|
Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, September 10th, 1906 }
The Pro-Petition Plot
It is impossible, we think, to condemn too strongly the attempt that is being made, by means of confidential circulars from Calcutta, to get up a fresh memorial to the Secretary of State for India, for the revocation or modification of the Partition of Bengal. We are strongly opposed, it is well known, to sending any fresh memorial on this subject, but this general objection apart, the methods that have been adopted to get up this new memorial are open to very serious objection, and it is to these that we desire to call public attention today. A telegraphic message was received in Comilla about the middle of last month from one of the Calcutta leaders asking the local leaders to send a delegate to a Conference that was proposed to be held on some urgent matters the following Sunday. What these urgent matters were was left to the imagination of the addressees to discover for themselves. Comilla strongly objected to be worked upon in this mysterious, if not masterly way from Calcutta, and wired back asking for definite and detailed information. No wire, we understand, was received in reply, but about a week later, just a few hours before the time fixed for the Conference, a printed letter, marked confidential, was received by Babu Ananga Mohan Ghosh, from the Bengalee office, containing excerpts from certain letters secured from London, which suggested that a fresh memorial should be sent to the Secretary of State for India for a reconsideration of the Partition of Bengal. One of these extracts said:— “What appeared absolutely hopeless four weeks ago appears hopeful now. There are indications that the Cabinet are willing to reconsider the Partition Question on its merits. There are indications that in due time the question, if properly urged,
Page – 143 will be reopened. I am not at liberty to speak about Conferences I had just before leaving London. All that I can tell you is to advise you to have an influential and representative meeting, say, early in September, to adopt a strong, well-reasoned memorial, suggesting alternative schemes of Partition based on racial and linguistic grounds, and to submit it to the Secretary of State through the Indian Government. Bengal has worked splendidly during the last 11 months,— Bengal will have to work a little longer,— not hysterically, but rationally and strongly,— making it clear that she will not accept the present Partition. I believe redress is at hand.” Later on the writer, after quoting Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman’s reply to Mr. O’Donnell, modified his previous advice regarding public meeting and said— “On second thought a simple memorial seems to be enough if influentially signed— a meeting is unnecessary.” This letter came from a high authority. But it is clear on the face of it that that high authority was playing into the hands of the Liberals interested in India. The enforced retirement of Sir B. Fuller was a distinct confession on the part of the Government of the failure of the policy which prompted the Partition scheme, and which subsequently came to be so closely associated with the late Lieutenant-Governor of East Bengal and Assam. This failure is distinctly due to the resistful attitude that has been assumed by the people of late, and in view of the complications with which the Government is threatened by the present anti-Partition and boycott agitation in Bengal, the authorities in England, as well as in this country, are evidently anxious to get out of the unpleasant and risky position wherein their own perversity has placed them. To do this honourably and without any loss of prestige, they want a plea for reopening the discussion of Mr. Morley’s settled fact, and a fresh memorial from Bengal would find them this plea. This, it seems clear, is the meaning of the excerpts quoted by us above from the London letter, on the strength of which the Calcutta leaders want a fresh memorial to be got up. They might make the attempt, there is no reason why, if they are convinced that it is their duty
Page – 144 to send a fresh memorial, they should not make this attempt. But what we object to is the secretiveness of the whole thing. Why have they tried to keep this new proposal from the public? Why should they arrogate to themselves the right of deciding, in consultation with a handful of men, as to what should be done in this matter? The Conference held in the Landholders’ Association should have been an open Conference. But even at this closed Conference, the general opinion, if the reports that have reached us be correct, was decidedly against sending any fresh petition or memorial. It is said that Babu Motilal Ghose and others were distinctly opposed to the idea; and the words petition and memorial had to be dropped under pressure of this general opinion, especially among the mofussil delegates; all that was conceded by the Conference was that some suggestions might be sent. We do not know if the questions of the channel through which the suggestions were to be sent was raised at all. But whatever was decided by the Conference we find that a secret attempt is being made to send not suggestions, but a live, real memorial again to the Secretary of State for India on the Partition question. We do not respect official secrets, when public interests demand it, but widely publish them, and there is no reason why we should respect non-official secrets when their publication is called for in the interests of the public good. We, therefore, make no apology for publishing the following letter that has been addressed from the Bengalee Office, to the leaders of public opinion in the mofussil:—
Confidential Bengalee Office. 70, Colootola Street, Calcutta. 29th August, 1906.
My dear —— , At a Conference held in the Rooms of the Landholders’ Association on Sunday last, at which several delegates from the mofussil were present, it was resolved to submit a representation to the Secretary of State for reviewing the Partition of Bengal. It was agreed that the representation, if possible,
Page – 145 should be forwarded early in September. The representation is being drawn up, and in the meantime I beg you will forward to the Bengalee Office as many signatures (including of course the signatures of the leading inhabitants in your District). The representation would ask for Bengal (old and new Province) being placed under a Governor and Council, or in the alternative, the Bengali-speaking population being placed under one and the same administration. I beg you will consider the matter as very urgent. Yours sincerely,
It is clear thus, that a secret memorial is being got up to be sent again to the Indian State Secretary; and as this memorial will clearly be sent in the name and on behalf of the public, the public have just cause for complaint that in regard to such a vital question of policy they should have been left so entirely in the dark. There was a time when the people in general took really little or no interest in public questions of this kind; and in those days the getting up of such memorials in consultation with a few lawyers in the different districts, might have been justified; because they were about the only persons who took any interest in these public and political questions. The present Swadeshi agitation has, however, changed all this. We have called up the real nation out of its ancient slumber, and the masses have commenced to take a keen and possibly a more earnest interest in public questions than even the so-called educated classes. They have joined our meetings in their thousands and their tens of thousands, and have taken, during the last twelve months, an intelligent interest in our movements. What right have we now to ignore them in such momentous matters as the submission of a fresh memorial to the Secretary of State, which may radically change the face of the whole agitation? The tactics adopted by the Calcutta clique seem, therefore, to be absolutely vicious. They strike at the very root of those principles of Democracy upon which the national movement in India and especially in Bengal is professedly based. Democracy must have its leaders, and the leaders must exercise the right of guiding and shaping the
Page – 146 opinions and activities of the Democracy. But to guide, to train, to shape and to control public opinion and public activities is one thing but to ignore or suppress the views and sentiments of the public is another. It is the autocrat alone who does or attempts to do so. And this pernicious autocratic tendency in the leaders of Bengal must at once be knocked relentlessly on the head, if the present movement is to realise the high promise that is in it. The old leaders in Calcutta and those who dance in the mofussil to their tune, must be made to understand this distinctly that they will not be permitted to speak and act in the name of the public without fully and frankly taking that public into their confidence in regard to all important public questions. Signs are not, indeed, wanting that the people will not suffer the tyrannies of their own leaders more patiently than they are prepared to suffer those of their foreign masters. The Comilla Resolution on this very subject of sending a fresh memorial to Government is significant as we pointed out yesterday. A similar Resolution, published in our telegraphic columns last Wednesday, has been adopted at a gathering of 20,000 men at Chittagong, in spite of the attempt made by some people to refer the matter to the local leaders. The question was asked whether a larger vote could be taken on this topic at any meeting of the local Association, and it was frankly answered in the negative. There were many men at this gathering who had come from the villages, and they all seemed clearly flattered by the fact that they were given such an opportunity of expressing their views on so important a matter, and this sense of satisfaction is a distinct guarantee of their future interest in public questions. Henceforth they will not look on our movements with their old listlessness and indifference. Is this a small gain? Are we to neglect such a result for small favours from the Government? What even if the Partition continues, if only we can arouse a real interest in the masses in our public and political agitations? If the masses once awake from their present torpor, they will be able to undo a thousand evil and obstructive measures like the Partition of Bengal. True statesmanship would prefer this quickening of public life and public spirit in the people to the revocation, as a favour, of even the most obnoxious and
Page – 147 pernicious Government measure. But autocracy whether in the Government or in the governed, has no eye for the people; and it is, therefore, the greatest enemy of human progress everywhere, and should be ruthlessly exposed and knocked on the head by those who care for the advancement of the people and for their civic salvation. ___________
Socialist and Imperialist
Mr. Hyndman having appeared in print with one of his occasional strong diatribes against bureaucratic misgovernment in India, Mr. Theodore Morrison promptly takes up the cudgels against him. One need not quarrel with Mr. Morrison’s discovery that there were great famines in India before the English came. Everyone knows that. What Mr. Hyndman contends is that India has been so impoverished by bureaucratic misrule, not a year passes without famine or acute distress prevailing in some part of the country. That is a position which is inexpugnable, and no burrowing in ancient history will overthrow it. Mr. Morrison thinks that Mr. Hyndman is playing into the hands of the reactionists. Whence this tender solicitude for reform on the part of the Aligarh Imperialist?
The Sanjibani on Mr. Tilak
The Sanjibani pronounces in its last issue against Mr. Tilak, on the ground that he is unpopular. But unpopular with whom? With a certain section of the old Congress leaders. Is then unpopularity with a section to be a bar against filling the Presidential chair? If so, the circle of choice will become extremely limited; for just as there are some leaders who are unpopular with the ultra-moderate section, there are others who are unpopular with the advanced section. Mr. Gokhale, for instance, is by no means popular in his own country, the Deccan, especially since his notorious apology. His support of the boycott, qualified though
Page – 148 it be, has somewhat rehabilitated him in the eyes of many, but he is still strongly distrusted by great numbers. Yet none dreamed of opposing his selection to the Presidential chair on the mere ground of a partial unpopularity. If, however, the Congress leaders are going to publicly proclaim such a principle, it will be applied freely on both sides and the treasured “unanimity” of the Congress will disappear. ____________
Secret Tactics
The telegram from our correspondent in Mymensingh, which we publish in another column, is extremely significant. It is now an open secret throughout the country that the Swadeshi movement has developed two distinct parties in the country. One of these desires to use Boycott as a political weapon merely in order to force on the annulment of the Partition and there finish; its quarrel with the bureaucracy is a passing quarrel and it is ready to be again hand in glove with the Government as soon as its turn is served; it still desires to sit on the Legislative Councils, figure on the Municipalities and carry on politics by meetings and petitions. The other party will be satisfied with nothing less than absolute control over our own affairs and is not willing to help the Government to put off the inevitable day when that demand must be conceded; it is therefore opposed to any cooperation with the Government or to the adoption of a suppliant attitude in our relations to the Government; it desires the Boycott as a necessary part of our economic self-development and by no means to be relinquished even if the Partition be rescinded. Here are definite issues which have to be fought out until some definite settlement is reached. We desire the issue to be fought out on a fair field, each party seeking the suffrages of the country and attempting to educate the great mass of public opinion to its views. Unfortunately, the Leaders of the older school are not willing to give this fair field. They prefer to adopt a Machiavellian strategy working in the darkness and by diplomatic ´ strokes and secret coup d’état. They do not wish to work with
Page – 149 the prominent and most militant members of the new school on the Reception Committee, they will not admit the country to their councils for fear the strength of the new school might increase, and they attempt to follow the example of the Fuller Government, to prevent them from holding public meetings. Recently the new school have put forward Mr. Tilak as the fittest name for the Presidentship, and the country has already begun to respond to the suggestion. The old leaders cannot publicly confess their reasons for not desiring Mr. Tilak, but they seem to be attempting cleverly to get out of the difficulty by bringing Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji over from England. We should have thought the Grand Old Man of India was a name too universally revered to be made the stalking-horse of a party move. But quite apart from this aspect of the question, we would draw attention to the indecorous and backstairs manner in which this important step is being made. It is the work of the Reception Committee to propose a President for the Congress; but the old leaders have been carefully avoiding any meeting of the Reception Committee and are meanwhile making all arrangements for the Congress and Exhibition secretly, unconstitutionally, and among a small clique. Had the name of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji been proposed constitutionally in the Reception Committee, all would have been well; as it is, the most venerable name in India is in danger of being associated with a party stratagem carried through by unconstitutional means. Meanwhile, there is no reason why the meetings for Mr. Tilak’s Presidentship should not be proceeded with; until the Reception Committee meets and Mr. Naoroji accepts an invitation from them the question remains open. But the attitude of the old leaders shows a settled determination to exclude the new school from public life. If that be so, the present year will mark a struggle for the support of the country and the control of the Congress which, however long it may last, can only have one end. ___________
Page – 150 By the Way
The Indian Mirror sympathises with the strikers, but is quite opposed to the strike. Workmen should not combine to get their rights; they must, like good slaves, appeal to the gracious generosity of their masters! The spirit of the serf which governed our agitation in pre-Swadeshi days, still disports itself in the columns of the Mirror, naked and unashamed.
*
We confess the pother the Anglo-Indian press has raised over the matter, has surprised us. A certain amount of ridicule we expected, but that the Kamboliatola affair should be magnified into sedition and by people calling themselves sane! We are informed, though we can hardly credit it, that Hare Street has been at the expense of telegraphing columns of matter on the subject to England, apparently in order to convince the British public that Bengal has revolted and chosen a King. Verily, the dog-star rages.
*
Hare Street, having failed to impress the public with that fire-breathing seditious monster of Chinsurah, “Golden Bengal”, turns sniffing round, nose to earth, for a fresh trail, and finds it in our own columns. We also, it appears, no less than Babu Surendranath and “Golden Bengal” have declared “open war” against King Edward VII; we wish to get rid of “British control”. Beside this the manifesto of “Golden Bengal” fades into insignificance. That Indians should openly express their aspiration to govern themselves and yet remain out of jail is a clear sign that the British Empire is coming to an end.
*
The Statesman has at last come to the rescue anent the moral belabouring of Babu Surendranath Banerji for his Shanti-Sechan indiscretion. The Statesman sees two dangers looming through the dust which has been kicked up over the affair. One is that
Page – 151 the ignorant peasantry may imagine a King has been crowned in India to whom they must give their allegiance. We confess, this alarming idea never occurred to us; and when we spoke of Surendra Babu as King of independent Bengal, we thought we were indulging in a harmless jest. The Statesman has opened our eyes. It is an alluring idea and captivates our imagination. But what has happened to our sober-minded contemporary? Has the madness of the Englishman infested even him that he should see such alarming visions?
*
The other danger is that the Anglo-Indian journals in their wild career may discredit constitutional agitation and play into the hands of the extremists. The extraordinary demoralisation of the Anglo-Indian press has indeed been painfully evident throughout the affair; but the Statesman does not see his friend’s point of view. To Hare Street Babu Surendranath Banerji is not a moderate and constitutional leader, but a dangerous and fiery red revolutionist charging full tilt at British supremacy in India, with other revolutionists more or less scarlet in colour rushing on before or behind him. Hare Street has gone mad and, as is natural to a distracted John Bull, sees everything red. Sedition to the right of him, sedition to the left of him, sedition before and behind him, and through it all the Englishman like a heroic Light Brigade, charges in for King and motherland.
Page – 152 |