{"id":415,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=415"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:52","slug":"058-the-government-plan-of-compaign-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\/058-the-government-plan-of-compaign-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-058_The Government Plan of Compaign.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Government Plan of Campaign<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n             
\n<\/font>
\n<\/b>  <\/font> <\/span>T<\/font><\/b>HE<\/b>
\nbureaucracy is developing its campaign against Swadeshism with a great rapidity
\nand a really admirable energy and decision. Barisal was naturally the first
\ndistrict to be declared, and now we learn that Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur,
\nPabna, Rungpur and Tippera, the Habiganj sub-division of the district of Sylhet
\nand the Sudharam Thana in the district of Noakhali have also been proclaimed.
\nOthers, no doubt, will follow. All these districts have been selected for the
\nprominence they have taken in the Swadeshi movement. It is significant also that
\nin Backergunge the proclamation has been attended by a Magisterial order which
\nforbids the carrying of lathis and sword-sticks between sunrise and
\nsunset and the gathering of men in strength after nightfall. This can have no
\nother effect than to prevent the Swadeshists offering an effective resistance in
\ncase of an attack being organised at night under orders from Dacca; for it is
\nnot likely that a lawless mob bent upon mischief would pay any heed to the
\nMagisterial ukase. Meanwhile we have seen at Tangail a foreshadowing of the
\nfirst line of attack on the Students under cover of the Risley Circular. The
\nobjective of the authorities is clear enough. It is to prevent the promulgation
\nand organisation of the Swadeshi and Swaraj sentiment in Punjab and Bengal. In
\nthe promulgation of Swadeshism we have used three great instruments, the Press,
\nthe Platform and the students. The Press by itself can only popularise ideas,
\nit cannot impart that motive impulse of deep emotion and enthusiasm which is
\ngiven by the direct appeal, the personal magnetism of a born speaker. But the
\nwork of the Platform in its turn is not sufficient in itself. The motive impulse
\ncreated by the orator is apt to be evanescent, unless it is confirmed by daily
\ninsistence on the note sounded, and the inspiring sight of the idea being
\nactually carried into practice by devout and enthusiastic missionaries of the
\ncreed. In the Swadeshi agitation this part, the most important and neces-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-357<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsary
\nof the three, has been played by the students. It is they who have been the
\nactive missionaries of Swadeshism, carrying it into practice with the divine
\nardour and eagerness of youth, without the reserves of caution, temporising,
\ndoubt, half-belief with which colder age would have killed it in its birth;
\nwherever they went, they have created a permanent Swadeshi atmosphere <\/i>in
\nwhich the tender plant of Nationalism could grow, could put forth leaf and bud,
\ncould flower into the religion of patriotism.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The English have a<\/span>
\nlong experience in the art of political agitation
\nand it could not take them long to discover where the strength of the agitation
\nlay. But they were for a long time at a loss how to deal with it without losing
\ntheir prestige and reputation as a strong and benign Government. They tried
\nexperiments and would not carry them out to the end. They took up a policy of
\ndirect and violent coercion in a limited area and then, alarmed at the noise and
\nopposition created, dropped it like a hot coal. Next they tried the effect of a
\ngeneral attitude of "sympathy" and calm toleration covering with its
\nspecious and ample cloak a great deal of petty local persecution and secret
\nundermining of Swadeshism. Meanwhile they were preparing the ground for an
\nanti-Hindu campaign through the instrumentality of the Mahomedans which was only
\nto be brought into use if the policy of "sympathy" failed. The policy
\nof sympathy did fail and the local authorities were allowed to let loose the
\nMahomedan mob on the Hindus. Here again there was a failure or a very partial
\nsuccess. The first attempt at Comilla miscarried owing to the high spirit and good organisation of
\nComilla Swadeshism. The second blow at Jamalpur fell with tremendous effect, but
\nthe additional outbreak of the 27th upset
\nthe official apple-cart. It went much farther, probably, than was originally
\nintended; for, possibly, the original intention was simply to teach the Swadeshi
\nHindus a lesson and perhaps to give an excuse for exceptional measures. But the
\nsecond outbreak went too far. It drove the Hindus out of Jamalpur, it identified
\nthe officials publicly and unmistakably with the hooligans, it lit a fire that
\nspread all over Bengal and created a commotion throughout India; it gave a
\nstupendous impulse to the self-defence movement all over the province; it found
\na few scattered Akharas and left<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-358<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe
\nwhole Hindu population feverishly drilling and standing on guard. Finally, it
\nthreatened to imperil Anglo-Indian trade by prolonging the disturbances into the
\ncritical part of the jute season. Moreover, the attempt of the officials to
\nisolate Swarajism in East Bengal had failed. Swarajism had set fire to the
\nPunjab, it had begun to permeate the United Provinces, it was spreading with
\ngreat rapidity in Madras. Another year and the whole of India would have been
\nsubmerged.<\/font><\/p>\n

           
\n<\/span>It was these circumstances, apparently, which led the Government to the
\nresolution of grappling with the Frankenstein monster Lord Curzon had raised
\nand of deploying all the powers and instruments of despotism for its
\nsuppression. The panic created by the Rawalpindi disturbance has only led it to
\nunmask its batteries sooner and concentrate all its fire on Swadeshism with
\ngreater energy and rapidity than might otherwise have been the case. No direct
\nattempt has yet been made to silence the Press, but we have no doubt it will be
\ndone, if the Government find that the deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai does not
\nproduce a permanent change in its tone. On the other hand, very effective
\nmeasures have been taken against the platform. The wholesale arrests in
\nRawalpindi, the monstrous charges brought against Lala Hansraj and others for no
\nworse offence than being present at a public meeting which happened to be
\nfollowed in point of time by a riot, the deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai are all
\nmeasures of intimidation against the platform. Lest these should prove
\ninsufficient, the bureaucracy has armed itself with powers which, if carefully
\nused, will put an end to Swadeshi propaganda from the platform and can in any
\ncase crush it by violent and persistent coercion. It is applied, on the familiar
\nprinciple of localising opposition and crushing it in detail, to East Bengal and
\nPunjab only, but can easily be extended, should occasion arise. Finally, by the
\nRisley Circular it is sought to strike out of the hands of Nationalism its chief
\nstrength, the young and rising generation whose political activity in their
\nstudent days means the creation of a new race of men whom it will be impossible
\nto rule by despotic methods. If we submit, therefore, to these bureaucratic
\nmeasures it means that the three potent instruments of our movement will be
\nrendered useless for our purposes and Swadeshism<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-359<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nis
\nat an end. The bureaucracy will necessarily wait to see how we take its attack.
\nIf we submit, they will not incur unnecessary odium by pressing the measures too
\nhard but will hold them in terrorem <\/i>over us and apply them lightly
\nwherever necessary. If we try to carryon the movement, they will carryon the
\ncampaign of
\nRussianism to the bitter end, regardless of ulterior consequences, unless the
\ndevelopments are such as to convince them that the Russian method is useless or
\nworse. Meanwhile, as is shown by the deputation of Mr. Beatson Bell to
\nMymensingh, efforts will be made to get the Mahomedan outbreak under control
\nagain, if for nothing else than in the interests of jute. The Anglo-Indian cry
\nof "jute in danger" is one which cannot be ignored. Until the
\ngathering in of the jute, there will probably be no farther Mahomedan turbulence
\nexcept in sporadic instances. What will happen afterwards will depend much on
\nthe course of events between. We may also expect other attempts besides the mere
\napplication of the Risley Circular to take the sting out of the volunteer
\nmovement.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Such is the prospect before us. It is high time that we should decide how
\nwe are to meet it. Our leaders have evidently abandoned the helm and are merely
\nsitting tight watching the stormy waters roll. So poor is our organisation that
\neven a meeting of mofussil and Calcutta delegates to consider the crisis has not
\nbeen arranged. There is a talk, we learn from the Friend of India, of an
\nextraordinary All-India Congress at which Mr. Gokhale and some other delegates
\nwill meet in Bombay under the aegis of Sir Pherozshah Mehta to protest against
\nthese new settled facts. All this will not help us and we must find out our own
\nsalvation. We shall devote the next few days to expressing our own opinion of
\nthe possibilities before us and we earnestly invite the attention and opinion of
\nour readers upon them, \u2014 if they agree
\nwith us that there is still room for the open agitation for which we have always
\nstood and which we still advocate.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> May 22, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-360<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Government Plan of Campaign                   THE bureaucracy is developing its campaign against Swadeshism with a great rapidity and a really admirable energy…<\/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-415","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\/415","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=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}