 | WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO Swaraj in one year |  |
WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO
[A monster public meeting was held at Mirza-pur
Square on 21st January, 1921, when
Mahatma Gandhi addressed the students
and said:—]
Mr. Chairman and friends,—We are in
the throes of a new birth and we are experiencing
all the difficulties, all the pangs, all the
difficulties and all the pains that attend a new
birth. Let me congratulate the students of
Bengal on the very magnificent response you
have returned to the call of the country. I
knew that the students of Calcutta were waiting
for my friend Mr. C. R. Das to give them
the lead.
I congratulate him upon his having given
you the lead and I congratulate you the
students of Bengal, upon having followed that
lead. But you know as well as I do that the task
for him and for you has only just commenced.
It is not enough for him, it is not enough for
India that you have emptied the colleges. It
is absolutely necessary that you must not
return to the colleges and the schools that you
find out for you the work that you should do,
during this period of probation, during this
period of purification.
It has now become necessary for Mr. C. R.
Das and for you to put your heads together and
devise means whereby you may complete the
work that you have begun. Any way you the
students who have withdrawn from the Government
and Government aided schools have
completed your work. But in order that that
work may be sustained that work may be
continued and in order that your services may
be harnessed for the attainment of Swaraj, it
is necessary to find out the ways and means.
And it grieves me—I cannot describe to you
how grieved I am to find that whilst the
student world has responded so nobly, the professors
and educationists and the trustees of
the great educational institutions of Bengal are
not responding in a manner in which they
might have. And in drawing your attention
and their attention to this fact, I do not wish
to be understood as casting any reflection upon
them, or their love for their country. I know,
I am convinced, that they believe that you have
erred. I know that they believe that Mr. Das
behind your conscience but to respond to the
call of the nation. They believe that I am
grievously in error in having presented Non-Co-operation
to the country, and they sincerely
believe that I am still more grievously in
error in having advised the students to boycott
Government educational institutions. But
in spite of all the experience that I have gone
through, in spite of all that I have heard
and read and in spite of all the reverence
that I claim, I am capable of tendering to
our elders, and our leaders, I am here
to confess before you that I am more than ever
convinced of the correctness of the step that I
have suggested to the country. I am more
than ever convinced that if we desire to
establish Swaraj of our choice, I am more
than ever convinced that if we want to retrieve
the lost honour of India—if we want to
retrieve the honour of Islam which is trembling
in the balance it is absolutely necessary
for us to tell this Government that it shall not
receive any help from us, nor shall we receive
any help from a Government which has forfeited
all confidence. I know those of you who
are sceptics will tell me or tell yourselves that
from platforms of this nature and it is true.
But Max Muller has told us—he has paraphrased
a Sanskrit proverb that a truth always
bears repetition until it has gone home and I
propose to reiterate this truth in the ears of
my countrymen—to reiterate this truth before
our elders till it goes home and till they
respond to it. I am here to repeat what I
have said from so many platforms that India
will not regain her lost honour—her lost
freedom until India has responded to the call
of Non-co-operation (cheers)—it is not
possible—it is not possible for India, constituted
as we are, to give battle to this great
Government on any other terms. Non-cooperation
is bred in the very marrow of every
Indian, and if you want to know why the
crores and millions of the masses have
responded to the call of Non-co-operation as
they have never responded to any other call,
it is not because I gave voice to that call. But
it is because it is born, it is bred in them—it
is the part of every religion—it is the part of
Hinduism—it is part of Islam and it is for that
reason that fallen though we are, helpless
though we feel ourselves to be, Non-co-operation
has given us faith, has given us
courage, has given us hope, has given us
strength. And if our educated leaders have
not yet responded to the call of Non-cooperation
let me say with all the humility
that I can command that they are sceptics,
they have not the religious fire of the
people and the masses. They are saturated
in modern civilisation, or as we call it Western
civilisation. I have used the term Western
civilisation as synonymous with modern
civilisation. But I want you and myself
this evening to distinguish between Western
civilisation and modern civilisation. I want
you to understand that I am not a hater
of the West. I am thankful to the West
for many a thing I have learnt from
Western literature. But I am here to
confess to you—I am thankful to modern
civilisation for teaching me that if I want
India to rise to its highest height I must tell
my countrymen frankly that after years and
years of experience of modern civilisation, I
have learnt one lesson from it and that is that
we must shun it at all costs. What is that
modern civilisation—it is the worship of the
it is unadulterated materialism and modern
civilisation is nothing if it does not think at
every step the triumph of materialised civilisation.
And if I did not know my country, if I
did not know the mass mind, I would also
have erred and I would also have been misled
even as I contend that educated India has been
misled. You, my countrymen, know that I
have lived for 20 years in the midst of modern
activity—I have lived in a country which has
copied everything that is modern. I have lived
in a country which is pulsating with new life.
South Africa is a country which contains some
of the bravest of men on the face of the earth,
and I have seen modern civilisation worked by
that nation at its best, and I am here to tell
you the young men of Bengal and I am here to
tell my educated leaders that my experience
of modern civilisation worked at its best
told me in emphatic terms in the year
1908. "God save India from that modern
curse" (hear, hear). That was a lesson that I
have learnt in South Africa though it is the
lesson that I have followed up since 1908 and
that is the lesson which slowly but surely I
have been preaching in season and out of season
my faith in our ancient civilisation—it was my
faith in our simplicity, it is my faith in inborn
religious instincts of every Indian be he a
Hindu or be he a Mahomedan, Christian, Parsi
or a Jew—it is that faith in me which has
sustained me throughout all the dark days, of
scoffing and scepticism and of opposition. I
know that opposition stares you and stares me
in the face even to-day. We have just
broken the ground but it is true that if
we are going to win this great battle that
you the people of Calcutta commenced in
September of last year—if we are going
to win this great battle we shall have to
continue as we have begun in full faith. I am
not ashamed to repeat before you who seem to
be nurtured on modern traditions—who seem
to be filled with the writings of modern writers,
I am not ashamed to repeat before you that this
is a religious battle. I am not ashamed to repeat
before you that this is an attempt to rovolutionise
the political outlook—that this is an
attempt to spiritualise our politics. And the
more we have of it, I assure you the greater
progress we shall make towards our goal. And
it is because I believe that the mass mind of
that the mass mind of India is tired of this
British rule in its present form that I have
made bold to say that Swaraj is easily attainable
within one year (cries hear, hear.)
Four months of this one year have already
gone by and my faith has never burnt as
brightly as it burns to-night, as I am talking
to the young men of Bengal (hear, hear). You
have given me greater hope, you have given me
greater courage, you have given me greater
strength. May God grant that Shaukat Ali
and Muhammad Ali and I will live to erect
this flag of Swaraj inside this year? (hear,
hear). But if it is the will of God that my
ashes should be placed in the Ganges water
before the eight months of the year is out, I
shall die with the conviction that you will see to
it that Swaraj is secured before the year is out.
This is not difficult as you imagine. The
difficulty lies with our conviction. The difficulty
lies in our believing that we want to
have lessons in Swaraj in the Council hall.
The difficulty lies in our believing that we
cannot get Swaraj until we have passed
through a sixteen years' course of education,
and if we believe in all these things I shall be
century to get Swaraj. But it is because I
believe that we need not these things, but we
require strength, we require courage, we require
faith, and it is because I believe that the
masses have got all these things to-day that I
believe that Swaraj is attainable within this
year.
And what does the appeal of the Congress
mean? The Congress appeal means that you
and I that the whole of educated India, the
whole of the mercantile community of India—
a mere drop in the ocean of millions of people
of India, the artisans and the agriculturists—
have a test placed before them. And believe
me that the Congress will isolate India and
wrest Swaraj from insolent hands and establish
the flag of Freedom, if possible with your
assistance, even without your assistance if
need be. The whole of India is not concentrated
in the educated India of to-day. India
can sustain its hope even if the whole of
educated India were to remain without hope
and faith and courage and strength. And it
is that faith which sustains me. But I am
hoping that if the student World and I am
hoping if the students of Bengal remain true to
hoping that the professors and the trustees and
the educationists of Bengal and India will respond
to the call and their winter of discontent
will be turned by you into the summer of hope.
But I ask you, the young men of Bengal, to
abide by the decision that you have come to—
no matter what happens. I know that
Mr. C. R. Das is going to remain true to his
promise (hear, hear). He has already received
a promise of Rs. 10,000 to be given to him now
and ten thousand annual contribution from a
great Bengali. He has received certain promises
from the Marwaris—the domiciled Marwaris
of Calcutta—and he is going to receive
many more promises, so far as the finance is
concerned, but finance is the least part of the
difficulty (hear, hear). He has to find out a
habitation for having the college located. He
has to find out better professors. And I ask
you those students who have non-co-operated
not to set before yourselves the old standard
even as this Swaraj of our dream is not to be
a base copy of what we have to-day. So will
you please see that what you get in the shape
of a new college is not to be a base copy of
what you have to-day. You will not look to
benches and chairs for inspiration. But you
will look to character. You will look to sterling
character in your professors and in your
teachers for inspiration. You will look to your
own strength and to your own determination to
give you the necessary impetus and necessary
inspiration. And I promise to you that you
will then not be disappointed, but if you believe
that Mr. Das is going to present you with
noble buildings, if you believe that he is going
to give every ease and luxury to which you
have hitherto been used, you will certainly be
disappointed. But I have come this evening
to present before you a newer gospel, a better
gospel. If you are determined to attain
Swaraj inside of twelve months, if you are
determined to help to attain Swaraj within
one year then I ask you to make his way
clearer, easier, ask you to make the way of
those who have dedicated their lives to the
attainment of Swaraj easier and clearer by
accepting the advice that I am about to tender
to you.
If you believe that Swaraj can be attained
by continuing your colleges and schools
precisely in the same manner as the institutions
sadly mistaken. No country in the world has
gained its liberty—has attained a new birth
without difficulties, without pain, without
sacrifice. And what is sacrifice? The right
meaning of sacrifice I learnt in my youth was
that it meant, making sacred, making holy.
Non-co-operation is a process of purification
and if a suspension of our ordinary routine is
necessary for the purpose of that purification
that has to be done. I know, if I know
Bengal at all that you will not shirk it and
you will respond. Our education has been the
most deficient in two things. Those who
formed our education code neglected the
training of the body and the Soul. You are
receiving the education of the soul but the
very fact of Non-co-operation for Non-cooperation
is nothing less and nothing more
than withdrawing from participation in the
evil that this Government is doing and
continuing to do. And if we are withdrawing
from evil conscientiously, deliberately, it
means that we are walking with our face
towards God. That completes or begins the
soul training. But seeing that our bodily
education has been neglected and seeing that
forgot the spinning wheel and because India
sold herself for a mess of pottage, I am not
afraid to place before the youngmen of Bengal,
the Spinning Wheel for adoption. And let a
training in spinning and production of as
much yarn as you can ever do constitute your
main purpose and your main training during
this year of probation. Let your ordinary
education commence after Swaraj is established.
But let every youngman and every girl of
Bengal consider it to be their sacred duty to
devote all their time and energy to spinning.
I have drawn attention to the parallel that
presents itself before us, from the War.
Those of you who know anything about
what was going on in England will recall
those days of the War when every boy and
every girl had suspended their education—
ordinary education, and they were put upon
such national work as was necessary for the
purpose of the War. They were put upon
simple tailoring upon making badges and
that was done even here. I recall many
a home where even little children were
put to work and the Government looked upon
my activity with sympathy, with attention
of Khaira the opportunity of fighting on the
battle field even though their parents might be
against it. Times have changed and I am now
twitted for asking youngmen who have got
heads on their shoulders and who have a
conscience in their hearts—I am twitted for
asking these youngmen and girls and for
having the audacity to tell them that they
should rather obey the voice of their conscience
than the voice or commands of even of their
parents. But I say to the youngmen and
young girls of Bengal that if your voice, the
voice of your conscience tells you that during
this year of probation you should devote your
energy and attention to the attainment of
Swaraj then you will believe me when I
tell you that it is impossible to arrive at
a complete boycott of foreign cloth or
foreign goods until and unless we would employ
every man, woman and child to spinning
yarn. We have spun many a yarn during all
these long 35 years on the Congress platform
(laughter). Enough of it. Let us now spin the
truest yarn that India wants and let me tell
you that if you want to feed the hungry, to
clothe the naked there is no other way out of
India. And so I ask you youngmen of Bengal
to accept the privilege that I place at your feet.
And if we can bring a complete boycott of foreign
cloth we sterilise the activity of the fifty-five
Members of the House of Commons
that Lancashire contributes to it, we sterilise
the activities of ambitious Japan who has her
eyes fixed and set upon India. And you will
not gain your economic freedom, as the Congress
has told you until India becomes self-contained
so far as her food and clothing are concerned.
We can do without all things but we cannot do
without food and clothing. And a vast country
like India 1900 miles long and 1500 miles
broad cannot possibly become self-contained
by any other means than the means of old.
So youngmen of Bengal if you will work in
order to gain Swaraj within one year you will
accept the advice of a man who has conducted
a series of experiments to whom this gospel
came in the year 1908 and who has not yet
been ousted from it by a hair's breadth. The
more I have studied the economics of India, the
more I have listened to the mill-owners of
India the more convinced I have become that
until we introduce the spinning wheel in every
freedom of India is an impossibility. Go to
any mill-owner you like he will tell you that it
will require fifty years if India is to become
self-contained so far as cloth supplies are concerned
if she has to depend upon her mills
alone. And let me supplement the informatiòn
by telling you that to-day hundreds and
thousands of weavers are weaving and are
able to weave home-spun yarn because mills
cannot supply them. So I ask the young
friends of Bengal who have left their colleges
to go forward in hope and courage and take
up this neglected training of the hand for at
least the time that we have not attained
Swaraj and then think of anything else.
I have suggested another thing. You and
I, every one of us has neglected the true education
that we should have received in our
national schools. It is impossible for the
young men of Bengal for the young men
of Gujrat—for the young men of the Deccan
to go to the Central Provinces, to go to the
United Provinces, to go to the Punjab and all
those vast tracts of India which speak nothing
but Hindustani, and therefore I ask you to
learn Hindusthani also in your leisure hours—
spinning. And if you will learn these things
you can learn both spinning and Hindusthani
in two months. An intelligent, gentle lad—a
patriotic and hardworking lad, I promise you,
can learn both these in two months' time.
And then you are free to go out to your
villages—you are free to go to every part of
India but Madras, and be able to speak your
mind to the masses. Do not consider for one
moment that you can possibly make English
a common medium of expression between the
masses. Twenty-two crores of Indians know
Hindustani—they do not know any other
language. And if you want to steal into the
hearts of 22 crores of Indians, Hindusthani
is the only language open to you, if you will
do but these two things, during this year—
during these nine months, believe me you will
have by the time you have finished, acquired
courage and acquired strength which you do
not possess to-day. I know thousands of
students—blank despair stares them in the
face if they are told that they cannot get
Government employ. And if you are bent
upon destroying or mending this Government
how do you propose to get Government employ?
what is your English knowledge
worth? I do not wish to underrate the literary
value of the English language. I have suggested
to the youngmen of Gujarat that they should
suspend their literary training in English for
these nine or twelve months and devote their
time and energy and their leisure to learning
spinning and to learning Hindusthani and then
place themselves at the disposal of India, and
join the national service that is going to be formed.
You are not going to respond to the great
constitution that the Congress has given unless
we have got an army of workers penetrating
the seven and a half lakhs of villages with
which India is studded, and if we are going to
set up a rival organisation in every village of
India and if we are going to have a representative
of the Congress in every village of India
we cannot do so until and unless the youngmen
of India respond to the call of the Motherland.
The privilege to pay is yours. The call to-day
has come to the youngmen of Bengal and the
rest of India. And I hope, I have every confidence
that all the youngmen and all the
young girls of India will respond to this sacred
call. And I promise that before the year is
you set your heart upon these two things, and
you will find at the end of the chapter that
what I am saying to you to-night has come
true and that you have vindicated the honour
of India—you have vindicated the honour of
Islam and you have vindicated the honour of
the whole nation and established Swaraj. May
God grant you the youngmen and the young
girls of Bengal the necessary courage, the
necessary hope, the necessary confidence to go
through the sacred period of purification and
sacrifice. May God help you.
Mahatma Gandhi, resuming, said:—There
was one thing which I have purposely neglected.
I had the thing in my mind, but as I
was obliged to take up so much of your time as
to the necessity of spinning and the necessity
of learning Hindusthani and as to what you
should do after having given up your colleges,
I purposely omitted reference to the difficulty
of the medical students. If they will but
exercise their splendid faculty and imagination
they will deduce from what I have said
generally to the student world that the remarks
that are applicable to the arts colleges and
other colleges are equally applicable to the
to the medical students than to the others.
They want to heal the bleeding wounds of
India—they want to heal the diseases from
which India is suffering and I know no greater
wound than has been inflicted upon the
Punjab and I know no greater disease than
the disease of helplessness, dependence and
servility from which the whole of India is
suffering, and if the medical students will be
true to their future calling they will have no
hesitation in responding to the call. And they
will have no hesitation in undertaking the
humanitarian work of clothing the naked and
of ridding India of her shame, degradation and
helplessness. They cannot do any nobler
work. For an Indian, no matter how noble,
how learned, how powerful and rich he may
be, there can be no nobler work than the work
of attaining Swaraj—than the work of ridding
India of the great disease from which we have
been suffering from years and years. And so
I ask all the medical students and all the boys
of the colleges and all the boys over sixteen
years of the schools without a moment's
hesitation first of all to leave their schools
and colleges to finish that one peremptory
always be open to you either to reject or accept
my advice. It will be open to you to establish
new colleges, new schools, new medical colleges
or anything you like. But if you will accept
my advice, you will understand that you will
not have finished your work as true and brave
fellows unless you dedicate all the time at your
disposal for the attainment of Swaraj and make
the task easy all round.
If there is anything that I have left
out in connection with the medical college
or any other institution and if you want
a solution about these things from my lips
I shall be prepared to answer these questions,
but I must confess to you that I
am tired of answering questions, I am tired
of making speeches—I am tired of making
appeals. I would far rather wish that I became
speechless and left you to your own resources
and left you to your own conscience. Only today
I have been answering a correspondent
who has written to the Nabajeeban, asking—
"If you say, if you call, conscience above all,
why do you waste so much of your time in
arguing with us. Why do you not leave us to
ourselves?" In a way the rebuke was well
is burning within me, I should be untrue to
you and to myself if I do not give it to you in
the best manner that I can and so I have
been travelling through the length and breadth
of India in order to give you the gospel of
hope and courage that is within me. But
believe me, if I could possibly be left alone,
you will find me spinning away for all I am
worth and pouring over the pages of Hindusthani
books. I know that I can speak Hindusthani
but I know my limitations also. And
I know what handicap I am labouring under
for though I am not so well versed in Hindusthani
literature as I am in English literature.
And so, my young friends, I would ask
you to cast all your doubts, all your fear, all
your scepticism into the Bay of Bengal and
rise with a new hope that will not be denied.
(Continued cheers and cries of `Bande
Mataram.')
| WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO Swaraj in one year | |