{"id":422,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=422"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:54","slug":"026-the-results-of-the-congress-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\/026-the-results-of-the-congress-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-026_The Results of the Congress.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nThe Results of the Congress<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font>
\n                       
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span><\/b>HE<\/b>
\ngreat Calcutta Congress, the centre of so many hopes and fears, is over. Of the
\nvarious antagonistic or contending forces which are now being hurled together
\ninto that Medea’s cauldron of confused and ever fiercer struggle out of which a
\nfree and regenerated India is to arise, each one had its own acute fears and
\nfervent hopes for the results of this year’s Congress. Anglo-India and Tory
\nEngland feared that the Extremists might capture the assembly, they hoped that a
\nsplit would be created, and, as a result, the Congress either come to an end and
\nland itself in the limbo of forgotten and abortive things or else, by the
\nexpulsion of the new life and the new spirit from its midst, sink into the
\ncondition of a dead-alive ineffectual body associated with the Government and
\nopposing it now and then only for form’s sake. Liberal England represented by
\nthe Cottons and Wedderburns hoped that the unsustaining and empty concessions
\nMr. Morley is dangling before the eyes of the Moderate leaders might bring back
\nthe Congress entirely into its old paths and the new spirit be killed by the
\nshow of kindness. It feared that the National Assembly might see through the
\ndeception and publicly demand that there should be either substantial
\nconcessions or none at all. In India itself the Moderates feared that the
\nforward party in Bengal might force through the Congress strong resolutions on
\nBoycott and other alarming matters or else avenge their failure by wrecking the
\nCongress itself, but they hoped that by an imposing show of ex-Presidents on the
\nplatform, by the reverence due to the age and services of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji,
\nby the dominant personality of the lion of the Bombay Corporation, by the strong
\ncontingents from Bombay city, Gujerat and other provinces still unswept by new
\nbrooms, by the use of tactics and
\n<\/span>straining in
\ntheir favour all the advantages of an indefinite and <\/span>nebulous
\nconstitution, they would quell the Extremists, prevent the bringing forward of
\nthe Boycott and keep absolute control<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-201<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nof
\nthe Congress. The forward party hoped to leave the impress of the new thought
\nand life on the Congress of 1906, to get entire Self-Government recognised as
\nthe ideal of the Congress and Swadeshi and Boycott as the means, and to obtain a
\npublic recognition of the new ideas in the Presidential address, but they feared
\nthat the realisation of such considerable results would be too much to hope for
\nin a single year and a fierce and prolonged struggle would be needed to overcome
\nthe combined forces of conservatism, timidity, self-distrust and self-interest,
\nwhich have amalgamated into the loyalist Moderate Party. Such was the state of
\nmind of the conflicting parties when the Calcutta Congress was opened on the
\n26th.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Today on the 30th, we can look back and count our gains and losses. The
\nhopes of Anglo-India have been utterly falsified and the Anglo-Indian journals
\ncannot conceal their rage and disappointment. The loudest in fury is our dear
\nold perfervid Englishman <\/i>which cries out in hollow tones of menace that
\nif the Congress tolerates Boycott, the Congress itself will not be tolerated.
\nThe hopes and fears of Liberal England have been only partially fulfilled and
\npartially falsified; the Congress has definitely demanded Colonial
\nSelf-Government and it has accepted the offered concessions of Mr. Morley only
\nas steps towards that irreducible demand; the new spirit, instead of being
\nkilled by kindness, has declared in no uncertain voice its determination to
\nlive. The fears of the Moderates have been falsified; no strongly worded
\nresolutions have been passed: neither has the Congress been wrecked by the rapid
\ndevelopment of contending parties in our midst. Their hopes too have been
\nfalsified. Nothing was more remarkable in the present Congress than its
\nanti-autocratic temper and the fiery energy with which it repudiated any attempt
\nto be dictated to by the authority of recognised leaders. Charges of want of
\nreverence and of rowdyism have been freely brought against this year’s Congress.
\nTo the first charge we answer that the reverence has been transferred from
\npersons to the ideal of the motherland; it is no longer Pherozshah Mehta or even
\nMr. Dadabhai Naoroji who can impose silence
\nand acquiescence on the delegates of the nation by their presence and authority,
\nfor the delegates feel that they owe a<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-202<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ndeeper
\nreverence and a higher duty to their country. Henceforth the leaders can only
\ndeserve reverence by acting in the spirit of the chief servants of their country
\nand not in the spirit of masters and dictators. This change is one of the most
\ngenuine signs of political
\nprogress which we have observed in our midst. The charge of rowdyism merely
\nmeans that the Congress, instead of a dead unanimity and mechanical cheers, has
\nthis time shown lively signs of real interest and real feeling. It is ridiculous
\nto contend that in a national assembly the members should confine themselves
\nto signs of approval only and conceal their disapproval; in no public assembly
\nin the world, having a political nature, is any such rule observed; and the
\nmother of Parliaments itself is in the habit of expressing its disapproval with
\nfar greater vehemence than was done in this year’s Congress. It was due to
\nthis growth of deep feeling and of the spirit of independence that the spells on
\nwhich the Moderate leaders had depended, failed of their power to charm. The
\nlion of the Bombay Corporation
\nfound
\nthat a mightier lion than himself had been aroused in Bengal,<\/span>
\n―
\nthe
\npeople.
\n<\/span>        For ourselves, what have we to reckon as lost or gained? No strongly
\nworded resolutions have been passed and we are glad that none have been passed,
\nfor we believe in strong action and not in strong words. But our hopes have been
\nrealised, our contentions recognised if not always precisely in the form we desired or with as much
\nclearness and precision as we ourselves would have used, yet definitely enough
\nfor all practical purposes. The Congress has declared Self-Government on
\nColonial lines to be its demand from the British Government and this is only a
\nsomewhat meaningless paraphrase of autonomy or complete self-government. The
\nCongress has recognised the legitimacy of the Boycott movement as practical in
\nBengal without limitation or reservation and in such terms that any other
\nprovince which feels itself called upon to resort to this weapon in order to
\nvindicate its rights, need not hesitate to take it up. The Congress has
\nrecognised the Swadeshi movement in its entirety including the adoption of a
\nsystem of self-protection by the people; within the scope of its resolution it
\nhas found room for the idea of self-help, the principle of self-sacrifice and
\nthe policy<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-203<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nof
\nthe gradual exclusion of foreign goods. The Congress has recognised the
\nnecessity of National Education. The Congress has recognised the necessity of a
\nConstitution and adopted one as a tentative measure for a year, which, crude,
\nmeagre and imperfect as it is, depends only on our own efforts to develop by
\ndegrees into a working constitution worthy of a national assembly. All that the
\nforward party has fought for, has in substance been conceded, except only the
\npractice of recommending certain measures which depend on the Government for
\ntheir realisation; but this was not a reform on which we laid any stress for
\nthis particular session. We were prepared to give the old weakness of the
\nCongress plenty of time to die out if we could get realities recognised. Only in
\none particular have we been disappointed and that is the President’s address.
\nBut even here the closing address with which Mr. Naoroji dissolved the Congress,
\nhas made amends for the deficiencies of his opening speech. He once more
\ndeclared Self-Government, Swaraj, as in an inspired moment he termed it, to be
\nour one ideal and called upon the young men to achieve it. The work of the older
\nmen had been done in preparing a generation which were determined to have this
\ngreat ideal and nothing less; the work of making the ideal a reality, lies with
\nus. We accept Mr. Naoroji’s call and to carry out his last injunctions will
\ndevote our lives and, if necessary, sacrifice them.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> December 31, 1906<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-204<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Results of the Congress                             THE great Calcutta Congress, the centre of so many hopes and fears, is over. Of the various…<\/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-422","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\/422","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=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}