_Mr. C. R. Das spoke--On the third day's session of the Congress held
in Calcutta in 1917._
Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen. I have the honour to support
the resolution which has been placed before you. Brother delegates, at
the very outset I desire to refer to the song to which you have just
listened; it is a song of the glory and victory of India. We stand here
to-day on this platform for the glory and victory of India, (Cheers)
and I urge you that amidst the many discussions which have taken place
on the form of the resolution, you should not forget the essential idea
which runs through it and which stands behind it. It is a resolution
which has for its object the growth and the development of the great
Indian nation. We are all agreed about that. The question is how to
bring that about. Gentlemen, the Bengal ideal has been presented to
you to-day by my friend, Babu Bipin Chandra Pal. I accept that ideal
and if I thought that there was anything in this resolution which was
inconsistent with that ideal, I should not have supported it. I do
not think there is anything in this resolution which goes against
the ideal which Bengal has unanimously declared by its resolution at
the Bengal Provincial Conference. What is that ideal? That ideal is
firstly, Provincial Autonomy _viz._, that the Government of India must
have its sphere demarcated, its functions defined; all other functions
should belong to the Provincial governments of the particular province.
Gentlemen, is that an ideal which is foreign to that resolution? I ask
you to look into it carefully. I find within it a careful demarcation
of the sphere of the Government of India and those of the Provincial
governments. Therefore, so far as that ideal is concerned I do not
think that this is at all inconsistent with the resolution which I
have the honour to support. Now gentlemen, what is the next point in
the ideal of Bengal? And that is: that the functions of the Executive
Government must be made subordinate to the Legislative Council which
would represent the wishes of the people of the particular province.
Now is there anything in this resolution which goes against that? It
may be that Bengal has provided for that in one particular way and
in this resolution you have provided for that in another way, but
so far as the ideal is concerned, I say that there is absolutely no
difference between that of Bengal and that which is shadowed in this
resolution (Hear, hear.) You say in this resolution that the power of
the purse should be in the hands of the Legislature. Now, gentlemen,
just pause for one moment to think what that means. Let us take it
that your scheme is accepted by the Government. What does that mean?
That means that the Executive must be obedient to the Legislature. If
they do not obey the commands of the Legislature, the Legislature will
say we stop the supplies. It may be said that the British Parliament
will never grant you that; but are we considering that at present?
When they make a definite pronouncement as to what they are willing to
give us, it will be time then to meet again and formulate a definite
scheme as to the way in which that ideal may be given effect to. But
the time has not come to discuss about it, because I am afraid in the
discussion of it, the main ideal may get lost and I am most anxious to
keep up that ideal before you. But whatever happens to the drafting
of this resolution, the matter of drafting may be corrected,--I hope,
gentlemen, that whatever happens, you will stick to this; that the time
has come when the British Parliament must make up its mind to transfer
the powers from the hands of the Bureaucracy to the people of this
country. (Loud Cheers). We have had enough of the Bureaucracy in this
country. We have suffered and groaned under the misrule of 150 years
and not one day is to be lost in declaring our will and to see that our
wishes are given effect to--that the powers which are in the hands of
the Bureaucracy to-day are transferred to the people of the country.
(Cheers). Now, gentlemen, having regard to that ideal, I must say that
I do not see any inconsistency between what we want in Bengal and that
which is put forward in the resolution. But my revered friend, Mr.
Tilak said that this scheme is very much better than the Bengal scheme
or any other scheme. I am speaking of Provincial Governments--of the
scheme which relates to the ideal of the Provincial Governments and I
do not see any difference there. Mr. Tilak thinks it is not wise to
ask too much. I ask him to read the resolution again and he will find
in it that it does not claim one item less than the Bengal scheme--not
one item less. It claims the whole thing--it claims perfect responsible
government for India. I do not understand the power over the purse
to mean anything less than that. Without saying perfect responsible
government for the provinces as well as for the central government,
you may convey the same idea by saying: "I do not care what you do but
give me the power over the purse. But if you give me the power over the
purse I can have my own way. You, the executive, you say you will not
obey my command but I will stop your supplies. Where are you then? You
will have to obey my command." And if they obey your command what is
the good of saying that we have not asked for Responsible Government?
You have asked in an indirect manner, but as effectively as we have
done in Bengal. You have asked not only for full responsible government
for the provinces but also for the central government. Now it may be,
that this ought to be put in another shape, the words may have to be
changed, for this scheme does not pretend to be a perfect or an exact
one.
I agree with my friend Mr. Jinnah who said: let the Government come out
with a definite pronouncement--the government declaration is vague--let
the government come out with its declaration--a definite pronouncement
as to what they are willing to give. It will be time then to sit over
this resolution again, to consider what words are to be used and what
words to reject or what new words are to be put in. I think we have
been fighting unnecessarily. We are all agreed as to the great ideal.
Let us gather strength to fight for it--let us fight for it with all
our might and let us not rest content till the whole thing is granted
to us (Hear, hear), viz., Responsible Government in the Provinces,
responsible Government in Imperial matters--till the whole of the
Government is put into the hands of the people. I rely on no dictum of
politicians--I rely upon my natural right (Cheers). I do not care what
the constitution of England or the constitution of Switzerland or that
of Australia is (Cheers). I want to build my own constitution. I want
the power to build my own constitution in a way which is suited to this
country and which afterwards will be referred to as the great Indian
constitution (Loud cheers). That is what we want and that is what we
must have. Do not engage in endless discussion in the meantime. Gather
all your strength and say with one voice all over India, in every
village, in every town, in provincial gatherings and in this Congress
that nothing less than the transference of the Governmental powers into
the hands of the people will satisfy us. It is our natural right, it is
the birthright of every individual to live and to grow (Hear, hear). It
is the natural right of every nation to live and to grow according to
its nature. (Loud cheers). We demand that right--that right has been
unjustly withheld from us--by excuses and pretences--by subterfuges--we
have discovered that. We were sleeping, but by God's grace, we are
awake and we claim our natural right. (Prolonged cheers).