{"id":405,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=405"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:48","slug":"050-extremism-in-the-bengalee-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\/050-extremism-in-the-bengalee-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-050_Extremism in the Bengalee.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

Extremism in the "Bengalee"<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n                    <\/font><\/span>T<\/b><\/font><\/span>HE<\/span><\/font> <\/span> <\/font>Bengalee<\/i>, <\/i>
\n<\/font>excited by the news of a second outrage on the Hindu religion at Ambariya in
\nMymensingh, came out yesterday with a frankly extremist issue. We only wish
\nthat we could look on this as anything more than a fit of passing excitement;
\nbut the <\/font>Bengalee <\/font><\/i>is hot today and cold tomorrow. Nevertheless, what it
\nsays is true, and it is well and pointedly expressed: –
\n        "Fifty years ago, such a revolting outrage, committed upon the religious
\nsusceptibilities of Hindus, would have resulted in grave complications and
\nGovernment would have left no stone unturned to propitiate the Hindu Chiefs and
\nthe Hindu population, and last, though not the least, the Hindu section of the
\nNative Army. Today Government officials openly side, presumably with the
\napproval of the head of the Provincial Administration, with those who break
\nHindu images, desecrate Hindu temples, plunder the houses and shops of Hindus
\nand ravish Hindu women.
\n     "Is this the sum total of our progress after a century and a half of
\nBritish rule? Have we, Bengali Hindus, become so craven- hearted, so utterly
\nincapable of self-defence, that the Government no longer thinks it necessary to
\navoid wounding our tenderest feelings or even to keep up appearances? Verily, a
\nnation gets precisely the kind of treatment it deserves; and it appears
\nthat in the opinion of Mr. Hare — so far tacitly endorsed by Lord Minto — a
\nnation of weeping and shrieking women as the Bengalis are regarded by their
\nrulers, deserves only to be trampled underfoot. And recent happenings in the
\ndistrict of Mymensingh
\nshow that the
\nGovernment has taken an exact measure of the Hindus of Bengal. For are they not
\nthe embodiment of patience and — propriety? They are too highly educated and
\nreflective, you know, to do anything rashly and the native hue of their resolution is most reasonably and naturally and speedily sicklied o’er with the pale
\ncast of thought. They may be quite right from their<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-319<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

personal standpoint; but national heroes are not usually made of such stuff nor
\nare national interests promoted by the wearers of soft raiment. The worship of
\nMotherland is the sole privilege of those choice spirits who have the heart to
\nincur sacrifice, the hand to execute the mandate of conscience, and the
\nrecklessness to hang propriety and prudence."
\n     And the <\/font>Bengalee <\/font><\/i>complains that we do not even lift our little finger to
\nprotect our temples, our holy images and even our women from defilement and
\ndishonour. All this is surprising enough in a Moderate organ; if set before
\nanyone without any clue as to its source, it might all be taken as a verbatim
\nextract from the editorial columns of the <\/font>Bande Mataram<\/i>.
\n     "Is this the sum total of our progress after a century
\nand a half of
\nBritish rule?" — asks the <\/font>Bengalee<\/i>. <\/i> <\/font>This precisely and nothing else
\nthan this is the one inevitable result of British rule. Has it taken our
\ncontemporary so long to discover that foreign rule, and especially such a rule
\nas that of the British bureaucracy which demands entire subordination and
\ndependence in the subject people, can have no other effect than to emasculate
\nand degrade? Loyalists may enumerate a hundred blessings of British rule
\n—<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font><\/span>though, when closely
\nlooked at, they turn out to be apples of the Dead Sea which turn to dust and
\ncinders when tasted, — none of them can compensate for the one radical and
\nindispensable loss which accompanies them, the loss of our manhood, of our
\ncourage, of our self-respect and habit of initiative. When these are gone,
\nmerely the shadow of a man is left; and neither the veneer of Western culture,
\nnor enlightenment, nor position, nor British peace, nor railways, nor telegraphs
\nnor anything else that God can give or man bestow can compensate for the loss of
\nthe very basis of individual and national strength and character. Social reform?
\nWhat reform can there be of a society of lay figures who pretend to be men?
\nIndustrial progress? What will be the use of riches which may be taken from us
\nat any time by the strong hand? Moral and religious improvement? What truth or
\nvalue have these phrases to men who see their religion outraged before their
\neyes and whose wives are never safe from dishonour? Get strength first, get
\nindependence and all these things will be added unto you. But persist in your
\nfoolish mode-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-320<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

ration, your
\nunseasonable and unreasonable prudence; and another fifty years will find you
\nmore degraded than ever, a nation of Greeks with polished intellects and debased
\nsouls, body and soul
\nhelplessly at the mercy of alien masters.
\n     The <\/font>Bengalee
\n<\/font><\/i>in these fiery paragraphs denounces for the moment prudence and moderation
\nas mere weakness and cowardice. It recommends recklessness and asks us to lift
\nour hands in defence of our temples, our holy images and the honour of our
\nwomen. This is probably no more than a rhetorical outburst to relieve
\novercharged feelings. But if there is any seriousness at all in our
\ncontemporary’s wrath, let him seriously consider what his appeal means. We are
\nto rush to the defence of our temples, our holy images, the honour of our women.
\nBut who are "we"? Not surely the people of Eastern Bengal and Northern
\nBengal who, outnumbered, overwhelmed, are struggling against overwhelming odds
\nand, in spite of weak points like Jamalpur, are not acquitting themselves ill.
\nIn West Bengal the Hindus are in overwhelming majority; in West Bengal there is
\na sturdy Hindu lower class; there are thousands of students who throng to
\nSwadeshi meetings and parade at Swadeshi Jatras and festivals. But West Bengal
\nis under the spell of Babu Surendranath and his Moderate colleagues. Will Babu
\nSurendranath give the word? Is he prepared to speed the fiery cross? Shall West
\nBengal pour into the East and North to help our kinsmen, to protect "our
\ntemples, our holy images and our women from defilement and dishonour"? If
\nnot, this momentary boldness and manliness is no more than a fire of straw which
\nhad better not have been kindled. To quote our contemporary, — "The worship
\nof Motherland is the sole privilege of those choice spirits who have the heart
\nto incur sacrifice, the hand to execute the mandate of conscience and the
\nrecklessness to hang propriety and prudence."<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>
\n
\n
\nHare or
\nAnother<\/font><\/a><\/font><\/b>
\n<\/font><\/span>
\n
\nOur Moderate
\ncontemporaries seem unable to understand that the misgovernment in Eastern
\nBengal is a natural result of British policy, or rather of the peculiar position
\nof the bureaucracy in<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-321<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

India. That
\nposition can only be maintained either by hypnotising the people or
\nterrorising them. The new spirit is unsealing the eyes of the people and
\nbreaking the hypnotic spell of the last century; especially in East Bengal the
\nprocess of disillusionment has been fairly thorough. The bureaucracy is
\ntherefore compelled to fall back on the only other alternative, terrorism. But
\nour Moderate friends will persist in believing that the policy in East Bengal is
\nonly the policy of individuals. They are therefore "demanding" the
\nrecall of Mr. Hare. "He has eclipsed," says the <\/font>
\nBengalee<\/i>, <\/i> <\/font>"the
\nrecord of Aurangzeb as a persecutor of Hindus, without Aurangzeb’s excuse of
\nreligious zeal… He has made every Hindu hate British rule in the privacy of
\nhis heart." But will the recall of Mr. Hare be of any more effect than the
\nrecall of Bampfylde Fuller? For our part we had never any illusions on the
\npoint. We knew that what Sir Bampfylde began in his fury and heat of rage, Mr.
\nHare would pursue in cold blood and with silent calculation. Supposing the wish
\nof the <\/font>Bengalee<\/i>‘s <\/i> <\/font>heart gratified and Mr. Hare sent home to the enjoyment
\nof his well-earned pension, what then? A third man will come who will carry out
\nthe same policy in a different way. It is not Hare or Fuller who determines the
\npolicy of the Shillong Government, but the inexorable necessity of the
\nbureaucratic position which drives them into a line of action insane but
\ninevitable. They must either crush the Swadeshi movement or give up their powers
\nwholly or in part to the people; and to the latter course they cannot be
\npersuaded by any means which we have yet employed.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nBande Mataram<\/i>, <\/i>May 3, 1907<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage-322<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Extremism in the "Bengalee"                       THE Bengalee, excited by the news of a second outrage on the Hindu religion at Ambariya in Mymensingh, came out…<\/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-405","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\/405","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=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}