No one feels for the Punjab more than I do. I doubt whether anybody was
in a position to know more of it than I was. Even now with all the
enquiries made by the Hunter Commission and by the Congress
Sub-Committee many deplorable incidents as bad as any, worse perhaps,
than any reported have not been disclosed. At this distance of time it
is best that they should remain so. It is with a full knowledge of this
that I make the following remarks.
The conditions now have entirely changed. Before the Reforms under a
Lieutenant-Governor, a single individual, the atrocities in the Punjab
which we know only too well, could be committed almost with impunity.
Now instead of one man the Government of the Punjab consist not only of
a Governor who no doubt is an Englishman, but of an Executive Council
consisting of an Englishman and an Indian, who was a non official before
appointment to his seat in the Council and for all practical purposes
two Indian Ministers who are also consulted in all important matters.
Though, therefore, a repetition of the old incidents may be possible, it
is unlikely. The Government of India again, which then consisted of only
one Indian, now includes three Indian members, a powerful contingent.
Above all, it will be remembered that it was necessary to pass an Act of
Indemnity to save the delinquents from proceedings in civil and criminal
Courts. Such an Act of Indemnity would scarcely be possible now, with a
Legislative Assembly consisting of a majority of elected members under
the new constitution. The trouble in the Punjab arose out of the Rowlat
Act which is repealed. Many high handed proceedings were taken under the
Regulations of 1818 the provisions of which were applied for purposes
for which they were never intended. The regulations are now repealed so
far as the matters are concerned. Many of these proceedings were taken
under the Defence of India Act and they also have gone so that for the
future at any rate our position is very different from what it was in
the past. In such circumstances what is it that one would expect? If it
is an honest endeavour that is being made to solve the difficulties
which arose out of the Punjab, one would expect a demand for any further
guarantees that may be necessary against a repetition of such
occurrences and the punishment of those who have acted not under an
error of judgment and not in good faith. But the demands now made are of
a very different kind. They do not seek for further guarantees, at least
none are formulated.
I realise that the eulogium passed by the English Cabinet on Lord
Chemsford and Sir Michael O'Dwyer was an outrage on Indian public
opinion. I believe also that the Government of India committed a great
political blunder in not publishing their proceedings, punishing the
subordinate officials in accordance with the orders of the Cabinet. I
agree further that it was an egregious mistake to pass the Indemnity Act
when India was so excited. The Government should have waited for the
result of the proceedings in Civil or Criminal Courts, when they might
have pardoned those who acted in good faith reimbursing their expenses.
But that is not the question now. Mr. Gandhi and his party want certain
persons to be punished on the strength of the report submitted by the
Congress Committee who made an _ex parte_ enquiry of their own without
hearing the other side. This is not right. Moreover every where it is
recognised that the security of the subject, person and property,
requires that the punishment of the guilty should be in the hands of the
Courts and not within the discretion of an Executive Council. If these
officers whose punishment is called for are guilty it is the Courts that
ought to punish them, and I speak with knowledge when I say that no
steps open to them have yet been taken by those who carry on the
agitation to vindicate justice. Is it possible, then, to maintain that
the Punjab question in any way justifies the tremendous agitation that
is being carried on for the dismemberment of the Empire. Besides how is
it possible for any reasonable man to say that this affords any
justification for not utilizing the Legislative Councils to help the
Punjab and to carry out the reforms of which the country is urgently in
need. Besides it must be remembered that some of the Punjab political
leaders have failed in their duty. During the crisis they refused to
come forward to substantiate their complaints of maladministration of
Martial Law, even of those matters within their personal knowledge. They
did not give a chance to the Government of India to control the
Government of the Punjab or the administration of Martial law. _The real
truth, of course, is that the Punjab grievances are only a pretext for
this agitation, by the violent section headed by Mr. Gandhi. It is
really not the redress of the Punjab grievances or prevention of the
repetition of atrocities that is sought for, so much as the expulsion of
the British Government from India._