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Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, June 26th, 1907 }
The Tanjore Students’ Resolution
At a meeting of the Tanjore students a resolution was passed exhorting the students and guardians at Rajamundry "to lose no time in starting a National College free from the shackles of the Government". Thus we find Madras students realising the situation better than the students in Bengal who played so prominent a part in the agitation that followed the Partition of Bengal. We have all realised that the education the Government prescribes for our young men is not calculated to help in developing the manhood of the nation. The system of education that prevailed before the passing of the Universities Act was bad enough. But this education as deformed by the provisions of the Act was a direct attempt to stem the tide of political progress in India and produce men minus a backbone. Now that we have realised that to help the growing race consciousness in India we must have a system of education consistent with the traditions of the people and calculated to foster that spirit of Nationalism which alone can make a nation great, it is the duty of every Indian to help the inauguration of such a system of education and place it on a firm footing. The duty becomes all the more sacred in the face of the powerful opposition that such a system of education is sure to encounter at the hands of the bureaucracy whose interests are likely to be injured by it. It is only the unanimous support of the country that can make such an opposition fruitless. And it is a significant sign of the times that students all over the country are realising it. We are sure it will not be long before the whole country is on fire with a desire to strengthen the national system of education that has been inaugurated and the impending struggle against the Risley
Page – 541 Circular will be the precursor of even a greater movement which will make National Education in India an accomplished success. __________
The Statesman on Mr. Chaudhuri
The Statesman is naturally delighted with Mr. A. Chaudhuri’s declaration in favour of leaving politics out of our programme. Here at least, cries the Friend of India, is a leader after our own heart. No doubt it would be extremely convenient for the Friend of India and its countrymen if Indians did give up their political aspirations and leave Anglo-India in undisputed possession of the field, but we do not think the friendly yearnings of the Statesman are likely to be gratified. Mr. Chaudhuri’s message fell flat even in his own Pabna. At the same time our contemporary seems hardly to have taken the trouble to understand the speech of his new protégé. He fastens on the powerful indictment of the present system of education which is the most striking portion of Mr. Chaudhuri’s address, and warmly approves of it. But he mildly rebukes the speaker for pinning his hopes on the new system of National Education which is gradually spreading throughout Bengal and advises him to transfer his affections to the old University. National Education will be a failure, says the Chowringhee prophet; Indians are too selfish and unpatriotic to make it a success. What then is to be done? Why, give up agitating for political reform since our agitation is so obviously a failure and begin agitating for educational reform. It is a luminous idea. After having wasted a century begging the British Government to reform their administration, we are to waste another century begging them to reform their educational system,— with equal futility. The Government cannot give us a reformed and modern system of education for obvious reasons. It would mean the growth of highly trained specialists who would immediately demand to be employed in preference to aliens, and either the bread of so many Europeans would be taken out of their mouths or there would be a fresh cause of discontent. It would equip Indians to oust the white man from his
Page – 542 lucrative monopoly of commerce and trade and kill British trade in India by the development of indigenous industries. It would mean the transformation of our people into a highly-trained and well-equipped nation who would certainly not submit to Mr. Morley’s personal and absolute British control. Anything short of this would not meet Mr. Chaudhuri’s ideal; but anything like this the bureaucracy could not give us without committing suicide. The Statesman has not, as we said, cared to understand Mr. Chaudhuri. He is for dropping politics but he is also for self-help and denounces mendicancy. We fear the Statesman will have to look farther for its ideal Bengali leader. Why not try Sankaritola?
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