Presidential Address delivered by
Subhas Chandra Bose at the Maharashtra Youth Conference, First Session, Poona
on 22 December 1931
My
Maharashtrian Friends,
….Today
the youth movement in Maharashtra has attained maturity and it is a factor to
be reckoned with by all those who want to understand their country men aright
and shape their policy and programme accordingly.
….The
youth movement has come to stay and we can no longer ignore its existence.
Youth all over the world is impatient with the present order of things. It has
a dream, a vision, of its own - a vision of better order of things - and it is
now struggling everywhere to translate that dream into reality….
There
cannot be any doubt in any quarter that we are now hungering for freedom. This
hunger is acute and intense and the freedom that we are hankering after is
full, all-round freedom….We believe that freedom is good for all and the more
of it we can have, the better for ourselves and for the human race. The first
taste of freedom may tend to unbalance us - it may even cause a reeling
sensation - but it is bound to sober us before long and then we shall find that
freedom is a source of infinite strength and irresistible power.
…you
sometimes notice a conflict between Congress organisations and youth
organisations in some parts of the country….
The
debacle that has arisen in connection with the Round Table Conference is in my
humble opinion, due largely to the fact, that at the time of the ill-starred
truce, the voice of youth was more or less ignored.
….Consequently,
the Conference met, not to discuss the exact form of Swaraj which India was to
get - but whether India was to get Swaraj at all or any fractional dose of it….
….The
proclamation of truce brought about the release of the Satyagrahi prisoners,
but the Meerut Conspiracy Case and other revolutionary conspiracy cases in different
parts of the country went on in full swing and the revolutionary prisoners
confined in different jails all over India were either forgotten or ignored.
The most serious blunder was the non-release of the detenus who had been
imprisoned without trail.
….The
inability of the Congress to stop what I would call official terrorism is
largely responsible for the weakening of the hold of the Congress on the youths
in some parts of the country – and particularly in Bengal.
….You
have also heard of the suppression of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha organisations
in some parts of the country and the banning of Naujawan Bharat Sabha
Conference in other places…
Friends,
as I followed the deliberations of the Round Table Conference and of the
various committees when they were in session, I used to feel that too much
effort was being wasted in trying to placate individuals or parties who never
meant to fight the British Government for the attainment of India’s freedom. On
the other hand important militant groups in the country, including the left
wing of the Congress seemed to be ignored by the Government on the one side and
the official Congress on the other.
….I
stand for a free India and for a socialistic state in this country. I stand for
full, all-round freedom for our people - regardless of the fact that it may
displease or injure certain vested interests in this country. I stand for a
better race and a better type of manhood and womanhood in this country, which
free India will help to create. Last but not the least, I stand for human
personality, the creation and development of which, our institutions and
environment should always aim at.
I
only hope that in fulfilling our purpose and destiny, we shall not forget our
past history and tradition - our National genius or our National exigencies.
The endeavour to ignore these factors will not only fail but will prove to be
harmful and even suicidal. In these days of internationalism, we should not
forget either that internationalism, always presupposes nationalism.
I
believe, that we have something new and original to contribute to world culture
and civilization; and I believe that India can so live and act as to contribute
to the happiness of mankind as a whole. Let us, therefore, rise to the full
height of our manhood and achieve salvation for our country believing firmly,
as I always do, that India freed means humanity saved.
BANDE MATARAM
Source : G.R. Abhyankar
Papers, MSS, NMML
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