You ought to tell them that self-government does not mean the
Self-Government of the Hindus; Self-Government does not mean the
Self-Government of the Mahomedans; Self-Government does not mean the
Self-Government of the Zemindars; Self-Government means Government by
all the people of Bengal in which all interests are to be represented
and if there are any classes who are depressed or oppressed, they
ought to be told that the sooner self-government is introduced into
this country the better for them (Hear hear): they ought to be told
that we have no desire to restrict the franchise in any manner at all
to the disregard of any such interest and if any kind of responsible
government is introduced into this country, which is made responsible
to the people, they will have the power in their hands to oppose any
oppression or injustice in every possible way. They will have the power
to return their friends to the Legislative Councils they will have the
power to tell the people who oppose them: if you want to oppress us,
if you go on in that way, it would be against the work of national
development and you shall not have the power to do that. We are asking
for putting the power into the hands of the people and are we to be
told that these people for whom we are fighting in whose interest we
are fighting for the last 30 years, that we are likely to disregard the
interest of these people?