Dr. Sapru delivered before the Khilafat Conference at Allahabad an
impassioned address sympathising with the Mussulmans in their trouble
but dissuaded them from embarking on non-co-operation. He was frankly
unable to suggest a substitute but was emphatically of opinion that
whether there was a substitute or not non-co-operation was a remedy
worse than the disease. He said further that Mussulmans will be taking
upon their shoulders, a serious responsibility, if whilst they appealed
to the ignorant masses to join them, they could not appeal to the Indian
judges to resign and if they did they would not succeed.
I acknowledge the force of Dr. Sapru's last argument. At the back of
Dr. Sapru's mind is the fear that non-co-operation by the ignorant
people would lead to distress and chaos and would do no good. In my
opinion any non-co-operation is bound to do some good. Even the
Viceragal door-keeper saying, 'Please Sir, I can serve the Government no
longer because it has hurt my national honour' and resigning is a step
mightier and more effective than the mightiest speech declaiming against
the Government for its injustice.
Nevertheless it would be wrong to appeal to the door-keeper until one
has appealed to the highest in the land. And as I propose, if the
necessity arose, to ask the door-keepers of the Government to dissociate
themselves from an unjust Government I propose now to address, an appeal
to the Judges and the Executive Councillors to join the protest that is
rising from all over India against the double wrong done to India, on
the Khilafat and the Punjab question. In both, national honour
is involved.
I take it that these gentlemen have entered upon their high offices not
for the sake of emolument, nor I hope for the sake of fame, but for the
sake of serving their country. It was not for money, for they were
earning more than they do now. It must not be for fame, for they cannot
buy fame at the cost of national honour. The only consideration, that
can at the present moment keep them in office must be service of the
country.
When the people have faith in the government, when it represents the
popular will, the judges and the executive officials possibly serve the
country. But when that government does not represent the will of the
people, when it supports dishonesty and terrorism, the judges and the
executive officials by retaining office become instrument of dishonesty
and terrorism. And the least therefore that these holders of high
offices can do is to cease to become agents of a dishonest and
terrorising government.
For the judges, the objection will be raised that they are above
politics, and so they are and should be. But the doctrine is true only
in so far as the government is on the whole for the benefit of the
people and at least represents the will of the majority. Not to take
part in politics means not to take sides. But when a whole country has
one mind, one will, when a whole country has been denied justice, it is
no longer a question of party politics, it is a matter of life and
death. It then becomes the duty of every citizen to refuse to serve a
government which misbehaves and flouts national wish. The judges are at
that moment bound to follow the nation if they are ultimately
its servants.
There remains another argument to be examined. It applies to both the
judges and the members of the executive. It will be urged that my appeal
could only be meant for the Indians and what good can it do by Indians
renouncing offices which have been won for the nation by hard struggle.
I wish that I could make an effective appeal to the English as well as
the Indians. But I confess that I have written with the mental
reservation that the appeal is addressed only to the Indians. I must
therefore examine the argument just stated. Whilst it is true that these
offices have been secured after a prolonged struggle, they are of use
not because of the struggle, but because they are intended to serve the
nation. The moment they cease to possess that quality, they become
useless and as in the present case harmful, no matter how hard-earned
and therefore valuable they may have been at the outset.
I would submit too to our distinguished countrymen who occupy high
offices that their giving up will bring the struggle to a speedy end and
would probably obviate the danger attendant upon the masses being called
upon to signify their disapproval by withdrawing co-operation. If the
titleholders gave up their titles, if the holders of honorary offices
gave up their appointment and if the high officials gave up their posts,
and the would-be councillors boycotted the councils, the Government
would quickly come to its senses and give effect to the people's will.
For the alternative before the Government then would be nothing but
despotic rule pure and simple. That would probably mean military
dictatorship. The world's opinion has advanced so far that Britain dare
not contemplate such dictatorship with equanimity. The taking of the
steps suggested by me will constitute the peacefullest revolution the
world has ever seen. Once the infallibility of non-co-operation is
realised, there is an end to all bloodshed and violence in any shape
or form.
Undoubtedly a cause must be grave to warrant the drastic method of
national non-co-operation. I do say that the affront such as has been
put upon Islam cannot be repeated for a century. Islam must rise now or
'be fallen' if not for ever, certainly for a century. And I cannot
imagine a graver wrong than the massacre of Jallianwalla and the
barbarity that followed it, the whitewash by the Hunter Committee, the
dispatch of the Government of India, Mr. Montagu's letter upholding the
Viceroy and the then Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, the refusal to
remove officials who made of the lives of the Punjabis 'a hell' during
the Martial Law period. These act constitute a complete series of
continuing wrongs against India which if India has any sense of honour,
she must right at the sacrifice of all the material wealth she
possesses. If she does not, she will have bartered her soul for a 'mess
of pottage.'