{"id":392,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=392"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:43","slug":"159-the-future-and-the-nationalists-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\/159-the-future-and-the-nationalists-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-159_The Future and the Nationalists.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Future and the Nationalists<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                       
\n<\/font>W<\/font>HATEVER<\/font><\/b>
\nview we take of the present situation, the first duty of every Nationalist is to
\ntake care that the great principles of Nationalism are not infringed by any
\nconcession to the party of fear and self-interest which would imperil the future
\nof the movement and the destiny of the nation. All the articles we have written
\non the Convention have been the expression of a momentary policy dictated by the
\ngreat and almost universal desire in the country that a split should be avoided.
\nBut we should never forget that policy is subordinate to principle. As a
\ndemocratic party, it is our duty to bow to the will of the majority in all
\nmatters which do not break the mould of Nationalism to serve the interests of a
\nmoment. Unity is at present a means and not an end in itself. As we have often
\npointed out, unanimity is not unity but merely an affectation of unity. There is
\nan idea in many minds that our salvation lies in the removal of all differences,
\nreligious, social and political, but we may wait for many millenniums before
\nsuch an Utopia can be reached in this world. Differences of religion, social
\nstatus and political opinion there must be. Unanimity is a condition only
\npossible to a nation whose heart is numbed and whose intellect has ceased to be
\nactive; for diversity is the very condition of activity, its cause and again its
\nresult. No one can deny that the differences of opinion which have arisen among
\nus are largely responsible for the extraordinary political activity which has
\nkept India astir for the last two years and set the whole world looking towards
\nthe banks of the Ganges in eager expectation of a new birth among the nations.
\nOn the other hand, the activity itself has emphasised and increased the
\ndifferences of opinion both between the parties and in the parties themselves.
\nThe only thing we have to see to is that this diversity is not allowed to break
\nup the nation into warring factions, and we are therefore anxious to save, if
\npossible, the Congress from extinction, because the Congress at present is the
\nonly ground of unity in diversity, the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-867<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n
<\/span><\/i>\n<\/div>\n

\nonly field where all can meet to diverge and again meet without
\nloss of principle or violence to conscience. It is a centre into which the
\ndifferent streams of thought and activity in the country can flow and mix with
\neach other, to again separate and work in their own channels till the time to
\nmeet and intercommunicate again arrives. The Congress, therefore, provides the
\npoint of unity which prevents the diversity of our political activities from
\ndissolving our political life into so many disconnected units.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n            Unity, as we have said, is a means and not an end. To agree is easy
\nif we are willing to sacrifice our principles, but such agreement is not unity;
\nit is sacrificing the soul of the nation so that an artificial appearance of
\nunanimity may be preserved. No unity can be desirable which is inconsistent with
\ngrowth or with the march of the people towards the realisation of their great
\ndestiny. Growth is the object, unity only one of the means, and if the means can
\nonly be had on condition of sacrificing the object, the means and not the object
\nmust be sacrificed. If the Convention refuses to associate with the Nationalists
\nexcept on condition of the latter sacrificing their principles and stultifying
\ntheir intellectual convictions, the demand for unity can no longer be pressed on
\nthe Nationalist Party, which will then be free to take its own course without
\nreference to anything but its own principles and the exigencies of its
\npropaganda. We have done our best to carry out the demand of the people for
\nunity; the refusal comes from the other side and there the responsibility will
\nrest. If the country desires unity, it is for the country to enforce it by
\nrefusing to countenance a body claiming to be the Congress and yet taking its
\nstand on the negation of unity. The Nationalists cannot sit as beggars at the
\ndoors of the Convention waiting till the doors be opened to them. They are the
\nbuilders of Indian Nationality, the inheritors of the future, and their work
\ncalls them. If the Convention wants at any time in the near future to retrace
\nits steps and become one with the Nationalists, it knows the conditions, but
\ntime will increase the difficulty of reunion and the conditions will change as
\nthe sacrifices made by the Nationalists for the sake of their cause become
\ngreater and their work advances. It is time for us to turn from the attempt to
\npatch up matters with men who are pledged to disrup-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-868<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n
<\/span><\/i>\n<\/div>\n

\ntion and concern ourselves with our own proper work.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n            That work is too heavy for us already, and it will become still more
\ndifficult under the new circumstances with an enemy in the house as well as an
\nenemy outside. If we are to face the task with any hope of success, it must be
\nwith a much stricter organisation, a general closing up of our ranks and the
\ncreation of instruments for united work and mutual co-operation. We have
\nhitherto been able to work in a scattered and desultory fashion, because we were
\nable to use the Congress organisations brought into existence by the demand for
\npractical work and to take part in and give our stamp to existing bodies. The
\nConvention’s new District Associations will consist only of men pledged to the
\ncreed. Wherever an Association refuses to be bound by the creed, it will be
\nexcluded from the Conventionalist Congress and regarded as a Nationalist body.
\nUnder these circumstances the country’s demand for unity will become impossible
\nof fulfilment and rival organisations will spring into existence in every
\nprovince and every district, one pledged to association with the bureaucracy,
\nthe other to boycott and self-help. If these bodies admit both parties, they
\nwill stand apart from any existing organisation. Such a state of things can only
\nbe temporary, but it is for a time inevitable if the Convention constitution is
\ncarried out. The Nationalists are bound to protect themselves from the attempt
\nto exclude them from political life by organising themselves in such a way that
\nthey may become a force in the country which neither bureaucrats nor Loyalists
\ncan either ignore or think it an easy task to crush. Organisation, therefore,
\nwill be the first difficulty to overcome. When once we have succeeded in
\norganising our present scattered forces, the spirit of progress, once awake,
\nwill work for us and through us giving us greater and greater following and
\nstrength till the work of building up the nation becomes so evidently ours that
\nthe whole country will range itself under our standard. Then and only then will
\nthat unity become possible which can create a nation.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i>
\n<\/font>
\nApril 22, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-869<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Future and the Nationalists                           WHATEVER view we take of the present situation, the first duty of every Nationalist is to take care…<\/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-392","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\/392","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=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}