{"id":399,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=399"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:46","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:46","slug":"065-regulated-independence-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\/065-regulated-independence-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-065_Regulated Independence.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nRegulated Independence<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>N<\/font><\/b><\/span>EVER<\/b>
\nbefore were the utter helplessness and the deplorable demoralisation of the
\nNative Princes of India more clearly demonstrated than at the present moment,
\nwhen our political ideas and ideals are undergoing such a change. Writes the
\nDaily News<\/i>: <\/i>"It is gratifying to learn that some of the Native States are
\nfollowing in the wake of the Government of India for the suppression of
\nsedition, if not political agitation altogether. News comes from Srinagar that
\nHis Highness the Maharaja of Kashmir is about to issue a proclamation warning
\nhis subjects against the pitfalls of the so-called nationalist agitation. We
\ndo not doubt that his brother rulers in the Punjab will emulate so good an
\nexample." Some of us were at a loss to understand the cause of the Daily
\nNews<\/i>‘s <\/i>jubilation. Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code runs as follows:
\n"Whoever by words either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible
\nrepresentation, or otherwise brings or attempts to bring into hatred or
\ncontempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards His Majesty or
\nthe Government established by law in British India, shall be punished with
\ntransportation for life." So sedition in Kashmir is not sedition in British
\nIndia; and by the attempts of the Kashmir Darbar to suppress sedition one
\nnaturally understood attempts to suppress the endeavours of Kashmir subjects to
\nbring into hatred and contempt or excite or attempt to excite disaffection
\ntowards the Kashmir Darbar. But the Proclamation removed our doubt. We are asked
\nto believe that the Maharaja of Kashmir, with a wonderful tact for
\nself-effacement, was anxious only to protect the Government established by law
\nin British India. The Maharaja’s tender solicitude for the safety of the Power
\nwhich had sold Kashmir to his ancestor and had, only the other day, condemned
\nhim unheard, was amazing indeed. But the matter did not end here. Following
\nclose upon the issuing of the Proclamation a Darbar was held in Kashmir. Sir
\nFrancis<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font><\/span>393<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nYounghusband
\nmade a speech and the thanks of the British Government were conveyed to the
\nMaharaja. The Maharaja, we are told, was so greatly affected that he could
\nhardly find words to express his feelings, which is hardly wonderful considering
\nthe circumstances. He was able only to say that the tradition of his house was
\none of loyalty to the British Government. "This," says the Hindu
\nPatriot<\/i>, <\/i>"is as it should be."<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>We cannot understand the logic of the "oldest native paper in
\nIndia". Why should it be so? Did not the founder of the Kashmir house pay a
\nvery heavy price for Kashmir? True to a disgraceful understanding with the
\nBritish Government, of which both
\nparties ought to have been ashamed, Golab Singh <\/span>
\n\u2014<\/span>
\nto <\/span>quote Sir Thomas Holdich
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>"deserted his Sikh masters and paid
\nfor Kashmir with money looted from the Lahore treasury". So it was only
\n"give and take".<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>But these pathetic and miraculous happenings appear more intelligible \u2014
\nand less pathetic \u2014 when we realise that though the voice is the voice of
\nJacob, the hands are the hands of Esau. And this fact becomes patent when we
\nfind that Kashmir does not present an isolated instance of such zeal on the part
\nof Native Chiefs to safeguard the interests of the bureaucracy. If Kashmir can
\nbe made useful to suppress sedition, the Maharaja of Coochbehar can at least
\nhelp in putting down the boycott. On the occasion of the distribution of prizes
\nto the students of the Jenkins School the Maharaja of Coochbehar said that
\n"schoolboys were ciphers in politics", and warned them against the
\ndanger of rushing into the whirlpool of politics, or joining in any political
\nmovement. Boys must read and play and ought never to concern themselves with
\nmatters beyond their grasp, and about which, on account of their age and
\ninexperience, they have not the capacity to form sound, mature and correct
\nopinions. With Swadeshism His Highness declared his full sympathy but he
\n"was totally, entirely and absolutely against boycott". If anything
\napproaching the boycott movement was seen in his territory His Highness gave in
\nclear, emphatic and unequivocal language to understand that he would adopt very
\nstringent measures to put it down. It is a pity that it should have been made
\nnecessary for the Maharaja<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-394<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nto
\nbe so clear, emphatic and unequivocal and we can only extend to him our
\nheart-felt sympathy.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>But we cannot hold these Indian princes responsible for all they do or
\nsay. Their so-called independence is nothing more than a mere name. Though Lord
\nCurzon called them his "colleagues and partners in the task of Indian
\nadministration", the truth was better expressed by Lord Dufferin who
\ncharacterised the independence enjoyed by them as a "regulated
\nindependence", regulated by whom and to what extent it is superfluous to
\nsay. The incubus of the British Resident is always there. And the results of his
\nintervention \u2014 often disastrous to the Chiefs \u2014 were thus summed up by the
\nGaekwar of Baroda in the Nineteenth Century <\/i>in 1901: "Uncertainty
\nand want of confidence in the indigenous Government is promoted. The influence
\nof the Raja, which is indispensable for the individuality of the State, is
\nthereby impaired. The ruler, being discouraged, slackens his interest in the
\ncontinuity of his own policy." Then, of course, there are the annual
\nvisitations to relieve the States of their superfluous wealth and prove to the
\npeople that their Chief is no better than a pigmy before the viceregent of the
\nKing of England.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The attitude now taken by these Chiefs towards the spirit of Nationalism
\nthat is re-creating India, shows merely the degree to which the bureaucracy is
\ndetermined directly and indirectly to stamp out the spirit. They have greater
\nadvantages in the States than in their own territory, for they can make the
\nmeasures more thoroughgoing and rigorous than in British India and they can at
\nthe same time, through the Anglo-Indian Press, point to this rigour as a proof
\nof the superior liberalism of British bureaucracy as compared with a native
\nrule. This is indeed killing two birds with one stone.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nA
\nConsistent "Patriot"<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/b>Even Homer nods, and even the Hindu
\nPatriot <\/i>makes slips at times. Referring to the endeavours of the Kashmir
\nDarbar to<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-395<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsuppress
\n"sedition" the Patriot <\/i>wrote on the 22nd
\nMay:
\n\u2014<\/span><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

         
\n<\/span>"The Maharaja of Kashmir’s
\ndemonstration of fidelity is worthy of note. After upsetting the old law of the
\nState against European settlements and earning thanks from the Masonic
\nbrotherhood for the great concession made to them, His Highness is extirpating
\nfrom his dominions all sorts of ‘undesirables’ in a right autocratic spirit. But
\nhis brother chiefs do not seem ready to follow his noble example, and excepting
\nthe ‘enlightened’ Maharaja of Mysore, they may not care to do so. The Maharaja
\nof Kashmir, however, is in right earnest. He has prohibited public and even
\nprivate meetings of a revolutionary character and is the
\n <\/span><\/i>pet
\nof the bureaucracy for playing this sort of masterly activity."<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>But this attempt to imbibe the spirit of the age, perhaps, got a rude
\nshaking from some quarter, and the Patriot <\/i>seized the first opportunity
\nto rectify its "mistake". On the 30th it again referred to the subject
\nand remarked: \u2014<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>"The Maharaja of Kashmir’s loyalty and anti-sedition measures have
\nelicited from the Viceroy a tribute of warm appreciation. A grand Darbar was
\nheld at Srinagar to proclaim the Viceroy’s message of thanks. Sir Francis
\nYounghusband, late of the Tibet Mission, delivered a sombre sermon bristling
\nwith references to the efforts of the Maharaja to keep down sedition, and
\noverflowing with advice and good words which no doubt went straight and deep
\ninto His Highness\u2019 heart and found a comfortable lodgment there. The
\nMaharaja was so greatly affected that he could barely find words to give vent to
\nhis feelings. He was able only to say that the tradition of his house was
\nloyalty to the British Government. This is as it should be."<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>This indeed is as it should be. And it reminds us of the
\nHindu Patriot<\/i>‘s <\/i>sudden change of opinion in the matter of the site for the
\nproposed Victoria Memorial Hall and other instances of the remarkable
\nversatility and impressionability of this great organ of private opinion.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>June 4, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-396<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regulated Independence                   NEVER before were the utter helplessness and the deplorable demoralisation of the Native Princes of India more clearly demonstrated than at…<\/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-399","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\/399","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=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}