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
"What do you think is to be gained by promoting this boycott in
connection with the Royal visit?"--"Because I want to show that the
people of India are not in sympathy with the Government of the day and
that they strongly disapprove of the policy of the Government in regard
to the Punjab and Khilafat, and even in respect of other important
administrative measures. I consider that the visit of the Prince of
Wales is a singularly good opportunity to the people to show their
disapproval of the present Government. After all, the visit is
calculated to have tremendous political results. It is not to be a
non-political event, and seeing that the Government of India and the
Imperial Government want to make the visit a political event of first
class importance, namely, for the purpose of strengthening their hold
upon India, I for one, consider that it is the bounden duty of the
people to boycott the visit which is being engineered by the two
Governments in their own interest which at the present moment is totally
antagonistic to the people."
"Do you mean that you want this boycott promoted because you feel that
the strengthening of the hold upon India is not desirable in the best
interests of the country?"--"Yes. The strengthening of the hold of a
Government so wicked as the present one is not desirable for the best
interests of the people. Not that I want the bond between England and
India to become loosened for the sake of loosening it but I want that
bond to become strengthened only in so far as it adds to the welfare
of India."
"Do you think that non-co-operation and the non-boycott of the
Legislative Councils consistent?"--"No; because a person who takes up
the programme of non-co-operation cannot consistently stand for
Councils."
"Is non-co-operation, in your opinion, an end in itself or a means to an
end, and if so, what is the end?" "It is a means to an end, the end
being to make the present Government just, whereas it has become mostly
unjust. Co-operation with a just Government is a duty; non-co-operation
with an unjust Government is equally a duty."
"Will you look with favour upon the proposal to enter the Councils and
to carry on either obstructive tactics or to decline to take the oath of
allegiance consistent with your non-co-operation?"--"No; as an accurate
student of non-co-operation, I consider that such a proposal is
inconsistent with the true spirit of non-co-operation. I have often said
that a Government really thrives on obstruction and so far as the
proposal not to take the oath of allegiance is concerned, I can really
see no meaning in it; it amounts to a useless waste of valuable time
and money."
"In other words, obstruction is no stage in non-co-operation?"
--"No,"....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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