What is this non-co-operation, about which you have heard so much, and
why do we want to offer this non-co-operation? I wish to go for the time
being into the why. Here are two things before this country: the first
and the foremost is the Khilafat question. On this the heart of the
Mussalmans of India has become lascerated. British pledges given after
the greatest deliberation by the Prime Minister of England in the name
of the English nation, have been dragged into the mire. The promises
given to Moslem India on the strength of which, the consideration that
was expected by the British nation was exacted, have been broken, and
the great religion of Islam has been placed in danger. The Mussalmans
hold--and I venture to think they rightly hold--that so long as British
promises remain unfulfilled, so long is it impossible for them to tender
whole-hearted fealty and loyalty to the British connection; and if it is
to be a choice for a devout Mussalman between loyalty to the British
connection and loyalty to his Code and Prophet, he will not require a
second to make his choice,--and he has declared his choice. The
Mussalmans say frankly openly and honourably to the whole world that if
the British Ministers and the British nation do not fulfil the pledges
given to them and do not wish to regard with respect the sentiments of
70 millions of the inhabitants of India who profess the faith of Islam,
it will be impossible for them to retain Islamic loyalty. It is a
question, then for the rest of the Indian population to consider whether
they want to perform a neighbourly duty by their Mussalman countrymen,
and if they do, they have an opportunity of a lifetime which will not
occur for another hundred years, to show their good-will, fellowship and
friendship and to prove what they have been saying for all these long
years that the Mussalman is the brother of the Hindu. If the Hindu
regards that before the connection with the British nation comes his
natural connection with his Moslem brother, then I say to you that if
you find that the Moslem claim is just, that it is based upon real
sentiment, and that at its back ground is this great religious feeling,
you cannot do otherwise than help the Mussalman through and through, so
long as their cause remains just, and the means for attaining the end
remains equally just, honourable and free from harm to India. These are
the plain conditions which the Indian Mussalmans have accepted; and it
was when they saw that they could accept the proferred aid of the
Hindus, that they could always justify the cause and the means before
the whole world, that they decided to accept the proferred hand of
fellowship. It is then for the Hindus and Mahomedans to offer a united
front to the whole of the Christian powers of Europe and tell them that
weak as India is, India has still got the capacity of preserving her
self-respect, she still knows how to die for her religion and for her
self-respect.
That is the Khilafat in a nut-shell; but you have also got the Punjab.
The Punjab has wounded the heart of India as no other question has for
the past century. I do not exclude from my calculation the Mutiny of
1857. Whatever hardships India had to suffer during the Mutiny, the
insult that was attempted to be offered to her during the passage of the
Rowlatt legislation and that which was offered after its passage were
unparalleled in Indian history. It is because you want justice from the
British nation in connection with the Punjab atrocities: you have to
devise, ways and means as to how you can get this justice. The House of
Commons, the House of Lords, Mr. Montagu, the Viceroy of India, everyone
of them know what the feeling of India is on this Khilafat question and
on that of the Punjab; the debates in both the Houses of Parliament, the
action of Mr. Montagu and that of the Viceroy have demonstrated to you
completely that they are not willing to give the justice which is
India's due and which she demands. I suggest that our leaders have got
to find a way out of this great difficulty and unless we have made
ourselves even with the British rulers in India and unless we have
gained a measure of self-respect at the hands of the British rulers in
India, no connection, and no friendly intercourse is possible between
them and ourselves. I, therefore, venture to suggest this beautiful and
unanswerable method of non-co-operation.