{"id":815,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=815"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:36","slug":"05-the-new-situation-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/27-supplement-volume-27\/05-the-new-situation-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","title":{"rendered":"-05_The New Situation.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe New Situation<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

    <\/span>            
\nT<\/font><\/b>HE circular letter addressed to the leaders of public opinion in East
\nBengal by Babu Ananda Chandra Roy of Dacca, on the new situation created by the
\ndismissal of Sir B. Fuller, which ‘has been noticed already in the last two
\nissues of this paper, does not seem to have at all grasped the real significance
\nof this situation, which therefore cannot be properly met by the policy which is
\nsuggested in that letter. The Partition of Bengal is a settled fact; and we
\nagree with Babu Ananda Chandra Roy that we cannot refuse to accept it as such,
\nthough we do not see how, consistently with this view, he can say that our
\nprotest against it must still be kept up, or what in the face of this practical
\nacceptance of Partition by us, this verbal protest can really be worth. But
\nthough we must practically accept the Partition, we may, however, at the same
\ntime, keep up a standing protest against, not merely that particular measure,
\nbut the very system that made the carrying out of it, in the teeth of the
\nopposition of the entire community, possible, – by keeping aloof from every
\nvoluntary association with Government, and refusing to render them any help
\nwhatever except what they can compel us to give by their lawful authority. They
\ncan compel us to pay rates and taxes and we shall pay these; they can compel us
\nto serve as jurors, and this service also we shall render whenever summoned to
\ndo so; they can compel our attendance at their law-courts as witness or accused,
\nand we shall do so when required. But they can- not compel us to go to their
\ncourt as plaintiffs or complainants, and we may well refuse to do so. They
\ncannot compel us to serve as Honorary Magistrates, and we must refuse to accept
\nsuch honours. They cannot compel us to vote at Municipal elections or to act as
\nMunicipal Commissioners, neither can they compel us to vote at Council-elections
\nor stand as candidates for such elections and we should, as a protest against
\nPartition, continue our present boycott of the Legislative Council in East
\nBengal, and extend it to the Legislative Council in West Bengal also.
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-6
\n  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

These are the only methods by
\nwhich while in a sense accepting the Partition of Bengal as a settled fact, that
\nis by submitting to revenue and executive authority of the Government at Dacca,
\nwe may yet keep up a most vigorous and effective protest against that obnoxious
\nmeasure, and if we do so, and can thereby gradually bring, as may not be
\naltogether impossible, the administration of the Province by the present
\ndespotism to an absolute deadlock, by extending the boycott, from voluntary and
\nhonorary, even to paid offices under that despotism, we may hope some day to
\nbring out a repeal of the Partition even, as we have already brought about the
\ndownfall of Sir B. Fuller. But Babu Ananda Chandra Roy does not seem to advocate
\nthis policy; and indeed, we do not know of any single leader of the old school,
\nwho has yet consistently advocated, much less themselves followed, this policy.
\nThey advised the leaders of East Bengal to refuse to participate either as
\nvoters or candidates at the Council- elections in the New Province, but are
\nthemselves still members  <\/span>the
\nLegislative Council in Calcutta, and those that are not are anxious to get in
\nthere as quickly as possible, and this difference in their attitude towards the
\ntwo Councils seems to show at their objection against the Council
\nin East Bengal was due entirely<\/span> to
\na personal hostility to Sir B. Fuller. That such hostility<\/span>
\nwould be absolutely without justification, we cannot honestly<\/span>; but at the
\nsame time to allow such personal feelings, however justifiable these might be,
\nto influence the nation’s public policy a matter like this is to misread, as we
\nhave repeatedly pointed in these columns, the whole situation, and considerably
\nto weaken the whole movement, which is directed not against any individual ruler
\nbut against the present vicious system. Babu Ananda Chandra Roy has sought to
\nput this personal interpretation upon the policy that had been enunciated by
\nCalcutta, in the matter of Sir B. Fuller’s Council; and he has his justification in
\nthe attitude and action of the Calcutta leaders themselves. If the East Bengal
\nleaders had been asked to boycott the Council at Dacca on any general policy of
\nboycott, as a standing protest against Partition, the Council in Calcutta would
\nalso have<\/span> been
\nboycotted. But Babu Bhupendranath Bose is st<\/span>ill there, and so is Babu
\nJogesh Chandra Choudhuri – and they
\n  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-7<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

are among those who have been
\nadvising, we take it, the East Bengal leaders to boycott the Legislative Council
\nin the New Province. Babu Surendranath Banerji has been directing the boycott we
\nknow; and both Babu Bhupendranath and Jogesh Chandra are identified with him in
\nthe present public life of this country; and since they had not resigned their
\nown place in the Bengal Council, the instruction to boycott the East Bengal
\nCouncil could be rightly interpreted only in the way in which Babu Ananda
\nChandra Roy has interpreted it, namely, that this boycott was directed
\npersonally against the late Lieutenant Governor of East Bengal and Assam; and
\ntherefore, as a new ruler has succeeded him, this boycott should now be
\nwithdrawn.<\/p>\n

           <\/span>But
\nwhatever may be the attitude of some of the leaders and whatever be their
\nmeaning and motive, the people at large have from the very beginning refused to
\ntake any narrow view of the present situation in the country. The boycott of
\nBritish goods was originally proposed temporarily, as a protest against
\nPartition, but when the people took it up they openly declared that, Partition
\nor no Partition, they would keep this boycott up to the utmost of their powers,
\nuntil both economic freedom and political autonomy had been attained and they
\nhad a State of their own, which could protect home-industries by a
\nwell-considered tariff. Similarly they proposed a much larger boycott – the
\nboycott of the present officialised schools and colleges – and set up National
\ninstitutions with a view to assert the Swadeshi principle in the matter of
\neducation, and they also proposed to boycott every honorary office, and every
\nform of voluntary association with the present despotism in the administration
\nof the country. And those who proposed the boycott of the East Bengal Council as
\npart of this general scheme of passive resistance will naturally regard the
\ninterpretation that has, evidently, been put on it by Babu Ananda Chandra Roy as
\nwrong, and even positively mischievous and calculated to weaken the whole
\nmovement, and to them the soul of the new situation in East Bengal is not to be
\nfound in the retirement of Sir B. Fuller and in the character of his successor,
\nbut in the failure of the policy of regulation lathis that had been set up under
\nSir B. Fuller’s regime, and the complete success of the resistful attitude and
\npolicy that the people of East<\/p>\n

\nPage-8<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Bengal<\/span> has adopted as a protest against the illegal excesses of the <\/span>last
\nfew months. The aim of the recent change in the personnel of the Administration
\nof East Bengal is to quietly lead the people to abandon this resistful and
\nforceful attitude and policy, and it will be fatal folly on our part, and the
\ncomplete undoing of what bas been achieved during these last twelve months, to
\naccept the policy that Babu Ananda Chandra Roy has suggested in his resent
\ncircular letter. This is why we are forced to characterise it as exceedingly
\nunwise and mischievous. <\/p>\n

Bande Mataram, August 27, 1906<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-9<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Situation                    THE circular letter addressed to the leaders of public opinion in East Bengal by Babu Ananda Chandra Roy of Dacca,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-27-supplement-volume-27","wpcat-16-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815","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=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}