{"id":408,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=408"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:49","slug":"129-a-great-opportunity-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\/129-a-great-opportunity-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-129_A Great Opportunity.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n\t\tA
\nGreat Opportunity<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                       
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span>HE<\/font><\/b>
\nrelease of Srijut Bepin Chandra Pal will take place in a few days and the
\nbureaucracy is undoubtedly looking with anxiety to see what kind of reception
\nthe people give to this great leader and propagandist after his six months\u2019
\nincarceration for conscience\u2019 sake. They will do their best to prevent by a
\nsurreptitious release any expression of public feeling either at the jail doors
\nor at the station, but it does not matter whether or not we welcome him at the
\nprecise moment and place of his release, so long as the heart of the people goes
\nout unmistakably in some mighty demonstration of feeling. That Srijut Bepin
\nChandra Pal is one of our most powerful workers on the platform and the press,
\nis a fact which even his opponents have acknowledged. That his services to the
\ncountry have been of an incalculable value, few will care to gainsay. Among a
\nlarge section of his countrymen he is recognised as the prophet of a great
\npolitical creed. Whenever men of his type fall under the displeasure of the
\npowers that be, they return to the field of work with greater vigour and a fresh
\nvitality, for theirs is a mission which thrives upon oppression and gains by
\nexile and imprisonment. Srijut Bepin Chandra also will come out of prison like a
\ngiant refreshed and renew his labour for his nation. But if his incarceration
\nhad been a source of strength to himself, has it or has it not been a source of
\nstrength to his country? This is the question which we must answer on the 9th of
\nMarch. In what terms shall we answer it? Are we to confess that the cunning
\npolicy of mingled repression and occasional forbearance has had its effect?
\nThere are some among us who advise caution and look with fear on such
\ndemonstrations as likely to provoke fresh persecution, as if it were the outward
\nebullitions of sentiment and not the fact of national aspiration which it is
\nsought to repress. Shall we by an imperfect welcome to this great tribune of the
\npeople show that these counsels of imprudent prudence have weight with us? Shall
\nwe not rather make the occasion one of universal<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-724<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nrejoicing
\nall over the country so that all may feel that the pulse of the movement is not
\nslower, that the heart of this people beats as high as before the incarceration
\nof their well-loved apostle and teacher?<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>How then are we to welcome Bepin Chandra Pal back to the scene of his
\nlabours? By illuminations, by processions, by rejoicing of every kind. We would
\nhave every town and village where the nation is awake write his welcome in
\nletters of fire on balcony and roof of their dwellings not only in Bengal but in
\nMadras, in Maharashtra, in the Punjab, wherever Nationalism is alive and the
\nname of the Mother is honoured. We invite our countrymen all over India to
\nbecome one with Bengal in the act of a rejoicing which is not for a man but for
\nthe cause he has served. Let us also arrange to lead him in procession from his
\nhouse after his return to a place of public meeting with such pomp and ceremony
\nas befits one who returns from a great victory to his native land; for the jail
\nis a place of exile and the prisoner released is a soldier who has waged a great
\nmoral conflict for his country and returns triumphant carrying with him his
\nunblemished patriotism and the unlowered flag of his courage as the trophies of
\nthe fight. And in the place of assembly let all parties unite to do him honour
\nso that the return of this Nationalist leader may be the best answer to those
\nwho rejoice in our dissensions and seek in them the safety which they cannot
\nhope for from the justice of their bureaucratic rule or the righteousness of
\ntheir absolutist cause. And if in addition every considerable society of workers
\nand patriots expresses separately its appreciation and respect, the welcome will
\nbe worthy of the occasion, and a great opportunity for fresh national
\ninspiration and the upwelling of a living enthusiasm will have been nobly
\nused. Whoever thinks that this is a time for nourishing old grudges or
\nremembering past feuds, is wanting in patriotism and insight. The hour is one of
\ngrowing national unity and there is in the heart of the people a desire to have
\ndone with barren dispute and set themselves to the sacred work to which this
\ngeneration has been called. Whoever stops now to weigh and consider whether he
\nis at one with Bepin Chandra in the views of which he is the chief exponent or
\ncan entirely appreciate the reasons of his refusal to<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-725<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ngive
\nevidence, is allowing trifles to obscure the greatness of the thing which Bepin
\nChandra for the moment represents. It is not the man or the action which will be
\nhonoured by a public demonstration. The man is nothing but the cause is
\neverything. The action is nothing, but the sacrament of suffering is everything.
\nThis sacrament of suffering has been in this instance the privilege not of the
\nrank and file of the national army but of a great leader and captain, whose name
\nis honoured in every part of India. Such an occasion is one of rare occurrence,
\nfor it is usually the private soldiers who are food for powder and the leaders
\nstand out of range for the better safety of the work. Yet when one is struck
\ndown, it is a matter for national rejoicing, that so illustrious a name has been
\nadded to the roll of those who have been chosen to give proofs of the noblest
\npatriotism and courage.<\/font><\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>We therefore invite all to join in this demonstration. We do not wish
\nthis occasion to be marred by the memories of past dissension but to be ennobled
\nby the growing hope of a great united movement forward in the future. In the
\nperson of Bepin Chandra let the present impulse towards a better understanding
\nfind a consummation which all the world cannot fail to understand. Let it be the
\nseal of reconciliation which began at Pabna, and the beginning of united action
\nfor the better organisation of the work to which all Bengal without distinction
\nof parties is now irrevocably pledged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nThe
\nStrike at Tuticorin<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe
\nstruggle at present in progress at Tuticorin is one of absorbing interest. This
\nis not the first instance in which Madras has shown how deeply it is imbued with
\nthe spirit of a strong and enthusiastic Nationalism. But on this occasion there
\nis a note of firm serious strength in the attitude of the people which is proof
\nof a great advance on former outbreaks of Nationalist feeling. Why the
\nauthorities should have chosen to apprehend a miniature rebellion in Tuticorin,
\nthey themselves alone know. The people are conducting themselves with a
\nmarvellous combination of firmness and dignity, with quiet self-control and have<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-726<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ngiven
\nabsolutely no hold to the excited local bureaucrats. We can only suppose that as
\nthe self-assertion of Indian labour has evoked the enthusiastic support of the
\npeople, so the menace to the despotic control of the labour market by British
\ncapital has been taken by the bureaucrats as a blow aimed at British rule. The
\nidentity of the interests of administration and exploitation of which Lord
\nCurzon was the prophet is, no doubt, at the root of this unseemly alliance
\nbetween the Coral Mills and the British Government. The people seem to have
\nfound worthy leaders in Sjts. Chidambaram Pillai and Subramaniya Siva and have
\nso far held their own in the struggle. We await further developments with
\ninterest and with confidence in their courage and discretion.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 4, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-727<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Great Opportunity                           THE release of Srijut Bepin Chandra Pal will take place in a few days and the bureaucracy is undoubtedly looking…<\/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-408","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\/408","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=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}