(மகாகவி பாரதி நினைவு நூற்றாண்டு சிறப்புப் பதிவு- 40)
The National Congress
Party differences are inevitable in all politics. Divergent interests as well as differences in character, intellectual perception, and in temperament have made it impossible in all countries and in all ages for any large representative assembly to be without parties holding conflicting views on almost all vital questions.
But when men bring into political life the bitterness of religious sectarianism, or the spirit which ordained the untouchable and unapproachable castes – well, they commit political suicide; that is all.
Again, a deep-rooted respect for the laws of the realm will be incumbent on all the members of a representative assembly, if at all there is to be any stability and continuity in its activities. But no congress or Parliament is worth its name, if its members or any part of them should be actuated by the constant fear of some extraneous agency and should make it their chief concern to be thinking as to how every single item of their proceedings might be received by that agency.
All servility, whether of an inherited or acquired character, must be definitely abandoned by men who aspire to guide the affairs of a nation. Of course it is essential that a representative assembly should live at peace with the powers that be. But it must be “peace with honour”. And the authorities must equally be made to see that it is their interest to live at peace with the assembly+. Every citizen must be presumed to respect the laws of the state till the contrary is proved. Otherwise the assembly will be something like a harem, full of mutual jealousies and recriminations. It must also borne in mind that the chief duty of a National Congress must be to uphold the Nation idea and to try to realize it in every detail of the National life.
May our Congress be guided by these principles!
(08.12.1914)
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Mr. Tilak and the British Government
Mr. Tlilak’s letter to the Maharatta, reprinted in your issue of the 1st instant is bound to have created an infinite variety of emotions in the minds of his foes and his friends, his detractors and admirers in the country.
All the same, there is nothing new, nothing unexpected, nothing surprising in his words to us members of the Constitutional Nationalist Party, of which he is the accredited leader. We have always been saying the something whenever there was any necessity to explain our attitude to the British Government in India.
The reason why we are not incessantly proclaiming it from housetops has been, to put it frankly, our unwillingness to please those whose one aim seemed to be to misrepresent us. And, again, incessant explanations would hardly have left us any leisure for constructive propaganda. And God knows toot that our revilers were too many and too noisy for us to attempt any explanations at all.
In the face of the present European crisis, however, the Nationalist Party – every member of it – felt that our position should be made once for all clear to England and her enemies, her pro-consuls and her agents, her critics and her friends, her flatterers and her misleaders.
And now our leader has spoken for us all in language unmistakable and clear, unmistakable may I hope, even to those who hailed his release from six years’ imprisonment with two special police stations placed on each side of his house in Poona.
I trust that England’s chief representatives in India and her ministers at Home are not ignorant of the tremendous influence which Mr. Tilak’s name and his words wield over the hearts of his many thousands of followers in India. He has given all our thoughts, ideas and aspirations in a nutshell. We want Home Rule. We advocate no violence. We shall always adopt peaceful and legal methods to achieve our object. In peace time, we shall be uncompromising critics of England’s mistakes. But when trouble comes, we shall unhestitatingly stand by her and, if necessary, defend her against her enemies. And to those who may thoughtlessly persecute us in England’s name, we shall say- “Oh ye of little wisdom, it may be in your power to temporarily injure us in petty ways. But you can never crush us. For we are lovers of Humanity and servants of God, the children of Righteousness and the peace that endure forever.”
(03.09.1914)
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