India for Indians / Enlarged Edition

by Chitta Ranjan Das

"We quite admit that there have been many paper announcements in the past: and it is only too true that the pages of Anglo-Indian history are strewn broadcast with the fragments of broken pledges."

Let it be another fragment of broken pledge; but let not the people of Bengal consent to that! If their position is this: we will give you this and no further, let them give what they choose; but is it for us to say what little of self-government you choose to give us is amply sufficient for us at the present day? I venture to think that you will not accept such a proposition as that (No, no). We want self-government for a purpose. We do not want that self-government which some people brought up in European politics want—we do not want simply a weapon to fight against the bureaucracy—we have got tired of that and we say for God's sake, let us have peace in Bengal. (cheers) Let us have some sort of self-government which will enable us to look after the agricultural, industrial interests of the country, and to take up the work of education and sanitation which will enable us to work for the real good of the country without being obstructed at every step. That is why we want a change in the system of Government (cheers).

"BENGALEE'S" WRITINGS BEFORE MR. BANERJEA WENT TO DELHI.

Now, gentlemen, supposing Mr. Montagu says you can't get all that, take a little, just a little, a pinch. My position is this: I do not know what others will say. I hope the people of this country will have the courage to say: we want none of it, take it back: if we are to be slaves of the bureaucracy, if all our activities in every direction are to be controlled, and it may be, stifled at the sweet will and pleasure of the bureaucracy, we want none of it. Take it back to England (cheers). We do not want it here. We want courage to say that, I admit. But what right have you to ask for Home Rule if you cannot have the courage to say that—if you cannot have the courage to say to the Government that we don't want it: it will not serve our purpose. What is the good of giving something to the people which they do not want. Now, gentlemen, that I am right in taking this position I shall try to show to you, if you will bear with me—(go on) from one or two extracts from the "Bengalee" newspaper, before a change came over the spirit of its dreams. I will read to you just two or three extracts from the "Bengalee"—not after March when the editor went to Delhi but before that in November and December, 1917. I quote from the "Bengalee" of November 2nd 1917:—

"Mr. Montagu will not be deceived by these tactics (of the anti-Congress-League party). He will know how to appraise them at their proper value. The British Cabinet consisting of politicians of the type of Lord Curzon and Lord Milner have decided that India is to have responsible government and that a substantial advance is to be made in that direction as soon as possible. There is no going back upon this announcement. It must be accepted as a settled policy, from which there can be no departure. Mr. Montagu is coming out to discuss the details and how best this policy can be carried out. It is no use saying "we don't want responsible government; we are not fit for it."

This was Mr. Surendranath Banerjea on November 2nd 1917. He says:—

"Those who breathe a word against it in this crisis of our national evolution are traitors to their country and their God."

This was Mr. Surendranath Banerjea on November 2nd, 1917. On 3rd November, 1917, the mood still continues:

"We want responsible government in full measure in connection with the Provincial Branches of administration, leaving untouched the Departments under the control of the Government of India in regard to which the Congress scheme should apply."

Therefore what he wanted is responsible government in full measure in connection with the provincial branches. On the 11th November, the "Bengalee" writes: