Sukumar Ranjan Das

“ Bureaucracy. Swaraj is our goal, Swaraj not in compartments not by installments; but Swaraj whole and entire. Now it is for you men and women, to say whether we shall attain the goal for which we are striving.
To my Moderate friends I say this. Survey the history of the world from the beginning of all times. Has any nation yet won freedom by pursuing the path which you are pursuing? If the appeal should reach any waverer amongst you, I ask him to consider whether he will now stand on the side of India in her conflict with the Bureaucracy? ”

“ This was the first instance of Chitta Ranjan's honesty and uprightness during his professional career.
The first stage of a professional career is very tormenting. There lies all around only palpable darkness where occasionally beams forth the flickering light of hope. At that time the whole future life appears to be a desert where the faint ray of hope glimmers like a mirage. But it is almost unconceivable how tormenting must have been the state of mind when over and above this uncertainty there was the uneasiness arising from heavy liabilities and consequent loss of social prestige. ”

“ Chitta Ranjan gave a splendid retort:—
"If the Anglo-Indians want to make India their home, let them do so and we will work hand in hand with them in the interest of the Indian Empire. But if they come here to make money, and all their interest lies in how best to make it, they are no friends of India, they have got no right to call themselves Indians, they have got no legitimate right to oppose the granting of self-government to the people of India." ”

“ There is not one single village in Bengal where at least 75% of the inhabitants are not in debt; and there are villages where this frightful indebtedness extends to the whole of the population. Thus it appears, first, that the peasant by tilling his land does not earn enough to give him an adequate livelihood; and secondly, that out of the little that he earns a portion finds its way into the pocket of the "Mahajan". And poverty is the source of all corruption, in the case of the peasants poverty grinds them in two ways. ”

“ I protest against these internment orders because whether any promises have been made or not every order of internment is a violation of natural justice and an outrage on humanity.... I do not think that the God of Humanity was crucified only once. Tyrants and oppressors have crucified humanity again and again and every outrage on humanity is a fresh nail driven through His sacred flesh.... The Anglo-Indian Press is never tired of saying to us: "Do not be impatient, there is plenty of time." There is no nation on the face [47] of the Earth more patient than the Indian Nation. ”

“ To avert this calamity we should abandon all envy and malice and infuse into the hearts of our countrymen an ardent love for mother-country. This is why Mahatma has said—"Do not hate even your enemies, for the victory of love is ensured." This agitation, therefore, springs from love and righteousness; it is the throbbing of the heart of a nation. ”

“ The authority of the panchayet lasted only so long as the community at large tacitly accepted their authority. Now the question arises, "Will the Government entrust so much power to us?" Again there are the Anglo-Indian papers crying themselves hoarse, "No no, there is so much of anarchism in the land, it will lead to fearful abuses if the people are entrusted with any large share of power." But the real fact is just the opposite, if the people are given opportunities of serving their country on a larger scale, the so-called anarchism will die out of itself. ”

“ In order to fight out poverty agriculture will not be sufficient for us. Without industry and commerce our poverty will never be removed. We had commerce though not on European lines. Time was when we earned our own bread and wove our own clothes. We had corn in our granaries; our cattle gave us milk; our tanks supplied us with fish; and the eye was smoothed and refreshed by the limpid blue of the sky and the green foliage of the trees. All day long the peasant toiled in the fields ”

“ It was no doubt a great gain for the country that Chitta Ranjan could not get into the "Heaven-Born service". For once a Civilian, he would have exerted all his powers to reach the highest rung of the ladder and could have found no opportunity of ever mixing with his countrymen and of working for their welfare. Happily, Providence wished it, and mother India was not deprived of the services of a patriotic son who would in future lay his all at her feet. ”

“ The brass ware industry of Bengal—that also has practically disappeared, chiefly for lack of patronage; for economic prudence aside, even our æsthetic taste has grown so coarse and vile that we prefer false and tawdry imitations to genuine and durable articles of value. Thus all our national industries have vanished and with these have vanished our wealth and prosperity."
How to reconstruct these industries and restore a portion of our ancient affluence? We must have no traffic with industrialism, for our simple industries are powerless to cope with the dynamic force of western industrialism. ”

“ Bhuban Mohan with his high sense of duty had the courage to remind the Judge that even if His Lordship had any personal feeling against him, he still hoped to get adequate justice for a poor accused whose life was trembling in the balance. These spirited words had the desired effect. The Judge was highly pleased and acquitted the accused after an impartial review of the case.
Bhuban Mohan was a sincere patriot and had always the welfare of his country at heart. Like many English-educated Bengalees of his generation, he threw himself heart and soul into the Brahmo Samaj movement. ”

“ Those who constitute 40 out of 46 millions of our countrymen,—those who produce our bread by their labour—those who in their grinding poverty have kept alive the torch of their ancient culture and ancient polity—those whom our English civilization and English culture and English law-courts have yet been powerless entirely to corrupt—those whom the oppression of Zemindars and Mahajans have failed to crush—are we,—a corrupt and effete handful—are we their betters and superiors? ”

“ Truth, love and courage:—that is all you need to learn, all that you need to remember. "Faith, Fortitude, Firmness, will they falter and fail and fade at the hour of trial, in the moment of despair", asked the Saqi in a mournful strain, "Or will they, tried and tested emerge from the fire of life radiant, strengthened, ennobled, purified?" ”

“ The tanks have dried up; their water has become unwholesome; and the peasant has lost his natural freshness and gaiety of temperament. What will remedy this? Chitta Ranjan has thus said in his address—
"Agriculture is not sufficient to give us our subsistence. Trade and commerce we must adopt; only our road must not be the road of Industrialism. In the days of old when our life was natural, normal, we had our own fashion and method of trade—a fashion dictated by the law of our being, by the genius of our soul. ”

“ There may be compromise in the matter of details, but there can be no compromise in the essential question that divides us from the Bureaucracy. And if you do not stand for India, you assuredly stand for the Bureaucracy.
To the students, I say this:—You are at once the hope and the glory of India. True education does not consist in learning to add two and two make four; but it lies in the service which you are prepared to give to the Mother of us all. There is work to be done for the mother: Who amongst you is prepared to answer the Call? ”

“ We all know that in the absence of trade and commerce agriculture is the chief means of our subsistence. In his address at the Bengal Provincial Conference Chitta Ranjan has presented before us a pitiable picture of our peasantry. The annual income of a peasant of our country ranges from sixteen to twenty rupees. This amount is certainly insufficient for a peasant even to keep his body and soul together. A prisoner in a Government Jail in India gets Rs. 48 annually for his subsistence. The comparison clearly shows that for bare subsistence the peasants have to incur debts. ”