Mr. Jones in his speech says that out of a total of 315 millions of
people in this country only a very few know how to read and write.
I take it that he asks us to infer from that people who do not know
how to read and write are worthless--they have got no conscience of
their own they do not know what is good and what is bad--they cannot
choose between Mr. Jones and Mr. Surendra Nath Banerjea. Well, I deny
that proposition. I do not know what it is in Europe but so far as the
teeming millions of our country are concerned, I have very often come
across men who are called illiterate, but I can assure you that great
many of them are shrewd men of business. They are certainly competent
to judge as to who could look after their interest better whether it is
Sir Archy Birkmyre or any one of us. They are certainly in a position
to judge that. But if they are illiterate, may we ask why have they
remained so? What has the Government done, if at the close of a hundred
and fifty years, so many in this country have remained illiterate, and
in such a state that they cannot choose their own representatives?
That itself is the surest condemnation of the present method cf
Government. It has got to be changed and I can assure you if some kind
of self-government is granted to us in the near future within the
next twenty years there will not be one single illiterate man in this
country. I throw out this challenge: let them put us in that position,
give us power to work out our own good and I am sure that before many
years are over the people in this country will be better than people of
most countries. The illiteracy of our people is one of the strongest
grounds upon which we put our claim for Home Rule. We say that we are
not being allowed to develop. We say that our infant nationality is
being choked. We are the inheritors of a great culture. We are the
stewards of a spirituality which must be presented to the world. We
must rekindle that fire. That which is dormant must be brought to life
and light. Self-government alone can do that. Gentlemen, be he European
or Indian, who stands for self-government in this country stands
for Humanity and God. Our Anglo-Indian friends have this glorious
opportunity. The other day in Calcutta I criticised their speeches.
To-day I wish to refer to some of the statements made by Mr. Jones of
"Statesman."