Mohandas K. Gandhi

“ Moreover, the classifying of all Indians in one category and the non-recognition of the just place of the better class is felt to be a great injustice. We have even proposed the raising of the property qualifications and the introduction of the education test, which would surely give the hallmark of fitness to every Indian voter, but this has been contemptuously rejected, proving that the sole object is that of discrediting the Indian and depriving him of all political power, so that he will be forever helpless. ”

“ We know India has such institutions and therefore the Bill will not apply to the Indian. But we can have that Bill or none. If it disfranchises Indians, nothing can be better. If it does not, then too we have nothing to fear! For the Indian can never gain political supremacy and, if necessary, we can soon impose an educational test or raise the property qualifications which, while disfranchising Indians wholesale, will not debar a single European from voting. Thus, the Natal legislature is playing a game of “Toss up” at the Indians’ expense. ”

“ The deprivation will involve degradation. There is no such thing in India. The representative institutions in India are slowly, but surely, being liberalized. Such institutions are being gradually closed against us in Natal. Again, as the London Times puts it, “The Indian in India has precisely the same franchise as the Englishman enjoys.” Not so in Natal. What is sauce for the European goose is not sauce for the Indian gander there. Moreover, the disfranchising in Natal is not a political move but a merely commercial policy—a policy adopted to check the immigration of the respectable Indian. ”

“ Cape Colony, following on the same lines, has recently empowered the East London Municipality to prohibit trading by Indians, walking on the foot-paths and limiting them to residence in certain locations. So you see almost everywhere in South Africa there is a dead set against the Indians. Yet we ask no special privileges, we only claim our just rights. Political power is not our ambition, but to be let alone to carry on our trading, for which we are eminently suited as a nation, is all we ask. ”

“ Wherever the Indian goes he is the same useful, well-doing man, law-abiding under whatever form of Government he may find himself, frugal in his wants and industrious in his habits. But these very virtues make him a formidable competitor in the labour markets to which he resorts. Although numbering in the aggregate some hundreds of thousands, the immigrant Indian labourers and small dealers have only recently appeared in the foreign countries or British Colonies in numbers sufficient to arouse jealousy and to expose them to political injustice. ”

“ Some portions of the Empire are crowded, others are comparatively empty, and the flow from the congested to the under-peopled districts is continuous. What is to happen when subjects differing in colour, religion and habits from ourselves or from the natives of a particular spot emigrate to that spot for their living ? How are race prejudices and antipathies, the jealousies of trade, the fear of competition to be controlled? The answer, of course, must be by intelligent policy at the Colonial Office. ”

“ Small as are the requirements of the Indians, the steady growth of the population of India is such that certain outward movement is inevitable, and it is a movement that will increase. It is very desirable that our white fellow subjects in Africa should understand that there will, in all probability, be this current flowing from India, that it is perfectly within the rights of the British Indian to seek his subsistence at the Cape, and that he ought, in the common interest of the Empire, to be well treated when he comes there. ”

“ It is clear therefore, that the question affects not only the Indians at present residing in South Africa but all who may wish to seek fortunes outside India, and that there can be but one answer to the question. I hope there will be only one answer. If all the Associations, Anglo-Indian and Indian, were to protest against the disabilities that are being heaped upon the Indians in that country, and if every important town in India were to hold meetings to express disapproval of the ill-treatment, I venture to think that it will not be doing too much. ”

“ The injustice to the Indians is so glaring that one is almost ashamed of one’s countrymen in wishing to have these men treated as natives (i.e., of South Africa) , simply because of their success in trade. The very reason that they have been so successful against the dominant race is sufficient to raise them above that degrading level. If this was true in 1889, when the above was written, it is doubly so now, because the Legislatures of South Africa have shown phenomenal activity in passing measures restricting the liberty of the Queen’s Indian subjects. ”

“ A man is brought here, in theory with his own consent, in practice very often without his consent, he gives the best five years of his life, he forms new ties, forgets the old ones, perhaps establishes a home here, and he cannot, according to my view of right and wrong, be sent back. Better by far to stop the further introduction of Indians altogether than to take what work you can out of them and order them away. The Colony, or part of the Colony, seems to want Indians but also wishes to avoid the consequences of Indian immigration. ”

“ Now the chief industries and sanitation of the whole Colony of Natal are entirely dependent upon the Indian labour. The Indians have made Natal “the garden of South Africa”. In the words of another eminent Natalian, “Indian immigration brought prosperity, prices rose, people were no longer content to grow or sell produce for a song”. Of the 51,000 Indians, 30,000 are those that have served out their indenture and are now variously engaged as free labourers, gardeners, hawkers, fruiterers, or petty traders. ”

“ The letters from Natal, informing me of the Royal sanction to this Bill, ask me to request the Indian public to help us to get emigration suspended. I am well aware that the idea of suspending emigration requires careful consideration. I humbly think that there is no other conclusion possible in the interests of the Indians at large. Emigration is supposed to relieve the congested districts and to benefit those who emigrate. If the Indian, instead of paying the poll-tax, return to India, the congestion cannot be affected at all. ”

“ The Gold Mining laws make it criminal for the Indians to buy native gold. And if the Transvaal Government are allowed to have their own way, they would, while treating them as mere chattels, compel the Indians to render military service. The thing is monstrous on the face of it, for, as the London Times puts it, “we might now see a levy of British Indian subjects driven at the point of the Transvaal bayonets against the bayonets of British troops.” The Orange Free State, the other Dutch Republic in South Africa, beats the record in showing its hatred towards Indians. ”

“ Moreover, the European trader, no matter in however small a way, will not hawk his goods about. Perhaps the strongest proof of the trading capabilities of the Indian and, generally speaking, of his integrity, is to be found in the fact that the great houses will give him credit, and, in fact, many of them do the bulk of their trade through his agency. It is no secret that the opposition to the Indian in Natal is but partial, and by no means represents the real feelings of a good portion of the European community. ”

“ In an Asiatic country like India, with its ancient civilization, with its institutions so peculiar, with such a diversity of races, religions and pursuits, with such an enormous extent of country, and such a multitude of human beings as probably except in China were never before under a single Government, I can understand that there should be difficulties in carrying out what we desire to see accomplished. ”

“ So frequently do the colour distinctions creep in into the rules and regulations, laws and bye-laws published in various parts of South Africa, that it is impossible for the Indian community, consisting, as it does, chiefly of traders and artisans with a knowledge sufficient only for the requirements of trade and, in many cases, even without it, to keep itself informed of all the legislation affecting its rights and bring it to the notice of Her Majesty’s Government. ”

“ We are aware that the insults and indignities that we are subjected to at the hands of the populace cannot be directly removed by the intervention of the Home Government. We do not appeal to it for any such intervention. We bring them to the notice of the public so that the fair-minded of all communities and the Press may, by expressing their disapproval, materially reduce their rigour and, possibly, eradicate them ultimately. ”

“ With regard to the legal disabilities we have tried to influence in our favour the public opinion both in England and here. As you know, both the Conservatives and Liberals have supported us in England without distinction. The London Times has given eight leading articles to our cause in a very sympathetic spirit. This alone has raised us a step higher in the estimation of Europeans in South Africa and has considerably affected for the better the tone of newspapers there. The British Committee of the Congress has been working for us for a very long time. ”

“ The object of the Bill, which it is my duty to expound to the House is to widen the basis and extend the function of the Government of India, to give further opportunity than at present exists to the non-official and the native element in Indian society to take part in the work of government and in this way to lend official recognition to that remarkable development, both in political industry and political capacity, which has been visible among the higher classes of Indian society since the Government of India was taken over by the Crown in 1858. ”

“ The Colony was desirous of securing all possible benefit from the Indians as labourers, because the natives of the country do not work in the fields, and the Europeans cannot. But the moment the Indians entered into competition with the European as a trader, he found himself thwarted, obstructed, and insulted by a system of organized persecution. ”

“ To see Indians, apparently respectable, kicked, pushed, and sworn at by the station-master is not an extraordinary sight on the railway stations. The Western station in Durban is the dread of the Indians, so over-polite is the station-master at that station, and this is not the only station where the Indians are kicked about like footballs. ”

“ In August last, there was a meeting of European artisans, held to protest against the intended introduction of Indian artisans. The speeches made would form interesting reading for the Agent-General of Natal. The Indians were called “black vermin”. A voice in the meeting said, “We will go to the Point and stop them.” A picnic party of European children used Indian and Kaffir boys as targets and shot bullets into their faces, hurting several inoffensive children. So deep-seated is the hatred that children have begun instinctively to look down upon Indians. ”

“ Looking at the new Franchise Bill in the light of these facts, it is very difficult to understand it. The question before the Colonists is very simple. Is it necessary to disfranchise the Indian community? If it is, I submit that the proof of the fact that they enjoy representative institutions in India will not make it less so. [17] If it is not, why harass Indians by ambiguous legislation? ”

“ The 9 o’clock rule in Natal, which makes it necessary for every Indian to carry a pass, if he wants to be out after 9 p.m., at the pain of being locked up in a dungeon, causes much heart-burning, especially among the gentlemen from this Presidency. You will be pleased to hear that children of many indentured Indians receive a pretty good education and they wear, as a rule, the European dress. ”

“ So much for these grievances, which seem to be general through out South Africa. Now tell me, Mr. Gandhi, how do Indian advocates fare in the lawcourts?
[A.] Oh! there is no distinction between advocates and attorneys of whatever race; in the courts, it is only a question of ability. There are many lawyers in the Colony, but, on the whole, forensic talent cannot be said to be of a very high order. A good many European pleaders are to be found, and it goes without saying that those with English training and degrees monopolize the practice of the courts. ”

“ The fighting reserve which Great Britain has in the Indian races adds greatly to her political influence and prestige, and it would be violation of the British sense of justice to use the blood and the valour of these races in war and yet to deny them the protection of the British name in the enterprise of peace. The Indian workers and traders are slowly spreading across the earth from Central Asia to the Australian Colonies and from the Straits Settlements to the Canary Islands. ”

“ The argument that the Indian in Natal cannot claim higher privileges than he enjoys in India and that he has no franchise whatever in India is inconsistent with the facts. The Indian has precisely the same franchise in India which the Englishman enjoys. ”

“ What with a strong and intelligent public opinion here and a well meaning Government, the difficulties we have to contend with are not at all commensurate with those that retard the well-being of our countrymen in that country. It is, therefore, quite time that all public bodies should at once turn their attention to this important subject to create an intelligent public opinion with a view to organize an agitation for the removal of the grievances under which our brethren are labouring. ”

“ Quoting statistics to prove the prosperity of the Indian community is quite unnecessary. It is not denied that the Indians who go to Natal do earn a living and that in spite of the persecution. In the Transvaal we cannot own landed property, we may not trade or reside except in specified locations which are described by the British Agent “as places to deposit the refuse of the town, without any water except the polluted soakage in the gully between the location and the town”. We may not, as of right, walk on the footpaths in Johannesburg and Pretoria, we may not be out after 9 p.m. ”

“ On our railway, we have noticed on more than one occasion that coloured passengers are not by any means killed with civility; and, although it would be unreasonable to expect that the White employees of the N.G.R. should treat them with the same deference as is accorded to European passengers, still, we think it would be in no way derogatory to their dignity if the officials were a little more suaviter in modo when dealing with the coloured travellers. ”

“ Peace has not taken into account the free Indian trader who goes to the Colony on his own account and who feels most the indignities and disabilities. If it does not do to tell the Uitlander that he may not go to the Transvaal if he cannot bear the ill-treatment, much less will it do to say so to the enterprising Indian. We belong to the Imperial family and are children, adopted it may be, of the same august mother, having the same rights and privileges guaranteed to us as to the European children. ”