{"id":391,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=391"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","slug":"063-the-ordinance-and-after-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\/063-the-ordinance-and-after-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-063_The Ordinance and After.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nThe
\nOrdinance and After<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>W<\/font><\/span><\/b>E
\nHAVE<\/b> pointed out in previous articles
\nwhat we considered to be the individual effect of three of the measures of
\nrepression adopted by the bureaucracy in their fight with the Swadeshi movement.
\nThe review has led us to the conclusion that there is so far no new element in
\nthe situation beyond, on the one hand, the clear and universal conviction that
\nhas been carried home to the people of the nature and extent of the resistance
\nwhich we may expect from the bureaucracy and, on the other, the more urgent
\nnecessity of adopting certain measures for national defence and resistance which
\nought to have been taken before. The conditions of the problem have not been
\nmaterially changed, but its acuteness has been enhanced. The persecution of
\nSwadeshi leaders and workers is nothing new, but it has increased in scale and
\nin the atrocity of the punishments \u2014 and it is being carried out not by local
\nofficials but by the Government of India. The attempt to break the back of the
\nmovement by restricting the action of students and teachers is nothing new, but
\nit is now being taken up deliberately, systematically, not by a local
\nadministration, but by the Government of India. The utilisation by the
\nbureaucracy of Nawab Salimullah and by the Nawab Salimullah of hooligans to
\nharass and, if possible, break the Boycott is nothing new, but the extent to
\nwhich this sinister opposition has been carried and the wide space of country
\nover which it has been attempted is a new phenomenon. But there is one measure
\nof the Government which is in itself a new phenomenon and seriously affects, if
\nit does not entirely alter, the whole situation. This is the Coercion Ordinance
\ndirected against public meetings. It would not be true to say that the ordinance
\nwas absolutely unforeseen. We at least had always held it extremely probable if
\nnot quite certain that this and even more violent and crushing methods of
\ncoercion would eventually be adopted by the bureaucracy in its struggle for
\nself-preservation. But we did not anti-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-383<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ncipate
\nso rapid a development of coercive measures, or that they would reach their
\nheight, as they threaten to do under a professedly Radical and Democratic
\nGovernment. Not that we ever believed there was any essential difference between
\nLiberals and Conservatives with regard to India, but there was a difference in
\ntheir professions and we imagined that what the Conservatives would do
\nimmediately and without compunction, the Liberals would also do, but with
\nhesitation and some show of reluctance. There has, however, been no slightest
\nsign of reluctance. With alacrity and a light heart they have refused to India
\nthat right of free speech and free meeting which their political creed declares
\nto be a common and fundamental right and to deny which is an act of tyranny.
\nNevertheless, though not expected so soon, the Coercion Ordinance was not a
\ncontingency which had altogether been left out of view.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n         
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>What then is the new condition which it creates? One of immense
\nimportance. Up till now our whole programme with unimportant exceptions has
\nfallen well within the law. We have worked against bureaucratic government, we
\nhave not worked against the law nor exceeded its restrictions to any of our
\nmethods. So careful have we been in this respect that the bureaucracy have been
\nat a loss where to get a hold on the Swadeshi movement without losing their
\nprestige and reputation, and in the end they have been obliged to throw their
\nreputation overboard and allow the agents of their ally, the Nawab of Dacca, to
\ncreate disorder so as to prepare the way for proclaiming the Swadeshi areas.
\nThis desire to keep within the law was not, as some of our disappointed
\nadversaries suggested, born of fear or unwillingness to bear sacrifices for the
\ncountry \u2014 for even without breaking the law many Swadeshi workers had to go to
\njail or undergo police and Goorkha violence, but part of a well-reasoned policy.
\nTo be able to keep within the law gives an immense advantage to a young movement
\nopposed by a strong adversary in possession of all the machinery of legal
\nrepression and oppression; for it allows it to grow into adult strength before
\ngiving the enemy a sufficient grasp to strangle it while it is yet immature.
\nMoreover, a nation which can show a respect for law even in the first throes of
\na revolution has a better chance of enjoying a<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font><\/span>384<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nstable
\nand successful Government of its own when its chance comes. Nevertheless
\nlegality can never be the first consideration in a struggle of the kind we have
\nentered upon, and if new laws are passed which offend against political ethics,
\nwhich make our service and duty to our country impossible and to obey which
\nwould therefore be an unpatriotic act, they cannot possibly command obedience.
\nStill more is this the case when the measure in question is not a law, but an
\nexecutive ukase which may be prevented from passing into law. This can best be
\ndone by a widespread and quiet but determined passive resistance which will make
\nthe ukase inoperative without a resort to measures of the most extreme and
\nshameless Russianism. We have not concealed our opinion that this is the course
\nthe country ought to adopt in the present juncture, if for no other reason, then
\nbecause it is our duty as men, as citizens, as patriots.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>We recognise, however, that much is yet to be said on the opposite side.
\nThe strongest argument against the course we have suggested, is that the
\nbureaucracy evidently desire an immediate struggle. The course of events at
\nBarisal, the recent outrageous insult to a
\nprominent Swadeshi worker and the insolent harassment of the townspeople by the
\nlocal officials and their underlings, are extremely significant. The attempt
\nto provoke a struggle between the Hindus and the Mahomedans culminating in the
\nsingular affair of the Barisal night panic which still calls for explanation,
\nhas been a failure. It seems that the police are now attempting to force on some
\ndemonstration which will give them an excuse for turning Barisal into a second
\nRawalpindi. The unprovoked blow given by a Goorkha to Srijut Satish Chandra
\nChatterjee was obviously a prearranged affair, leaving the victim the choice
\nbetween swallowing the insult and an act of retaliation which might have led to
\nan \u00e9meute<\/i>. <\/i>We think that Srijut Satish Chandra on the whole did well to
\nsubordinate his feelings to the good of his country, but the odds were the other
\nway, and the police must have known it. That in case of resistance even of the
\nmost passive kind, the police or military would not "hesitate to
\nshoot", is extremely probable from the action of the Punjab authorities and
\nthe known attitude of the local officials in East Bengal. Would it then be wise
\nfor us, it is argued, to expose<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-385<\/font><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

\nourselves
\npassively to the arrest and deportation of our leaders, <\/font> <\/span>
\nthe
\ndragooning of our towns and villages, the utmost outrages on men and women and
\nall the violent ills of despotic repression, without any certain gain to the
\ncountry to set in the opposite balance? The question really turns on the
\nprecise strength of the movement at its present stage of growth. If it is
\nalready strong enough to bear extreme Russian repressions without becoming
\nunnerved and demoralised, the course we have suggested is the best, because it
\nis the boldest. If not, it would be sounder policy perhaps to leave the
\nbureaucracy to its Pyrrhic victory for a while and immediately turn all our
\nenergies to giving the movement the necessary strength, \u2014 in other words, the
\nnecessary organisation of men, money and means which it needs in order to cope
\nwith the bureaucracy on equal terms. The choice lies between these alternatives.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nCommon Sense in an Unexpected Quarter<\/font><\/a><\/h3>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt
\nhas given us quite a turn to find the following criticism of Mr. Morley’s
\napproaching "reforms" in the columns of India. "Tinkering with
\nthe Indian administrative machine will no longer avail. A thorough overhauling
\nof its component parts has become imperative and unless the leaders of opinion
\nin India are encouraged to play a part in the work of Government in a manner
\nwhich is altogether denied to them today, the last state of India will be
\ndeplorably and ominously worse than the first." Of course India <\/i>is
\nmuch behind the times in imagining that "encouragement" to the leaders
\nof public opinion will meet the situation. The least that India now demands is the admission
\nof the people of the country to the management of its own affairs. But it is at
\nonce surprising and gratifying to find that the organ of Palace Chambers has at
\nlast realised the necessity of a complete and revolutionary change in the whole
\nsystem of administration. It quotes against Mr. Morley an admirable passage of
\nhis own writings in which this pregnant observation occurs. "A small and
\ntemporary improvement may really be the worst enemy of a great and permanent
\nimprovement unless the first is<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-386<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nmade
\non the line and in the direction of the second." Precisely so. This is the
\nmain reason, even apart from their insufficiency, that any mere administrative
\nreforms are looked on with suspicion by the Nationalist Party. The great and
\npermanent improvement India demands is an entire change of the principles of
\nGovernment in India, and a small and temporary improvement in details, leaving
\nthe principles untouched, would not be "on the line and in the
\ndirection" of the great improvement called for; it would be its worst
\nenemy. Merely to temper absolute bureaucratic power by providing means for
\nconsulting the "leaders of public opinion" is a reform which would be
\nthe worst enemy of Indian self-government. We recommend this dictum of Mr.
\nMorley, the philosopher, to Mr. Gokhale and other Moderates.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nDrifting Away<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/h3>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBombay
\nis nearer London than Calcutta; and while Mr. Gokhale during his visit to
\nCalcutta tried to organise a special session of the Congress at Bombay, the
\npeople of Bombay are contemplating the holding of the next session of the
\nCongress in London. The Guzerati <\/i>writes: \u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>"The idea of holding the next session of the Indian National
\nCongress in London is a good idea. Years ago a similar proposal was put forward.
\nBut it was not taken up by Congressmen in right earnest. The extremists who are
\nsure to quote Mr. Morley’s reply to the anti-Partition memorialists in
\njustification of their opposition to sending any petitions, will be probably
\nalso opposed to holding any session of the Congress in London. Excluding this
\nclass of Indians, the more thoughtful, sober-minded and responsible section of
\nCongressmen who form the majority, will be in favour of the idea, provided
\nfinancial difficulties could be overcome and the most representative Congressmen
\ninduced to visit England."<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

         <\/span>And it asserts that "a successful Congress session in London would
\nbe more fruitful especially at a juncture like the present<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font><\/span>387<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthan
\nfive sessions held in India". Fruitful in what respect? If our contemporary
\nmeans fruitful in expenditure, humiliation and loss of self-respect, then we
\nmust agree with him. Why should the National <\/i>Congress hold its session in
\nLondon? The nation does not live in London and the root-idea of a national <\/i>movement
\nis opposed to this continual theatrical supplication to the very people who are
\ninterested in preventing us from becoming a nation. While our contemporary
\nconfidently asserts that
\na successful session in London would be more "fruitful" than <\/span>five
\nsessions held in India, we, belonging as we do to that section which Mr. Romesh
\nDutt during his two hours\u2019 presidentship of the Congress saw routed by the
\nModerates, may be permitted to suggest that one such session will do more injury
\nto the country and the cause than five years without a session of the Congress.
\nThe attitude of British statesmen, moreover, is not encouraging even to the
\nModerates who still think of getting rights marked "Made in Great
\nBritain" in the same consignment with Liverpool salt or Manchester
\npiecegoods. The hand on the dial will be put back if we leave the nation and
\ncheck the growing spirit of self-help and self-exertion to go and beg for
\n"rights" in England and spend on this fruitless act sums which we
\nbadly require for the long-neglected task of national organisation. "The
\ntime," says our contemporary, "has come when Congressmen in a body
\nshould face the British public." Possibly; but not to "plead the cause
\nof India and her inhabitants in the very metropolis of the Empire". This
\nidea about the British public is a pure superstition. The British public will
\nnever interfere with the action of its representatives and kinsmen in India and
\nin the India Office, unless and until it finds itself in danger of losing its
\nEmpire in the East. The quarrel has to be fought out between the people of India
\nand the Anglo-Indian bureaucracy, and it must be fought out on the soil. To
\nattempt to transfer the field of battle to London will be impracticable and
\nharmful.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>May 30, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-388<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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