"Now you will have seen that it is not necessary for us to have as our
goal the expulsion of the English. If the English became Indianised we
can accommodate them. If they wish to remain in India along with their
civilisation, there is no room for them. It lies with us to bring about
such a state of things."
Then in reply to the question that it is impossible that Englishmen
should ever become Indianised, he says:--
"To say that is equivalent to saying that the English have no humanity
in them. And it is really beside the point whether they become so or
not. If we keep our own house in order only those who are fit to live
in it will remain. Others will leave of their own accord."
It is something that he gives a loophole to the Englishman to remain in
India. To the question that there may be chaos and anarchy on account of
the Hindu Mahomedan position he states:--
"I would prefer any day anarchy and chaos in India to an armed peace
brought about by the bayonet between the Hindus and Musalmans."
When it was pointed out to him that the dissensions amongst the Hindus
themselves may cause the same result he is not dismayed. He says:--
"We are not to assume that the English have changed the nature of the
Pindarries and the Bhils. It is therefore better to suffer the Pindarri
peril than that some one else should protect us from it and thus render
us effeminate. I should prefer to be killed by the arrow of the Bhil
than to seek nominal protection."
When it was pointed out to him that for Home Rule at this stage we have
not got an army for our own protection he said the other day:--
"I am here to confess that we are fully able to take charge of all
military dispositions in the country and that we feel able to deal with
all foreign complications." The worst that may happen is he continued
that we may be blotted out from the face of the earth for which he was
prepared so long as he can breathe the free atmosphere of India.
The following report is interesting; we give it below from the "Daily
Express."
Q:--Are you anxious to take over the whole control of the army at once
or would you make an exception of that object?
A:--I think we are entirely ready to take up the whole control of the
Army which means practically disbanding three fourths of it. I would
keep just enough to police India.
Q:--If the army were reduced to that extent, do you not apprehend
anything aggressive from the frontier territories?
A:--No.
Q:--My information, derived from Military sources, is that there are
over half-a-million armed men on the frontier.
A:--You are right, I agree.
Q:--These tribes have frequently attacked India hitherto. Why do you
think they will refrain from doing so when India possesses Home Rule?
A:--In the first instance, the world's views have changed and secondly
the preparations that are now made in Afghanistan are really in support
of the Khilafat. But when the Khilafat question is out of the way, then
the Afghan people will not have any design on India. The warrior tribes
who live on loot and plunder are given lakhs of rupees as subsidy. I
would also give them a little subsidy. When the Charka comes into force
in India, I would introduce the spinning wheel among the Afghan tribes
also and thus prevent them from attacking the Indian territories. I
feel that the tribesmen are in their own way God-fearing people.
But for the fact that he is well known to be a Saint and Mahatma, I
would have had no hesitation in saying that his last observations about
meeting the Afghans show him to be either a fool or a knave.