Chitta Ranjan as a Politician.
Chitta Ranjan's life may well be compared to an Æolian harp which
gives out different notes as different gusts of feelings play on it.
With the internment of Mrs. Annie Besant it sounded a new note--a note
inspired by an ardent love of humanity. From this time dates his real
entry into practical politics. At a meeting held on the 25th July 1917
to protest against the internment of Mrs. Annie Besant, Chitta Ranjan
delivered a speech in course of which he remarked:--
"The Prime-Minister said the other day--'The development of India is
not only an economic but a political necessity, the British Empire is
founded not only upon the freedom of the individual but upon autonomy
of its parts uniting in one common-wealth people differing immensely
from one another in race, language, religion and colour.' The
utterances of His Majesty's Ministers are at once a promise and a
hope. Every order of internment is a protest against the redemption of
that promise and the fulfilment of that hope. I protest against these
internment orders because whether any promises have been made or not
every order of internment is a violation of natural justice and an
outrage on humanity.... I do not think that the God of Humanity was
crucified only once. Tyrants and oppressors have crucified humanity
again and again and every outrage on humanity is a fresh nail driven
through His sacred flesh.... The Anglo-Indian Press is never tired of
saying to us: "Do not be impatient, there is plenty of time." There is
no nation on the face of the Earth more patient than the Indian
Nation. But there is a limit to human patience and I say to those
doubtful friends, 'As soon as you transgress that limit, you forfeit
the right of asking us to be patient.' When we find the utterances of
our officials are at variance with their action, have we not right to
say, "What is the good of your making promises?--You do not really
mean what you say."... What are we that we should say "peace, peace,"
when there is none."
In course of another speech delivered at a meeting on October 2nd
1917, Chitta Ranjan dwelt at length on the policy of internment and
demanded the release of the gentlemen who had been interned. He
said:--
"There is hardly a home in East Bengal from which one or more persons
have not been interned. Every home in East Bengal is filled with
sadness to-day because these people have been snatched away from their
homes and imprisoned without trial or without proof. I say this policy
is un-British, is opposed to all the time-honoured traditions upon
which the British Empire is based. It is opposed to all rules of
common sense and prudence and uprightness and the sooner this policy
is abrogated the better for the peace and prosperity of the empire. At
a time when the British Government in its wisdom has declared its
policy that Home Rule in some shape or other must be granted to this
country, that some sort of responsible Government is necessary for the
foundation and preservation of the empire; is it wise then to detain
these men against popular opinion, against the universal desire of the
Indian people?"
On August 20, 1917, the Secretary of State made the most notable
utterance in the House of Commons:--"The policy of His Majesty's
Government, with which the Government of India are in complete accord,
is that of the increasing association of Indians in every branch of
the administration and the gradual development of self-governing
institutions with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible
government in India as an integral part of the British Empire." This
announcement gave rise to a new ray of hope in the minds of the people
who were growing dissatisfied with the existing system of government
and were demanding progressive reforms. The Anglo-Indians were mostly
against the policy of Self-Government in India. Some of them made very
angry speeches. One gentleman is reported to have said that if there
was a government by the people and for the people there would be no
security for life and prosperity. Chitta Ranjan gave a splendid
retort:--
"If the Anglo-Indians want to make India their home, let them do so
and we will work hand in hand with them in the interest of the Indian
Empire. But if they come here to make money, and all their interest
lies in how best to make it, they are no friends of India, they have
got no right to call themselves Indians, they have got no legitimate
right to oppose the granting of self-government to the people of
India."
In a meeting of the Anglo-Indians one Mr. Arden Wood was reported to
have said: "If racial feeling is to be dominant in Indian politics the
time will come, when, we the British, will either have to leave India
or reconquer it." It is difficult to take this foolish speech
seriously. In course of one of his speeches Chitta Ranjan referred to
it and said:--
"They may leave India if they find it unprofitable to stay in India.
They may stay in India if they find it profitable to do so but the
tall talk of reconquering India is a comical statement. If this
gentleman does not know, he ought to know that India was never
conquered. India was won by love and by promise of good government.
India was never conquered and God willing, it will never be conquered
for all time to come. India will impress her ideal, her civilisation,
and her culture upon the whole world."
Some of our countrymen believe that Chitta Ranjan bears an ill will
against the Europeans as a class. This belief has no basis at all.
Those Englishmen who had any opportunities of knowing him personally
would bear this out that much as he condemned the present system of
Bureaucratic Government he had no racial feeling against them. He has
many intimate friends among the Europeans. Sir Lawrence Jenkins, the
late Chief Justice of Bengal, who was on very good terms with Chitta
Ranjan, once enquired of him why he alone was not seen in the Calcutta
Club when many other respectable Indians graced it with their
presence. Chitta Ranjan openly spoke out his mind and said, "My Lord,
before answering your question, I should mention here a peculiar
custom of our country. Every Indian house-holder of the higher castes
has in his house a place fitted for religious discussions where
members of the lower castes are not admitted, but adjoining it he sets
apart another place where all are equally welcome. Your Bengal Club
and Calcutta Club can well be compared to the above two places. You do
not admit natives into your Bengal Club, but as if to show your
generosity you have fixed the Calcutta Club as a meeting place of the
Black and the White. But do you not think, my Lord, that when you make
this distinction you rather insult the Indians by admitting them to
the Calcutta Club?" Sir Lawrence Jenkins was much pleased with these
noble words of Chitta Ranjan and thence forward his respect for him
was enhanced in a hundred-fold degree.
Again in 1916 when Mr. Montagu came to India Chitta Ranjan was for the
first time invited to the Government House. He went there and learnt
that he was invited at the suggestion of the Secretary of State
himself. The subject for discussion was the political condition of
India at that time. In course of the conversation the question arose
if India was just at that time fit for self-government and His
Excellency the Governor was of opinion that she was not. Chitta Ranjan
could not bear this unjustified remark; he said with a retort--"If
after bearing the responsibility of educating India for the last one
hundred and fifty years, you have failed to make us fit for
self-government, the fault is surely not ours." His Excellency became
red with anger at these fearless words of one of his subjects and
immediately left the place. But Mr. Montagu was much pleased with this
just remark of Chitta Ranjan and talked with him for hours together
over many important topics relating to the welfare of India.
On another occasion when he was staying at England during the Puja
holidays one of his Bengali friends introduced him to Lord Morley.
After the formal introduction Lord Morley asked him, "Are you a
Native?" Chitta Ranjan replied with a smile, "Certainly I am." At this
frank reply Lord Morley was so very impressed that afterwards he
mentioned this fact to his friend Sir Lawrence Jenkins (who had just
then retired from the Chief-Justiceship of Bengal) and spoke very
highly of Chitta Ranjan. Sir Lawrence could not but then utter these
few words--"And this is the man your government wanted to deport."
In fact Chitta Ranjan has never borne any racial feeling against the
Europeans but has only opposed the present system of Bureaucratic
Government. In course of one of his speeches he has remarked:--
"When I ask for Home-rule or Self-Government, I am not asking for
another Bureaucracy. In my opinion Bureaucracy is Bureaucracy, be that
Bureaucracy of Englishmen, or of Anglo-Indians or of Indians."
When in accordance with the announcement of August 1917, Mr Montagu,
the Secretary of State came to India to learn at first hand what
reforms were actually wanted by the people themselves, the Nationalist
party of India thought it proper to convene meetings at different
places of the Provinces so as to advise the political associations of
the country to demand full responsible Self-Government at once. None
of the leading pleaders and barristers of Calcutta was ready to go to
the mufassil for that purpose at a great personal loss. But Chitta
Ranjan to whom the question of the welfare of his mother-country was
ever dearer than life itself could not but respond to this call of
duty. "Work for my country is part of my religion"--this is the motto
of his life. He left Calcutta, and visited different places and
educated the public in the question of national welfare on Indian
ideals. For though he obtained western education, he never forgot our
ancient ideals. Of this he spoke in a lecture at Mymensingh delivered
in October 1917:--
"Much as I venerate European culture, much as I love and much as I
acknowledge my indebtedness to the education which I had in Europe, I
cannot forget that our nationality must not rest content with
borrowing things from European Politics."
In a lecture delivered on the 11th October 1917 at Dacca, Chitta
Ranjan dwelt on the nature of the Self-Government that India stands in
urgent need of:--
"There is one thing to which I desire to draw your attention and it is
this; that in framing the scheme you must not be swayed by a feeling
that the Government will not grant this or grant that. What the
Government will grant and what the Government will not grant, that is
the business of the Government, we have got only to consider what is
necessary for our national well-being, if you find that certain steps
are absolutely necessary for our national development, do not fail to
put that down in your scheme out of timidity."
In course of another speech delivered on the 14th October 1917 he
added:--
"Our Self-Government does not mean the Self-Government of the Hindus,
the Self-Government of the Mahomedans; Self-Government does not mean
Self-Government of the land-holders; Self-Government means Government
by all the People of India in which all interests are to be
represented and if there are any classes who are depressed, they ought
to be told that the sooner Self-Government is introduced into this
country the better for them: they ought to be told that we have no
desire to restrict the franchise in any manner at all to the disregard
of any such interest, and if any kind of responsible government is
introduced into this country, which is made responsible to the people,
they will have the power in their hands to oppose any oppression or
injustice in every possible way."
Lord Minto was undoubtedly responsible for the reign of terror in
India; it was he who first introduced repressive laws in this country.
They were directed against the natural aspirations of the Indians.
While protesting against these laws Chitta Ranjan had the courage to
tell the Bureaucratic Government--"That we are fighting for the ideal
expressed by the King's Ministers; we are fighting for carrying out
that very policy which has been declared in England by His Majesty's
Ministers".
In 1918 the Congress and the Muslim League considered in a joint
meeting that Self-Government for India could be delayed no longer.
Otherwise the growth of Indian Nationality and the development of
Indian manhood would be impossible. The Bureaucracy in this country
would not grant it. Therefore it was necessary that Indian demands
should be carried across the seas to the great British Democracy. The
Indian National Congress and the Muslim League thought it proper to
send a deputation to England to tell the British Democracy that
Indians wanted the right to build up their own constitution--a
constitution which alone would enable us to secure the development of
Indian nationality and the development of Indian manhood. A public
meeting of the Citizens of Calcutta was held on the 18th March, 1918,
under the Presidency of Babu Motilal Ghose to support the Indian
Deputation to England, when Srijut Chitta Ranjan Das said:--
"It is plain that you may agitate as long as you like; you may demand
your right, as you have a right to demand, but you will not get the
Bureaucracy in this country to support you. You must, therefore, go to
their masters....
If we find that we are not to get Self-Government, we have at least
the right to get an honest answer. Let the British Democracy say, if
it likes, that this war is a war of liberation of humanity, but
liberation of humanity does not include the liberation of India. When
I consider the objections put forward to the grant of Self-Government,
I can hardly keep my patience. They say we are not educated enough to
get Self-Government. My answer is: whose fault is it? For the last 150
years you have been governing this country and yet you have not
succeeded in educating the people of this country to such an extent
that they may be fit for governing themselves. Do we not know that
Japan was made only in 50 years? You have had 150 years. Why is it
that at the end of that period we are told that we are not fit to
govern ourselves? Nobody really believes that the time has not
come.... We are further told that we are divided between many sects.
We follow different religions, we have got different interests to
serve and so on. If you say that we are not fit for Self-Government,
because we are divided in our interests, and in our religions, my
answer is that Self-Government and Self-Government alone is the
remedy of that."
It has in season and out of season, been dinned into our ears that a
subject people has no politics. It was therefore that political
discussions, had hitherto been carried on in the spirit of singing
laudation to the administration of Government, however palpable its
defects seemed to be. This mendicant spirit in politics has been
overthrown by the exertions of Chitta Ranjan and his compatriots in
the field of national work in this country. Chitta Ranjan's ideal of
political life was neither Utopian nor Quixotic. All that he demanded
was, that all men are entitled to have equal opportunities without
which the progress of human society and consequently the progress of a
nation comes to a stand-still. He wanted for his countrymen the
opportunities for self-realisation which would render pointless and
inappropriate at the present-day Matthew Arnold's remarks:--
"The East bowed low before the blast,
In patient deep disdain;
She heard the legions thunder past,
And plunged in thought again."