The resolution of the Senate of the Gujarat National University in
regard to Mr. Andrews' question about the admission of children of the
'depressed' classes to the schools affiliated to that University is
reported to have raised a flutter in Ahmedabad. Not only has the flutter
given satisfaction to a 'Times of India' correspondent, but the occasion
has led to the discovery by him of another defect in the constitution of
the Senate in that it does not contain a single Muslim member. The
discovery, however, I may inform the reader, is no proof of the want of
national character of the University. The Hindu-Muslim unity is no mere
lip expression. It requires no artificial proofs. The simple reason why
there is no Mussalman representative on the Senate is that no higher
educated Mussalman, able to give his time, has been found to take
sufficient interest in the national education movement. I merely refer
to this matter to show that we must reckon with attempts to discredit
the movement even misinterpretation of motives. That is a difficulty
from without and easier to deal with.
The 'depressed' classes difficulty is internal and therefore far more
serious because it may give rise to a split and weaken the cause--no
cause can survive internal difficulties if they are indefinitely
multiplied. Yet there can be no surrender in the matter of principles
for the avoidance of splits. You cannot promote a cause when you are
undermining it by surrendering its vital parts. The depressed classes
problem is a vital part of the cause. _Swaraj_ is as inconceivable
without full reparation to the 'depressed' classes as it is impossible
without real Hindu-Muslim unity. In my opinion we have become 'pariahs
of the Empire' because we have created 'pariahs' in our midst. The slave
owner is always more hurt than the slave. We shall be unfit to gain
Swaraj so long as we would keep in bondage a fifth of the population of
Hindustan. Have we not made the 'pariah' crawl on his belly? Have we not
segregated him? And if it is religion so to treat the 'pariah.' It is
the religion of the white race to segregate us. And if it is no argument
for the white races to say that we are satisfied with the badge of our
inferiority, it is less for us to say that the 'pariah' is satisfied
with his. Our slavery is complete when we begin to hug it.
The Gujarat Senate therefore counted the cost when it refused to bend
before the storm. This non-co-operation is a process of
self-purification. We may not cling to putrid customs and claim the pure
boon of _Swaraj_. Untouchability I hold is a custom, not an integral
part of Hinduism. The world advanced in thought, though it is still
barbarous in action. And no religion can stand that which is not based
on fundamental truths. Any glorification of error will destroy a
religion as surely as disregard of a disease is bound to destroy a body.
This government of ours is an unscrupulous corporation. It has ruled by
dividing Mussalmans from Hindus. It is quite capable of taking advantage
of the internal weaknesses of Hinduism. It will set the 'depressed'
classes against the rest of the Hindus, non-Brahmins against Brahmins.
The Gujarat Senate resolution does not end the trouble. It merely points
out the difficulty. The trouble will end only when the masses and
classes of Hindus have rid themselves of the sin of untouchability. A
Hindu lover of Swaraj will as assiduously work for the amelioration of
the lot of the 'depressed' classes as he works for Hindu-Muslim unity.
We must treat them as our brothers and give them the same rights that we
claim for ourselves.