 | THE DUTY OF
POST-GRADUATE & LAW STUDENTS Swaraj in one year |  |
THE DUTY OF
POST-GRADUATE & LAW STUDENTS
[A meeting of the Post-graduate and law students
of Calcutta was held at the Star
Theatre on 29th January, 1921, when Mr.
Gandhi addressed them on the present
movement and their duty.]
The only excuse I could offer for being so
horribly late is, this pile containing money and
jewellery which your Marwari sisters have
given for your sake. I had the pleasure and
privilege of addressing them just now and the
response that they made—the so-called uncultured
ladies of Marwar—was a magnificent
response. I do not believe there is anything
under Rs. 10,000 worth of jewellery and cash
in that pile. I know you will be pleased to hear
from me that more is to be expected from our
sisters this very afternoon. Do you therefore
wonder if you find me saying in season and
out of season, that I do expect "Swaraj" within
one year? If the response in money, in men
and in every respect continues as it has begun,
the most confirmed sceptic will be converted
all the Post-graduate students who have
gathered here, to listen to your leaders, to
respond to the resolution of the Congress,
nay more, to respond to the voice of your own
conscience. If you are satisfied that we cannot
live under this Government with any degree
of self-respect, if you are satisfied that
this Government has trodden under foot
some of our most sacred sentiments, that
it has disregarded some of the inestimable
privileges which we hold, you will come
to the same conclusion that the Congress has
come to; that association with that Government
is a crime, is a sin, and if you endorse
that view, it is impossible for us to receive any
instructions at the hands of or under the influence
of a Government so wicked as ours.
The Duke of Connaught came to Calcutta
yesterday, and you saw what the great citizens
of Calcutta had to say about his visit. They
carried out complete `Hartal.' Do you suppose
that for a man like me who has always tendered
the heartiest and voluntary co-operation to
this Government for a period of nearly 30 years
—do you suppose that it was a matter of pleasure
to me that I should associate myself and
his visit? It was not a pleasure to me. At
the same time I feel it to be my duty not only
not to associate myself with it, but to propagate
the idea that to extend any welcome to any
representative of the Sovereign would be a
mistake, would be a crime, would be inconsistent
with our self-respect and that is the view
I hold even up to the present moment.
The Duke of Connaught has come, not to wipe
your and my tears. He has come not to wipe
away the insult that has been hurled against
Islam and the seven crores of Mohamedans of
India. He has come not to heal the wounds
of the Punjab but he has come to sustain the
powers which has been so horribly abused. He
has come to add prestige to an institution
which we consider to be corrupt at its very
source and therefore it became our duty to
boycott that visit, and our duty not to receive
any instructions under the influence of that
Government. And I, therefore, suggest to
you, post-graduate students of Calcutta, that
you would far rather postpone your further
literary progress and throw in your lot with the
millions of your countrymen and gain `Swaraj'
inside of one year. If you feel that by continuing
influence of this Government you can advance
by one single minute the establishment of
`Swaraj' on this great soil, I have no word to
say. But if you are convinced as I am convinced
that continuation of our studies under
the ægis of this Government can only retard
our progress towards the goal, you will not
take one single minute before retiring from
these studies. I want you to face this question
boldly and fairly. You are not called upon
to withdraw because the system of education
is rotten, rotten though it undoubtedly is. You
are called upon to suspend your studies, to
withdraw from the institution because they
are under the ægis of the Government which
you and I want to destroy if we cannot mend it.
And if we approach the question with that
view you will not ask any further question as
to your future. Your future is safe and insured,
immediately you come out of these
institutions in order to advance the cause of
`Swaraj.' Your future rests not on these institutions
but on yourselves. That is the lesson
which the Congress resolution teaches you and
teaches me. Hitherto for a period of 35 years
all our resolutions have been addressed to the
course. The Congress has asked the nation to
become introspective. The Congress has turned
this searchlight inward. The Congress
addresses its resolution now not to the Government
but to the nation. Its prayer is addressed
to you, the student world of Calcutta and
to me an old man passed the stage of youth.
The Congress addresses its resolution and its
prayers to the uncultured men of India—the
people living on the field of India, to the
artisans and to all those whom we consider to
be the illiterate masses of India. And the
question that rises before you this afternoon is
what are you, the post-graduate students,
going to do? What part are you going to play
in this great upheaval. Are you going to be
mere witnesses or are you going to be actors?
Are you going to throw yourselves in the thick
of the fight and claim the laurel of victory? I
hope that your decision will be sound, swift
and certain, and after having come upon that
decision I hope that there will be no shirking
back. And I ask the students who are gathered
in this theatre to burn their book and not
to seek at the present moment a literary
career. I ask you to work as hewers of wood
"Swaraj." I therefore ask every one of you,
students, to take to spinning wheel and you
will find the message of the spinning wheel to
be true.
The message of the spinning wheel is
that he who takes me, he who turns me, brings
`Swaraj' within a measurable distance. The
message of spinning wheel is that every man,
woman or child of India will turn me for one
year or eight months, and I shall present in
turn `Swaraj'. And I ask you to take that
message from that wheel which costs no more
than Rs. 7 or Rs. 8. Mr. Das was telling
me only the other day that there is a Bengali
song about the spinning wheel and the song
runs somewhat thus, that the spinning wheel
gives you all. That the spinning wheel is the
cow of plenty, and I assure you that if you
ask those who have taken to the spinning
wheel they will tell you, "Yes, the spinning
wheel is the Kamdhenu for ourselves."
The women who surrounded me this
afternoon asked me to give them a message.
As I went round them asking for donations
for your sake they asked me for a message
and my unhesitating message was "Take
yourselves for the sake of the country,"
and that is my humble message to you also.
Purify yourselves by withdrawing yourselves
from slave-owning institutions and take up
the spinning wheel, and if you will do that I
promise you `Swaraj' within one year."
| THE DUTY OF
POST-GRADUATE & LAW STUDENTS Swaraj in one year | |