expressly sent in on the condition
\nand with the proviso that the contributors would become members of the Reception
\nCommittee only <\/i>if there was a certainty of Mr. Tilak’s being elected, and
\nfor this reason it was sent in to the Rashtriya Mandali and not to the Congress
\nCommittee, as the latter could not accept conditional contributions. In the
\ndisposal of these monies, therefore, Mr. Tilak not having been elected, the
\nCongress has no concern whatever and the Moderate Party less than none; it is a
\nmatter entirely between the Nationalist<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-571<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\norganisation and its contributors. Yet it
\nis on these and similarly flimsy pretexts that the Moderate magnates have
\nwithdrawn from the Reception Committee.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n            A compromise can now be
\narrived at only on condition that the present constitution of the Executive
\nCommittee is not interfered with and that the Congress session will be duly held
\nat Nagpur. To transfer the Congress to Madras or any other centre for the
\nconvenience of the Moderate Party while there are men willing to hold it in
\nNagpur, would mean a definite and final split in the Congress camp, which would
\nturn the Congress into a Rump of Loyalists and Moderates possibly with a
\nNationalist Assembly standing in opposition to it. The All-India Committee is
\nnot likely to force on such an undesirable consummation. Whoever mayor may not
\nretire himself from the Reception Committee, the body itself remains and is the
\nonly one constitutionally capable of holding the session this year. On the other
\nhand, the rule of the three-fourths majority remains and if Mr. Tilak’s
\nfollowers cannot secure this for their nominee, the Nationalists cannot lower
\nthemselves by attempting to secure his election by any unfair or
\nunconstitutional means. They may also meet the Moderates halfway by raising
\nfurther funds as their share of the Congress expenditure. If Mr. Tilak is not
\nelected, it does not matter to us, in the absence of Lala Lajpat Rai, whether
\nDr. Rash Behari Ghose or any other figurehead graces the Presidential seat, and
\nthis need not be a cause of further quarrel. On the basis of Dr. Ghose’s
\nelection and the status quo <\/i>in other respects a compromise ought not to
\nbe impossible, and at the present juncture it is undoubtedly desirable. We hope
\nthat good sense and not party feeling will prevail.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i>
\n<\/font>October 29, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-572<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nagpur Imbroglio                    IT IS difficult to get authentic and undisputed news of the Nagpur imbroglio, but if report is to be believed,…<\/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-379","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\/379","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=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}