Lord Ronaldshay has been doing me the favour of reading my booklet on
Indian Home Rule which is a translation of Hind Swaraj. His Lordship
told his audience that if Swaraj meant what I had described it to be in
the booklet, the Bengalis would have none of it. I am sorry that Swaraj
of the Congress resolution does not mean the Swaraj depicted in the
booklet; Swaraj according to the Congress means Swaraj that the people
of India want, not what the British Government may condescend to give.
In so far as I can see, Swaraj will be a Parliament chosen by the people
with the fullest power over the finance, the police, the military, the
navy, the courts, and the educational institutions.
I am free to confess that the Swaraj I expect to gain within one year,
if India responds will be such Swaraj as will make practically
impossible the repetition of the Khilafat and the Punjab wrongs, and
will enable the nation to do good or evil as it chooses, and not he
'good' at the dictation of an irresponsible, insolent, and godless
bureaucracy. Under that Swaraj the nation will have the power to impose
a heavy protective tariff on such foreign goods as are capable of being
manufactured in India, as also the power to refuse to send a single
soldier outside India for the purpose of enslaving the surrounding or
remote nationalities. The Swaraj that I dream of will be a possibility
only, when the nation is free to make its choice both of good and evil.
* * * * *
I adhere to all I have said in that booklet and I would certainly
recommend it to the reader. Government over self is the truest Swaraj,
it is synonymous with _moksha_ or salvation, and I have seen nothing to
alter the view that doctors, lawyers, and railways are no help, and are
often a hindrance, to the one thing worth striving after. But I know
that association, a satanic activity, such as the Government is engaged
in, makes even an effort for such freedom a practical impossibility. I
cannot tender allegiance to God and Satan at the same time.
* * * * *
The surest sign of the satanic nature of the present system is that even
a nobleman of the type of Lord Ronaldshay is obliged to put us off the
track. He will not deal with the one thing needful. Why is he silent
about the Punjab? Why does he evade the Khilafat? Can ointments soothe
a patient who is suffering from corroding consumption? Does his lordship
not see that it is not the inadequacy of the reforms that has set India
aflame but that it is the infliction of the two wrongs and the wicked
attempt to make us forget them? Does he not see that a complete change
of heart is required before reconciliation?
* * * * *
But it has become the fashion nowadays to ascribe hatred to
non-co-operationism. And I regret to find that even Col. Wedgewood has
fallen into the trap. I make bold to say that the only way to remove
hatred is to give it disciplined vent. No man can--I cannot--perform the
impossible task of removing hatred so long as contempt and despise for
the feelings of India are sedulously nursed. It is a mockery to ask
India not to hate when in the same breath India's most sacred feelings
are contemptuously brushed aside. India feels weak and helpless and so
expresses her helplessness by hating the tyrant who despises her and
makes her crawl on the belly, lifts the veils of her innocent women and
compels her tender children to acknowledge his power by saluting his
flag four times a day. The gospel of Non-co-operation addresses itself
to the task of making the people strong and self-reliant. It is an
attempt to transform hatred into pity. A strong and self-reliant India
will cease to hate Bosworth Smiths and Frank Johnsons, for she will have
the power to punish them and therefore the power also to pity and
forgive them. To-day she can neither punish nor forgive, and therefore
helplessly nurses hatred. If the Mussalmans were strong, they would not
hate the English but would fight and wrest from them the dearest
possessions of Islam. I know that the Ali Brothers who live only for the
honour and the prestige of Islam, and are prepared any moment to die for
it, will to-day make friends with the latter Englishmen, if they were to
do justice to the Khilafat which it is in their power to do.
* * * * *
I am positively certain that there is no personal element in this fight.
Both the Hindus and the Mahomedans would to-day invoke blessings on the
English if they would but give proof positive of their goodness,
faithfulness, and loyalty to India. Non-co-operation then is a godsend;
it will purify and strengthen India; and a strong India will be a
strength to the world as an Indian weak and helpless is a curse to
mankind. Indian soldiers have involuntarily helped to destroy Turkey and
are now destroying the flower of the Arabian nation. I cannot recall a
single campaign in which the Indian soldier has been employed by the
British Government for the good of mankind. And yet, (Oh! the shame of
it!) Indian Maharajas are never tired of priding themselves on the loyal
help they have rendered the English! Could degradation sink any lower?