Young India: An interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from withinLajpat Rai, Lala
History
Young India: An interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from within
Lajpat Rai, Lala
India -- Politics and government -- 1765-1947
_Gross Insults to Indians._ “That intense Anglo-Saxon spirit of
self-approbation which is unpleasantly perceptible in England itself,
and is so often offensive among vulgar Englishmen on the Continent, very
soon becomes rampant in India.
“There are innumerable instances in which pedestrians have been abused
and struck because they have not lowered their umbrellas at the sight of
a sahib on the highway. There are few Indian gentlemen even of the
highest rank who have not had experience of gross insults when
travelling by railway, because Englishmen object to sit in the same
carriage with a native” (pages 68-69).
II
SOME OPINIONS ABOUT BRITISH INDIA
_Industrial Ruin of India. Gokhale._ “When we come to this question of
India’s Industrial domination by England, we come to what may be
described as the most deplorable result of British rule in this country.
In other matters there are things on the credit side and things on the
debit side.... But when you come to the industrial field, you will find
that the results have been disastrous. You find very little here on the
credit side and nearly all the entries on the debit side. Now this is a
serious statement to make, but I think it can be substantiated.”
_India a Mere Possession. Gokhale._ “India formed the largest part of
the Empire, but was governed as a mere possession of the British people.
Three features showed that it had no part or lot in the Empire. In the
first place, the people were kept disarmed; it was thought to be
dangerous to allow them to carry arms. Secondly, they had absolutely no
voice in the government of their own country; they were expressly
disqualified from holding certain high offices, and practically excluded
from others. Lastly, they were not allowed a share in the privileges of
the Empire in any portion outside British India, except a limited one in
the United Kingdom itself.”--MR. GOKHALE.
_Masses Starved. Sir C. A. Elliott._ “I do not hesitate to say that half
our agricultural population never know from year’s end to year’s end
what it is to have their hunger fully satisfied.”--SIR C. A. ELLIOTT,
one-time Lieut.-Governor of Bengal.
_Sir W. W. Hunter._ In 1880. “There remain forty millions of people who
go through life on insufficient food.”--SIR W. W. HUNTER.
_William Digby._ In 1893. The _Pioneer_ sums up Mr. Grierson’s facts
regarding the various sections of the population in Gaya: “Briefly, it
is that all the persons of the labouring classes, and ten per cent. of
the cultivating and artisan classes, or forty-five per cent. of the
total population, are insufficiently clothed, or insufficiently fed, or
both. In Gaya district this would give about a million persons without
sufficient means of support. If we assume that the circumstances of Gaya
are not exceptional,--and there is no reason for thinking otherwise--it
follows that nearly one hundred millions of people in British India are
living in extreme poverty.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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