Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present SituationGandhi, Mahatma
Religion
Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Gandhi, Mahatma
British -- India; India -- Politics and government -- 1919-1947; Nonviolence
They are a token of the spirit of revenge and impatience and
anger. The method of violence cannot do good in the long run. Witness
the effect of the armed rising of the allied powers against Germany.
Have they not become even like the Germans, as the latter have been
depicted to us by them?
We have a better method. Unlike that of violence it certainly involves
the exercise of restraint and patience: but it requires also
resoluteness of will. This method is to refuse to be party to the wrong.
No tyrant has ever yet succeeded in his purpose without carrying the
victim with him, it may be, as it often is, by force. Most people choose
rather to yield to the will of the tyrant than to suffer for the
consequences of resistance. Hence does terrorism form part of the
stock-in-trade of the tyrant. But we have instances in history where
terrorism has failed to impose the terrorist's will upon his victim.
India has the choice before her now. If then the acts of the Punjab
Government be an insufferable wrong, if the report of Lord Hunter's
Committee and the two despatches be a greater wrong by reason of their
grievous condonation of those acts, it is clear that we must refuse to
submit to this official violence. Appeal the Parliament by all means, if
necessary, but if the Parliament fails us and if we are worthy to call
ourselves a nation, we must refuse to uphold the Government by
withdrawing co-operation from it.
THE DUTY OF THE PUNJABEE
The Allahabad _Leader_ deserves to be congratulated for publishing the
correspondence on Mr. Bosworth Smith who was one of the Martial Law
officers against whom the complaints about persistent and continuous
ill-treatment were among the bitterest. It appears from the
correspondence that Mr. Bosworth Smith has received promotion instead of
dismissal. Sometime before Martial Law Mr. Smith appears to have been
degraded. "He has since been restored," says the _Leader_ correspondent,
"to his position of a Deputy Commissioner of the second grade from which
he was degraded and also been invested with power under section 30 of
the Criminal Procedure Code. Since his arrival, the poor Indian
population of the town of Amhala Cantonment has been living under a
regime of horror and tyranny." The correspondent adds: "I use both these
words deliberately for conveying precisely what they mean." I cull a few
passage from this illuminating letter to illustrate the meaning of
horror and tyranny. "In private complaints he never takes the statement
of the complainant. It is taken down by the reader when the court rises
and got signed by the magistrate the following day. Whether the report
received (upon such complaints) is favourable to the complainant or
unfavourable to him, it is never ready by the magistrate, and
complaints are dismissed without proper trial. This is the fate of
private complaints. Now as regards police chellans. Pleaders for the
accused are not allowed to interview under trial prisoners in police
custody.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account