You remember, gentlemen, we had some differences in the Reception
Committee. We have made them up. I do not wish in the least degree
to refer to any of these disputes, but these are disputes which must
occur in every healthy community, in every political organization,
which is not absolutely lifeless. As soon as these disputes occurred,
the "Statesman" was in high glee. What did it say? "Oh the extremists,
you have been found out; oh, the good moderates, do not mix with the
extremists, we will embrace you. Don't you make that mistake." Articles
were written, crying down the extremists and heaping abuse upon them.
If any Indian speaker had used half those expressions, he would at
once have been denounced by the "Statesman" as a wild agitator. But
the "Statesman" is not wild, it is very tame and in that tame way,
it tried to accentuate the differences between the two parties. Our
disputes were settled as they must be settled. If they had not been,
both parties would have accepted the decision of the All-India Congress
Committee. Directly the disputes were settled, the "Statesman" thought
of the stories of Alphonso and it tried to be jocular. In one of the
stories, the "Statesman" said, it is said that kids do not eat up
wolves but it is the wolves who eat up kids; and the wolves of the
extremists have eaten up the kids of the moderates. However, the
revelation came upon Mr. Jones not after many years but in the course
of a few days that there were no Moderates in India. I entirely agree
with him; only I wish to add a rider that there are no Extremists
either. We are all Nationalists.
After a few days the question of the internment of Mr. Mahomed Ali
arose and I had the honour of presiding over a meeting in Calcutta of
both Hindus and Mahomedans to protest against the internments. The
next day, the "Statesman" published long accounts of Bakr-Id riots and
said that Hindus and Mahomedans in this country could never unite. That
is the policy of the "Statesman." Do you believe that the "Statesman"
newspaper ever thought that there was any possible distinction between
the people whom it characterised as Extremists and those whom it
characterised as Moderates? Does the "Statesman" not know that the
interests of Mahomedans and the interests of Hindus are identical? of
course, it knows but it chooses not to say so because it has got its
own interests to serve. I wish to call some gems from Mr. Jone's speech.