at A.I.C.C. meeting at Gowalia Tank Maidan,
Bombay on August 8, 1942
The
conception of the resolution is not narrow nationalism, but it has an
international background. The arguments for the resolution have already been sufficiently
put before the public. I am sure the bona fides of the resolution have been
fully understood by all friends. The resolution is in no sense a challenge to
anyone. If the British Government accept the proposal it would change the
positions both internal and international, for the better from every point of
view. The position of China would be improved. I am convinced that whatever
change might come about in India, it must be for the better. The A.I.C.C. knows
that Mahatma Gandhi has agreed that the British and other foreign armed forces
stationed in India may continue. This has been agreed to in order not to allow
the Japanese to come in.
I am
surprised how intelligent people in England and America could have
misunderstood the Congress stand unless, of course, they deliberately chose to
misunderstand it. I have regretfully come to the
conclusion that to some extent other governments are also following the British
line of thought towards India. Today, the British Government is opposed to the
Indian national movement for freedom. I am convinced that the British
Government can never really think in terms of advancing the cause of the
freedom of India unless, of course, the entire character of the present British Government is changed. I
am not personally concerned with such a change, but I stand for dissociating
myself with that government and that country. It is not for me to advise the
British people what government they should have.
There is a great deal of criticism in America, too, about
what India wants. We are accused, by some newspapers, that we are
blackmailing.' It is a curious charge for a
people to make who themselves had for generations carried
on a struggle for freedom. If for demanding freedom we are called blackmailers
then surely our understanding of the English language has been wrong.
Whatever may happen in Whitehall, it is not going to stop us from working for
our independence. We live for it and will die for it. I do not want to say
anything at the present moment which might add to the feeling of bitterness
that exists everywhere. I know that this War has produced great emotional reactions in people's minds
which is one of the worst effects of the War and which makes it very difficult
for the people to think straight and not to think in terms of violent hatred.
Nobody in
Whitehall can think straight, I suppose. There is falsity everywhere. You
listen to the radios, London, Berlin or Tokyo. One does not know what is the
truth. I am prepared to make many allowances for the emotional background in
England and America. I do not really mind if people there get angry. But I feel
sorry for the people in England and America who have a perverted way of looking
at the Indian question. They are so wrong that they will certainly land
themselves in difficulty. After all, just think what would have been the course
of history, particularly that of Britain, if she had taken right steps with
regard to India in the last two years. If Britain had acted rightly, the entire
history of the War would have been different. But in spite of perils and
disasters, England has stuck to her imperialism and Empire. The fact is patent
to me that the British Government and, for certain, the Government of India
think the Indian National Congress to be their enemy number one. If the Government
of India is going to treat the people of India like this, then we also know how
to behave with them. We have seen in the last few months an unparalleled example
of inefficiency and incompetency of this government. The whole system is a
rotten one. I do not
want to associate myself with the creaking, shaking
machinery that the Government of India is. As for the so-called National War
Front, there is neither the nation, nor the war, nor any front in it. All that
this front is now doing is opposing the Congress. I certainly do not mind that.
The whole Government of India is built that way. The only occasion when it does
function effectively and efficiently is when overnight it starts rounding up large
numbers of people. One of these days some such efficient functioning will
reappear against Congressmen!
It is a
curious tangle that we are in. It is not going to be resolved by shouting or by
the approaches of the British Government. May I, with all respect, suggest to the
great people of America that they have all gone wrong in regard to India, China
and the whole of Asia. Americans have looked upon India as an appendage to
Britain, and Asia as the dependent of Europe and America. Some of them have thought
in terms of benevolence towards these countries, but always with a taint of
racial superiority. They have always considered them-selves, because of their inventions
during this machine age, to be infinitely better than us and also that we are a
benighted backward people. But the people of Asia do not propose to be treated
in that manner any longer. Asia is the mother continent of the world, and India and China constitute the real mother countries of the
world. What is the good of such people, who, simply because they have some very
great material achievements to their credit, have forgotten or are not learning
the very essence and art of living? They have built and are building better
motor cars. This is a machine age. We will also learn to build machines-better machines.
Americans have forgotten the magnificent achievements of China and India. It is
China and India, with the experience of ages, who have learned the art of
living decently even without the material achievements considered necessary for
such living.
I hate
poverty. My grievance against the British isthat they have made Indians
miserable, poverty-stricken wrecks of humanity. We are now taking a step from
which there will be no going back. If there is goodwill on the other side, then
everything would be all right and the whole course of the War and the future of
the world would be changed. The change would be not merely emotional but in the
material sense also. But that is not to be. There might be some difficulty. It
is my conviction that this resolution is the only way, the effective way, in which
we can help China and Russia and I know how terrible the situation is there.
Britain and America must change their whole conception of the War. It is no
good looking at Asia as a side-show. Asia is the centre of the War and it is
Asia that is going to determine the final result of the War. Therefore, I want
to prepare today, even at some risk and peril, so that the final result of the War
should be the right kind of result. We must go forward even though it involves
certain perils. I should like my friends, who do not agree with this resolution or who do not
try to understand it, to respect our bona fides. People should realise that if
there is any trouble in India, it is we who would suffer. If there is internal
trouble or an external invasion by Japan, it is we who would suffer. England might
be distantly affected but we will have to die immediately. The problem of
meeting aggression concerns us deeply. How can I, after seeing the incompetence
of the government, trust them ? Their whole attitude is one of retreat. We, however, want to be
valiant fighters. It is not a narrow nationalist resolution. I am proud of
Indian nationalism because it is broad based and has an international
background.
The movement
contemplated is not for merely achieving national ends but for achieving world
freedom. The congress is plunging into a stormy ocean and it would emerge
either with a free India or go down. Unlike in the past, it is not going to be
a movement for a few days, to be suspended and talked over. It is going to be a
fight to the finish. The Congress has now burnt its boats and is about to
embark on a desperate campaign. I can never persuade myself to work with a
government which has neither vision nor intelligence. Nor would I remain a passive spectator of the great happenings that are taking
place in the world. It appears to me, perhaps, I would live in eternal
opposition to the Axis powers. I repudiate the suggestion that the Congress and
Mahatma Gandhi are bargaining and haggling. In moments of excitement people are
prone to say certain things, but this should not be dubbed as bargaining. How,
by granting India's independence, would the war efforts of the United Nations
be hampered or how would chaos and anarchy follow in India? The resolution does
not give out even one-tenth of the real feelings of the Indians towards the
British Government.
The debate
on this resolution is over and I have also had my say. There are just a few
points which I have partly said and partly not said-which I would like to say in
English for the benefit of my friends who may not have followed me.
What is
the resolution? You have seen and read it. It is not a threat. It is an invitation.
It is an explanation. It is an offer of cooperation. It is all that. It is not
a threat but still behind it there,is the obvious warning that certain consequences
will follow if certain events do not happen. It is an offer of cooperation but
of a free India with other free peoples. There is going to be no cooperation on
any other terms. On any other terms this resolution can only promise conflict
and struggle. Let that be clear. Some of our friends abroad may think that we
are acting unwisely. I do not blame them. They move in their own environment.
I want them to realise what we are saying. We are in dead earnest about the
course we are going to adopt. Let there be no doubt about it. You may occasionally
cheer and clap but the fact is that we are on the brink of a precipice and we
are in dead earnest about it. I think this resolution of ours is not only a resolution
of the All India Congress Committee but it does represent - as on many other
occasions our resolutions have represented - the voice of India. I would even
go a step further and say that it represent the voice of the entire oppressed
humanity. If, by a miracle, Britain had accepted this resolution and acted
according to its demands you would seen such a wonderful change, not only in
India but all over the world. It would have changed the whole nature of the War. It would have given it a
real revolutionary background which it does not bear today.
Now,
remember that the essential thing about this War is that it is something
infinitely more than a war; it is a World War. That is big enough; but it is
bigger than that: it is a part of, and prelude to, and precursor of a vast revolution
that is enveloping the whole world. This War may end or it may, be carried on
for some time, but no peace will be established, no equilibrium attained until this
revolution runs its appointed course. Our misfortune has been that the leaders
in the West did not realize the revolutionary significance of this War, or if
they realized, they did not act accordingly. They are still carrying on in the
same old way and think only in terms of more tanks and more aeroplanes.
Probably in their position I would have done the same thing. They are not
thinking of the vast surge of the elemental emotion of humanity. Unless they do
this, they can never attain success. I hope they will learn, but, sometimes, I
fear, that they will learn it too late.
Mr.
Churchill and other Englishmen have not got over thinking in terms of the
Anglo-Saxon race. In a recent speech Mr. Churchill visualised the day when the
Anglo-Saxon race would march through the world in dignity and majesty. This is
not a pleasant picture to contemplate and it is a thing not going to be
tolerated by Asia at any rate. Let that be clear. There is too much talk of
majesty and dignity of the Anglo - Saxon race or the German or the Italian
race. There are other races also in the world and we have had enough of such
talks. This racial superiority can no more be tolerated. We are going to cooperate
with the British when we think it right to do so and when there is a right
cause; but we are not going to act with them if we think that the cause is not
right. At the present time, the Allied cause is only negatively right in the
sense that Germany and Japan are worse. But Indian freedom would change the
whole nature of the War and make it right positively. Even the people of Nazi Germany
and those who are helping the Germans would
feel the impact of the change. It would, be a turning point
of the War. But they simply talk about their own problems which have no significance
for us and ask us not to do this and that and go on in their own ruts. The people
in England, America and elsewhere are looking at every question from the narrow
standpoint of a soldier. And it does not matter to them how other people view the Indian question. India says something which we believe-and
I honestly believe-is not only in the interest of India but enormously in the
interest of the Allied cause provided they accept it. They talk about blackmailing and
threaten us. I can only tell them that we will not be deterred from our course
by any amount of threats. On the other hand the Westerners ought to realise that at this
stage threats could only make the position infinitely worse and more difficult
for them. We have decided to fake this course on which there is no going back. I
repeat again : we shall try to remain calm. We have got big tasks ahead-a big
task for our country, and a big task for the world. Whether we function as
Indian National Congress or not, time may come when each individual will
represent the Indian National Congress and work on his own. We must not in the
excitement of the movement forget our high aims and objectives-high aims for
India whose freedom we consider precious, and high aims and objectives with
regard to the whole world. We are nationalists and we are proud of this fact.
But we should not settle down to a narrow nationalism. We should always
remember that we have to develop a right type of internationalism, but not
pseudo-internationalism of the present-day world or of the League of Nations.
I beg
everybody to consider this resolution in this spirit. Whether there are
internal perils or external perils, after all, if the Japanese reach this
country, you and I will suffer and not the people in London and Washington. You
and I will have to die, face the situation, may have to face untold miseries
and sufferings-we will have to face all that. People talk to us from
Washington, New York and various other places. You know what Japan is. We know
what subjection is and we know it better than Americans and Englishmen. We have
had it for about two hundred years. We have come to the decision that it is
better to throw off the fetters into the fire and come out as a free nation
than be reduced to ashes.
We are
prepared to pay any price for unity except the price of independence. What
obstructions have not been placed in our path which have had no relation to the
real issue? I can talk and negotiate with anybody who recognises the need for
democratic freedom for India, but I cannot negotiate with anyone who refuses to
recognise the fundamental issue-the freedom of India. I was
told during the Cripps negotiations that a certain leader insisted on behalf of
Muslims that the Viceroy's
power of veto should not be removed or in any
wayqualified. If any section wants that the British Viceroy should exercise his
veto power against the decisions of
his Indian cabinet, it means clearly that that section is
against the freedom of India. I do not want to injure anyone's feelings especially
at a time when we are about to launch a great struggle for freedom. I tried,
for one whole year, to find out what the League wanted, but I was unable to
understand what they wanted.
I have not
been able to find a parallel to such a situation in the history of the world. I
have not come across anywhere else such a situation except in the land of
Hitler. The Sudden crisis bears similarity to the situation here. For purposes
of negotiations we were not allowed to select our own representatives. We are
told that we cannot send Muslims to represent the Congress. This is an insult
to our great organization and to our revered President. We were prepared to
stake everything consistent with our dignity and self-respect for finding a satisfactory
settlement. Whenever we knocked at the doors we found them bolted, and we
knocked ourselves against a wall. Are we beggars to be treated like this? Are we going to be so dishonorable as to sacrifice the mansion
of Indian freedom which we want to build? Are we going to be kicked about by
men who have made no sacrifice for the freedom of India and who can never think
in terms of freedom at all?
Our
conscience is clear. We have done everything that is humanly possible for
arriving at a settlement. We have made strenuous and sincere attempts to
resolve the communal issue, but all our attempts have either been sabotaged or
frustrated. The chief difficulty is that the problem is more political than
communal.
-JANATA, August 13, 2017
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