Chitta Ranjan Das

“ Is India to remain outside the union? I admit that our freedom must be won by ourselves, but such a bond of friendship and love of sympathy and co-operation between India and the rest of Asia, nay between India and all the liberty-loving people of the world is destined to bring about World Peace. World Peace, to my mind, means the freedom of every nationality and I go further and say that no nation in the face of the earth can be really free when other nations are in bondage. ”

“ I am not slow in recognising my indebtedness to it but I cannot forget my own individuality. I cannot forget the spirit of Bengal which pervades every thought that I entertain, every hope that I cherish, every fear that I have, and so long as I live, I promise before you to-day that I will devote my life to work out the salvation of the ideal of Bengal. The soul of Bengal had been sleeping for years but directly Self-government is given to us, that soul, while living in an atmosphere of freedom, will make its enormous claim to give the fullest expression to its ideal. ”

“ The rights exist, but rights have got to be realised. The rights exist because this is the eternal law of life; but still every man and woman and every nation on earth has got to realise those rights. Realise the fact that we have got those rights and the moment you realise that the bureaucracy or any cracies in the world cannot stand against you and I want you to tell the bureaucracy that we have made up our minds to realise it, and we have made up our minds to compel you to recognise that which we have got. ”

“ I still insist that our national activities must be based on truth. I repeat that I do not believe in politics, or in making water-tight compartments of our national life which is an indivisible organic whole. I repeat that as you cannot define life, you cannot define truth. The test of Truth is not logical definition. The test of Truth lies in its all-compelling force, in making itself felt. You know truth when you have felt it. God cannot be defined, nor can truth because truth is the revelation of God. ”

“ According to this school of thought ‘Representative government, party organisation, majority rule, with all their excrescences in their stead must appear the organisation of non-partisan groups for the begetting, the bringing into being of common ideas, a common purpose and the collective will.’ This means the true development and extension of the individual self. The institutions that exist to-day have made machines of men. No Government will be successful, no true Government is possible which does not rest on the individual. ”

“ No one has got that right. We stand or fall as we pursue or desist from the popular cause. I am nothing. No leader is anything. The strength belongs to the nation whose representative I am, whose representative every one of us may become. It is not my own strength. It is the peoples' strength. Take your stand on that and we will worship you as a leader, as a martyr, as anything which you can claim but fall short of that ideal once by a hair's breadth, your claim is no longer to be recognised. ”

“ So to those who think that the neighbourhood group is puny to serve as a real foundation of self-Government, she says, “is our daily life profane and only so far as we rise out of it do we approach the sacred life? Then no wonder politics are what they have become. But this is not the creed of men to-day; we believe in the sacredness of life; we believe that divinity is for ever incarnating in humanity, and so we believe in Humanity and the common daily life of all men.” ”

“ I do not believe that in the old times in the ancient history of our country, there ever was one united India—India was never one whole under the Hindus at any time. I hold in great reverence and veneration all the activities of ancient India. India was great, but the great Indian nationality was in the making. We have profited by what was done in the ancient days, we have inherited all their culture but it is for us to widen that culture for the evolution of the great Indian nation. That day, gentlemen, is fast approaching. ”

“ Let not the enemy think that England is not united in its purpose and that India is not prepared to take its place in the fight. That is the very reason for which we suggested that all causes which led to resentment of the people of this country and drew them away from this united purpose should be removed—that the people of this country should be allowed to feel that India is their own country, that it is their birthright to defend their own country, that it is their right, not right alone but it is their proud privilege to fight the common enemy. ”

“ If the Leaders are worthless, come and join us to lead, and the leaders will stand aside. If you do not believe in the ideal what is the use of always criticising us in the light of that ideal?” We need no critic to tell us how far we have fallen short of that ideal. Evidence of weakness has met me from every direction which I have looked. But in spite of our defects of human weakness, of human imperfection I feel bold enough to say that our victory is assured and that the Bureaucracy knows that our victory is assured. ”

“ We ought to stand on our own individuality in all the glory which that individuality implies but at the same time we must emerge from that and with the fullest consciousness of ourselves we should reach out to the world. That is the true philosophy of our nationality, and if we are living in an empire to-day, we ought to see that we do not live self-centred, in the splendid isolation of our own individuality. ”

“ Whatever obstacles there may be in the path of Swaraj either of the individual or of the nation, or humanity at large, these obstacles must be removed by the individual if he desires his freedom by the nation, if that nation desires to ruin itself by all the nations of the world if the cause of humanity is to prosper. That being the spirituality of the movement as I understand it I am prepared to put away all obstacles that lie between the Indian nation and the attainment of its freedom, not stealthily but openly, reverently in the name of truth and God. ”

“ Can man create rights? They can only recognise the rights which I have within me, the rights which belong to me, the rights which are given to me by God and rights which no man can take away. Unless you can satisfy that, unless you can make good that position, neither the British Parliament, nor all the Parliaments of the world will be able to confer on you things which do not belong to you. Strive for the thing which belongs to you. Say to them manfully, "this is my right" and prove that assertion by the voice of the people, the united voice of the nation (cheers) . ”

“ I believe in revolutions, but I repeat, violence defeats freedom. The revolution of non-violence is slower but surer. Step by step the soul of the nation emerges and step by step the nation marches on in the path of Swaraj. The only method by which Freedom can be attained in India at any rate, is the method of non-violent non-co-operation. ”

“ But though the method of non-violent non-co-operation is sure and certain, we have now to consider how best to apply that method to the existing circumstances of the country. I do not agree with those who think that the spirit of the nation is so dead that non-violent non-co-operation is no longer possible. I have given the matter my earnest thought and I desire to make it perfectly clear that there is absolutely no reason for entertaining any feelings of doubt or despair. The outward appearance of the people to-day is somewhat deceptive. ”

“ Therefore, gentlemen, what does it come to? We must consider that wicked capacity of the German people who are for ever on their watch to find out a flaw in the constitution of this country. You must also regard the temperament of the British nation, who will be angry if you want your rights at this juncture, but the only people whose interests and whose sentiments are to be set at naught are the Indian people (Shame) . We are not men! We are not a race! Our feeling need not be considered—our sentiments are nothing! Our feelings must be those of our masters. ”

“ If we find that we are not to get self-government, we have at least the right to get an honest answer. Let the British Democracy say if it likes, that this war is a war of liberation of humanity, but liberation of humanity does not include the liberation of India. If that is the view of the British Democracy let them tell us so. We won't be content with excuses and pretences. Gentlemen, when I consider the objections put forward to the grant of self-government, I can hardly keep my patience. ”

“ I contend that each nationality constitutes a particular stream of the great unity, but no nation can fulfil itself until it becomes itself and at the same time realises its identity with Humanity. The whole problem of nationalism is therefore to find that stream and to face the destiny. If you find the current and establish a continuity with the past, then the process of self-expression has begun, and nothing can stop the growth of nationality. ”

“ Do you expect, does any reasonable man who wants to put forward reasonable argument expect that a whole people who have suddenly been called upon to take arms and march against an enemy, that they will at once, as if by a magic, turn out a very large army? Whose is the fault? Is it the fault of Bengal that to-day you do not find thousands and thousands, lacs and lacs of Bengalees fighting for the empire? ”

“ It is a matter of vital importance to the nation that the cultivators of Bengal should prosper and live better lives (hear, hear) . It is a matter of supreme importance to those who want self-government or swaraj in this country (hear, hear) . We must look forward to the whole Bengalee nation. We must work persistently, we must look forward to the day when the Bengalees as a nation, Hindus and Mahomedans, all together, will stand before the world in all the glory of nationality (cheers) . I say therefore the question is of vital importance from the point of view of the nation. ”

“ Apart from any creedal or doctrinal injunction and apart from any question [Pg 58] of morality, the basis of spirituality must be the attainment of freedom and of Swaraj. What is the duty which every human being owes not only to his race, not only to his nation, not only to humanity but also to his God? It is the right to fulfil oneself. It is the duty of living in the light of God. Shortly after my release from imprisonment I said in a public speech that all our national activities should be based on truth. ”

“ So many bags of papers come out because you move the machinery. I told them that the huge Government is nothing but a machinery. Who drives that machinery? It is ourselves. It is the students who read in colleges, it is the pleaders who practice in courts, it is the police officers, it is the Deputy Magistrates who decide cases, it is the judges who administer laws. So in every way it is the Indian that drives this machinery. A history of last 160 years shows explicitly that your objects are not our objects. Our object is to foster our development, your object is to crush our manhood. ”

“ I might not have always adopted the right course—I might have been wrong, every one of us is often wrong but I have always honestly tried to place the interest of the country above all considerations. With me work for my country is not imitation of European politics. It is part of my religion. It is part and parcel of all the idealism of my life. I find in the conception of my country the expression also of divinity. With me nationality is no mere political conception borrowed [Pg 17] from the philosophy of the west. With me a nation has to grow because a nation must grow. ”

“ Man can do everything. Remember we are men determined to emancipate our Motherland from bondage. Should we not be able to deliver her from the shackles that bind her?
We shall rather go ignorant than be educated in those schools and colleges. We want to be educated according to our own standard of living, keeping harmony with our past culture and tradition. I do not know what Bolshevism is. We want to realise what is truth—what is eternal—what is in our blood—for the salvation of our country. I want that. I do not want Bolshevism—I do not want industrialism. ”

“ Well, gentlemen, I pause for one moment and I ask you to consider according to what right or what principle does the Government of this country or any government in the world, ask a man to give up his opinion and his religion? ”

“ I feel it in my heart of hearts that, those of you who have come out, are greater than any of us here, and I humbly bow to you—to the manifestation of strength that you have displayed to-day. I want you to realise that,—to realise the strength in you. It is not yours—it is not human, it is the will—the divine will of the country and the God of our being. ”