Sunday, July 1, 2018
Sunday, June 17, 2018
29 June, 1864- Birth Anniversary of Asutosh Mookerjee
Sir Asutosh As I Knew
Him
By Sri Bepin B.
Banerji, Murshidabad, Bengal
As a timid young man I could not even dream of coming face to
face with a giant among men like Sir Asutosh- giant in body, giant in mind and
giant in a capacious heart. Yet the fact was accomplished at an age when my
beard and brains were yet to grow. Sir Asutosh was then not knighted, but was a
Vakil of the High Court. He was once conducting a big land acquisition case of
a Zamindar, who constituted himself as my guardian in my college life in virtue
of my father’s service under him in his Zamindary. In my several walks of life
I had occasion to come in contact with various sorts of people, but never have
I seen such a brazen-faced thick-skulled specimen of the genus homo. Though he
had made several vain attempts to cross standard VII, he used to instruct me on
the intricacies of integral calculus and the niceties of philosophical studies;
not only that, he used to send instructions to Sir Asutosh on the law points to
be raised in his law-suit and the manner of conducting it. Sir Asutosh knew
only too well how the fat purse of the man corresponded to the utter void in
his upper chambers and deeply sympathized with me for my ill luck in having
such a guardian and “tutor’’ in my college life. Day after day I had to carry
the big files of his case to Sir Asutosh like a porter carrying a heavy load,
for, I had no law in my head then, nor have had any, I must confess, ever
since. Sir Asutosh seemed to understand fully my helpless state and was one day
so moved at my piteous look as to ask me if I did anything besides carrying
files. Through frequent contacts with him, I became a little bold by that time
and freely spoke to him of my college studies and the inability of my parents
to bear all my educational expenses in Calcutta. To test my knowledge Sir Asutosh
then put a sum in Analytical Geometry to me to work out, which I could very
fortunately solve. He then asked me to give up carrying the files of his
estimable client, leave his house and go elsewhere and offered to help me with
a sum of money every month without which I would surely have been a carrier of
files all my life. For this, his generous kindness to me then and paternal
affection and deep solicitude for my welfare afterwards, I have thanks, deeply
felt which are the “only exchequer’’ of the poor to pay the debts they owe.
Besides this help, I had another very
great advantage: I could frequently come in contact with him and this enabled
me to observe the little incidents of his daily life and to know in my own
humble way how that giant mind worked. Any sub-editor of a trash journal can
fill in two big columns of an obituary notice with a plethora of adjectives. He
may very carefully select the choicest epithets from his little lexicon and
pile them on the departed great without caring to have even a glance at, far
less knowing, the subject of his notice at close quarters. It is certainly very
praiseworthy “ not to speak ill of the dead’’, but the dry catalogue of virtues
culled to fit all and sundry sickens the mind as too many sweet dishes cloy the
palate, and makes the picture so laboriously drawn quite lifeless and jejune.
It is the little acts done spontaneously in the privacy of home life and in the
midst of familiar surroundings that reveal the inward man and lay bare the
mainspring that keeps the whole being a going through life. The personal
knowledge I could in this way pick up and the deep regard I feel for the
illustrious dead are my only apology for taking up a task too high for my poor
understanding and poorer language.
“Bengalees are admittedly a race of
intellectual giants and among these giants a towering figure is rarely to be
found like Sir Asutosh Mookerjee’’- so said an eminent European. Bred in the
nursery of intellectualism this gentleman looked at the intellectual side of
Sir Asutosh and found in him an erudite scholar, a sound mathematician, an
eminent jurist and a brilliant judge; but we look at him from the emotional
side as well and find in him an ideal son, an ideal father and an ideal
husband. Out of deep regard to the wishes of his mother he trampled under his
big foot the dictatorial firman of a prancing pro-consul and refused to
go to England, left a legacy of merit in a son which very few judges or for the
matter of that, very few eminent men of the country, have been able to do and
spurned at the idea of raising his beloved wife to the status of a “lady’’ and
all that the term connotes in modern phraseology and stuck fast to the Hindu
ideal of conjugal relationship which cemented society through centuries of
foreign rule, but which is, alas, now going to be ruthlessly shaken, thanks to
the vaunted civilization of the present day. The silent but touching grief of
the sorrowful widow at the sight of the dead body of her dear husband when it
was brought home would have melted the stoniest heart of the crassest
materialist and led him to believe with the Hindus that.
Sir Asutosh was, in short, an embodiment of
the best culture of both the head and the heart. He built up, in fact, an
edifice of refined sentiments on the granite of pure reason which the founder
of a noble religion preached and practiced six centuries ago.
Though he had not the symbolic marks over
his body he was a Vaishnava under the long robe, for, nowhere do we find the
fundamental tenet of that noble faith- “stern
as thunder and soft as flower’’- better illustrated than in his life. “Freedom
first, freedom second, freedom for all time to come’’, he thundered forth from
the Vice- Chancellor’s chair and doggedly followed it till the last moment of
his life. But the lion in him would soften down into the lamb and the stern
look would melt into a beaming smile whenever his feet were touched. He was a
Brahmin of Brahmins and his anger was, as the saying goes, in his ‘’feet’’.
Touch them and everything was all right. How often had I observed this in my
own case and many others! I give here only one instance. Having now become
bold, or I should say, very bold indeed to approach him as often as I liked, I
went to see him once, heavily coated and booted at about 10 A.M. in a cold
winter morning. He was then bathing under the tap on the ground floor with his
body almost uncovered. At the sight of a thick coated dandy such I was then
ashamed to think myself to be in his presence, he accosted me- “Is this the
time to see a Justice of the High Court?’’ Being not a bit daunted at the stern
look, my coat and boot notwithstanding. I fell back on the magic to which I
grew accustomed by that time, touched his feet, and down came that familiar pat
and the bewitching smile. Anger, indeed never found a lasting abode in that
generous heart….
…Though he could, as the poet said, “shake the
midriff of despair with laughter”, he could not on the stern side of his
character brook even the shadow of a lie or any calumnious attack, never mind
from what quarter it came. Once Sir Surendranath Bannerji wrote in The
Bengalee that Sir Asutosh knew the electioneering art so well that he could
write a volume on the subject. This roused the ire of Sir Asutosh to such a
pitch that even to a little fry like myself he unloosed the strings of his
whole mind, quoted chapter and verse in torrents to repudiate the charge and
poured forth the vials of his honest wrath on the heads of all lying journals
here and elsewhere. His robust manly nature rose against any dirty kick,
thought he knew full well how newspapers all over the world do, as a rule,
fatten on gossips carefully distilled to intoxicate interested people.
How a tough fighter like Sir
Surendra Nath (nicknamed “Surrender Not” by a Britisher) could write or suffer
writing such stuff in his paper against Sir Asutosh in whose nature there was
not the faintest trace of flattery is not quite understood, unless it was the
end for which he wanted to hang Sir Asutosh. Not to speak of flattery, he
hardly consented to give even to the best men he knew any letter of
introduction to persons in authority. He provided hundreds of men in the
various offices under his direct
control, but in very rare cases recommended anybody to any official- “however
high he might hold his head.’’ I had occasion to find actual proof of this
noble trait in his character in a remark of Sir P.C Lyons, then Chief Secretary
to the Government of Bengal. A candidate for a berth in the executive service
was exceptionally fortunate in getting a line from Sir Asutosh by way of
recommendation to Sir P.C. Lyons….
How many people did he, on the other
hand, help! But in doing he never lost his keen sense if self-respect; he
helped them from his own purse and by his own power. His bounties were
showered, “like the gentle rain form heaven,” upon all without any distinction
of caste or creed, the high or the low. While working in the Department of Land
Records, I deputed one of my amins to do a little job in connection with
his house at Madhupur. The man did the work to his entire satisfaction and was
offered a ten- rupee note by him for his labours. The amin, however
fearing the consequences of taking a gratification (as he thought it to be)
from a Justice of the High Court, excused himself at first and took the money
when he was made to feel the depth of that capacious heart, which gave because it could not help and was
relieved by giving.
From
numerous little incidents like these of his everyday life, I could, so far as
my poor understanding permitted me, have only a glimpse of the machinery of
that mighty mind which forged such a rare combination of intellectual
attainments, robust manliness and sturdy independence with sweetness of temper,
refinement of sentiments and tenderness of heart as to make him really “a
towering figure among the giants of Bengal” – in body, mind and soul. Of him it
may be truly said, as Lord Rosebery said of Pitt, “there may have been men both
abler and greater, though it is not easy to cite them; but there is no more
patriotic spirit, none more intrepid, and none more pure.”
Source: Asutosh Mookerjee Papers, MSS, NMML
22 June, 1939: Formation of All India Forward Bloc
MANIFESTO
OF THE FORWARD BLOC
(As adopted by the Working Committee
of the A.I.F.B. in its Bombay Session on 10-6-1946)
The post-war world has been
caught in a whirlpool of upheavals and revolutions. The political and social
basis of a vast section of mankind is changing.
In India itself a situation frought with
revolutionary possibilities faces us. The India of 1946 is a country which has
awakened to its historical role of smashing imperialism, establishing
nationalism and ushering in a new era of freedom, democracy and socialism.
India stands at the cross roads of history. With correct lead the country can
march along the road of revolutionary glory and heroic achievement, or else take
the wrong path and get lost in the labyrinth of metaphysical and pseudo-
religious shibboleths, and the
perpetuation of slavery.
At such a stage of Indian
history, the Forward Bloc sounds its clarion call to all progressive, radical and
uncompromising anti- imperialist elements in the country at large and in the
Congress in particular, to gather together under the steadfast banner of Netaji
Subhas Chandra Bose, and in an organized, planned manner lead the Indian
Revolution.
The Forward Bloc armed with a
full fledge revolutionary programme appeals to the workers and peasants, the
intellectuals and the students, the men in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force
and the Police to rally round the battle cry of Netaji – “All Power to the
Indian People”
The Forward Bloc is a Socialist
Party accepting class struggle with its fullest implications, which means that
seizure of power shall take place by the workers and peasants, and that
capitalism and landlordism, along with all remnants of feudalism, shall be
abolished, and all means of production shall be nationalised.
The Forward Bloc stand for
undisguised and immediate preparation for the establishment of Azad Governments
on the models of the Azad Hind Government of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the
Satara Prati Sarkar, Midnapur, Balia and Bihar parallel governments established
during 1942-45.
The Forward Bloc stands for the
formation of panchayats in the villages and the towns, in the fields and the
factories, which will function as organs of struggle and seizure of power
during the revolutionary epoch, and as organs of administration when the power
has been established.
The Forward Bloc stands for
convening a Constituent Assembly freely elected on the basis of universal adult
suffrage of both sexes, which will draw up finally the constitution of a free
India.
The Forward Bloc stands for rapid
industrialization and planned economy in the interests of the masses
themselves, and under the aegis of a real toilers’ government.
The Forward Bloc stands for full
cultural, linguistic and religious freedom of all sections of the people.
It stands for the freedom of the
Press, freedom of Thought, Expression and Association for all.
It stands for complete equality
of sexes.
It stands for full opportunity
being given for growth and development of individual genius of every son and
daughter of the soil in the service of Indian Society,
The Forward Bloc stands for the
Fundamental Rights of Man.
Friday, May 25, 2018
28 May: 1883, On the Birth Anniversary of Veer Savarkar
«Veer Savarkar »
Indian
nationalism was not a sudden phenomenon. It grew and reached its climax as a
result of many forces operating through a fairly long period. Great men of all
sorts contributed to its steady development through a hundred or more years. It
is wrong for us, who have seen post 1920 activities, to forget or belittle the
services of those who worked and made great sacrifices even before 1920. It is
a matter of satisfaction that Savarkar’s contribution comes up for special
national notice on 24th December 1960, fixed for that purpose.
Savarkar
of Maharashtra and Chidambaram Pillay of the Tamil country had both the unique
honour of being sentenced to two life-periods of imprisonment , the one at
Bombay and the other in Madras during the first decade of this century which
was marked by excitement , repression and suffering in India. Savarkar was a
law student in London when he led a group of Indian revolutionaries there. I
used to get their literature circulated under prohibition. I knew Gandhiji was
their guest sometime and mixed with them on terms of great intimacy when he
visited England, although he stood for non-violence and they did not accept
that doctrine. Savarkar went through a daring bid for escape from British
police-custody when he took off his clothes and soaped himself and got out
through a port-hole in the ship when it was in a French harbour and swam into
French territory. He was arrested there and handed over to the British Police
who pursued him. The French Police did not then realise that he was a political
[escapee] who had escaped and he should not have been handed over. But once he
was again in British custody he was taken away for trial and sentence. I was
one of those who then got excited over this violation of international practice
and wrote to the press about it. Eventually the International Court rejected
the plea made on Savarkar’s behalf by an eminent French Lawyer. France was then
in what was called the “triple alliance” with Britain. He was finally convicted
and given a savage sentence by Justice Chandavakar in Bombay.
I
was deeply impressed by the story of the 1857 army revolt written by Savarkar,
printed and published somewhere in France and prohibited from circulation in
India. I got a copy somehow from France and read it along with a few friends
similarly enthusiastic about Indian freedom. Savarkar was in prison when the
Home Rule movement and later the Khilafat and Non-cooperation movements swept
the country under Gandhiji’s dynamic leadership.
Gandhiji
and the Savarkar group did not hit it off, as Savarkar was still a believer in
the use of force and did not think that non-violent non-cooperation would
succeed. Later Savarkar being too greatly attached to Hindu nationalism drifted
apart altogether from the stand taken by Gandhiji. Long prison-life told on
Savarkar’s health and I am not sure it did not also affect his once sturdy and
broad minded spirit. I myself believe it was unfortunate that Savarkar could
not join us and drifted more and more apart from the main stream of the Indian
movement for liberty. I look back to the great days between 1897 and 1920 when
Tilak and so many others, the cream of Indian manhood and intellect agitated
and suffered for the country’s sake, enriched the spirit of the nation and
prepared it for the final phase when Britain was forced to retire from India.
Savarkar is one of the heroes of India’s struggle against Britain and he will
ever be held in esteem and loved by us all, as an adhiratha in the long battle
for freedom that was waged in India.
C. Rajagopalachari
C. Rajagopalachari
Madras
17-08-60
27 May: 1964, On the Demise of Jawaharlal Nehru
Homage
to Jawaharlal Nehru
THE
UZBEK BRANCH OF THE SOCIETY OF SOVIET-INDIAN CULTURAL RELATIONS
Dear Friends,
We
have heard with deepest feeling of grief about the premature decease of the
Prime-Minister of the Republic of India Shri JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, the outstanding
statesman of our life-time, the great and sincere friend of the Soviet Union.
Prime-Minister JAWAHARLAL NEHRU has
devoted all his life to the cause of struggle for happiness and freedom of
Indian people, for progress of mankind.
The
outstanding contribution into struggle for
bringing about the principles of peaceful co-existence between the
states made by Prime-Minister JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, his indefatigable activity to
defend peace throughout the world have found its expression in non-alignment policy of the Indian Republic the inspirer of
which Prime-Minister JAWAHARLAL NEHRU has been.
All
what nowadays the great people of India is proud of is inseparably linked with
Prime-Minister JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’s name, who has been an active fighter against
the colonialism.
In
our country Shri JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’s name who has so much done to develop and
strengthen friendship bonds between the Soviet and the Indian peoples, enjoyed
of immeasurable respect and warmest love of all the Soviet people.
The
visit of friendship made by Prime-Minister JAWAHARLAL NEHRU to the Uzbek Soviet
Socialist Republic will be forever engraved in the Uzbek people’s memory.
During
these mournful days for people of India and those of India’s sincere friends we
share the entire depth of feeling of grief overtaken you and convey our sincere
condolence to the people of India and the Indian government.
Houjouma
Shoukhourova Zoulfiya
President
of the Uzbek Society President
of the Uzbek Branch
for
Friendship and Cultural relation of
the Soviet-Indian Cultural
with
foreign countries Society
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Thursday, May 3, 2018
6 May, 1861: Birthday of Motilal Nehru
INTERVIEW
WITH THE GREAT INDIAN LEADER MOTILAL NEHRU THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITE PARTY IN
THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT FOR THE EGYPTIAN NEWSPAPER ARHAM
The well known Indian Leader and
Great Nationalist Motilal Nehru, has recently arrived in Cairo.
Readers know him of course from the
messages and essays published on India in our paper and other, and from the
successive telegrams received every now and then from India about his personal,
National activity and the Great Opposition he leads in the India Assembly which
is considered as a Parliament for India.
The opposition Party he leads is
called : “ Sawaraj Party” and on several occasions the attitude of this Party
and its President gained the absolute
admiration of everybody.
This leader has great fame and
reputation all over the World, especially in connection with the struggle he
conducted against the British Colonisation in India. This called down on him
the anger of the British Authorities and he was emprisoned by them for six month. This emprisonment and
other in just measures are similar to those adopted here by England when the
Egyptian Nationalists endeavered to obtain their independence and practicaly
the same pleasures applied everywhere by usurpers against nations claiming
their independence and liberty. The usurpers resort to the force of arms to
face such circumstances.
Jawaharlal Nehru the son of this
leader was also emprisoned for following his father’s steps because he strived
for the Independence and liberty of his country and collected round him the
youth of all elements struggling for their own complete rights.
Perhaps
the son will go further than the father against colonists owing to his
possession the energy of youth and the spirit of patriotism in which he was
brought up by his father which factors would never allow him to yield to the
English any single right of his country.
So,
Jawahar Lal Nehru and “Young India” stand for complete independence.
This
is the history of Motilal Nehru that I went to interview for the “Ahram Paper”.
When I welcomed him to this country, I asked him if he would speak a little
about India and Indians as we are both struggling for the same principles and
trying to get rid of the same usurpers who took India to suck its wealth, and
usurped Egypt on the plea that Egypt was necessary for the safety of its lines
of communication.
I
asked him about the National Movements for Independence in India and its
supporters. His reply was :
“
The National Indian Congress is the greatest party that uphold the doctrines of
the “ Sawaraj ” in India i.e. independence . This party endeavours to obtain
its end by peaceful means. It is thought by some Indians that this independence
can be obtained through the formation of National Government of Indians only;
this Government to be wholly responsible to the nation, but to remain a member
of the British Empire.
Other
Indians maintain that their independence would not be complete unless all
relations are served between India and Great Britain.
The
supporters of these two opinions however, work together in the National Indian
Congress for the Independence of their country.
The
present movement in India is intended to establish a Constitution for the
Country to determine the measures to be adopted by India when Independent”.
-- But
the British Government has formed a Committee to investigate the question of
home rule for India?
--
Yes, the British Government has selected a Committee under Sir John Simon to
proceed to India to investigate how far such home rule can be granted; but the
National Indian Congress together with all other small parties have declared
their intention to boycott this Committee because it is we, the Indians, who have
the right to establish our Constitution for ourselves, and not the British
Government or any authority selected by him.
--
Can you tell me anything the strength of the party applying for Independence
--
This party was formed not very long ago, under the presidency of my son Jawahar
Lal Nehru. Most of his supporters are the youth of the country. The party is
not very strong at present. It really represents Republic principles. The party
was able to gain the approval of the motion of complete Independence by the
Congress with a great majority. I am afraid that the older generation are not
ready to support these principles, although all the youths have declared to
fight for their complete independence
--
Can I know anything about the number of members of the Congress and their
election.
--
India is divided into election Circles according to provinces. Each province
can send delegates in the proportion of one to 50000 persons. Electors are to
be supporters of “Sawaraj” (Independence) and must sign a declaration to this
effect. Each elector must pay an annual subscription of four “Annas”
(about-1/2) which will give him the right to elect a delegate for the Congress.
The most interested supporters of this Movement are the educated people who take
an active part in it. The majority of the inhabitants who are uneducated do not
take an active part, but they are interested in the movement.
--- What about the difference between the Mohamedans and Hindus?
--- It
not possible to deny that these difference exist as fights and blood shed have
taken place. The main reasons for these were not due to religion as colonials
pretend, but in fact due to the policy adopted by the British Authorities with
them. The Colonials themselves instigate the people to these disturbances in
different ways.
There are certain difference of views between
the Mohammedans and Indians which are not difficult to settle, and we have
progressed a long way to their settlement. Mohammedans say that, before the
English Colonisation, they were the rulers of the Country and they must have
certain privileges. The Hindus say that they form 86% of the population of the
country and that they must have their share in the Government Commensurate with
this proportion.
Each of the two parties is, as you
see, afraid of the oppression of the ruling party.
In spite of this, when a call was
made for good understanding between two parties, the Hindus, to come to an
agreement, offered some of their rights to the Mohammedans. They gave to them
30% of the seats of the Representative Councils, although these seats according
to the percentage of the Mohammedans only came to 14%.
The first man who made a call to
agreement for the welfare of the country “Mahatma Gandhi” who advised the
Hindus to give the Mohammedans what they asked for, as the latter are few in
number and no harms could ever come through granting their demands.
--- What
is Mahatma Gandhi doing now?
--- He
is still maintaining his idea of boycotting. But as he found that the movement
did not succeed for various reasons, he withdrew from the political stage and
directed his activities towards the economical business of the country
especially to the well-Known spinning factory which [he] controls. He thinks
that political efforts should follow the economical ones, and all his efforts
are therefore expanded in this direction. For this purpose he visits the
villages in India. He has no confidence in the educated people but obtains his
supports from the great majority of the uneducated.
-- Does
the Congress spread its propaganda Abroad?
--
The conference has so far restricted its activities to India alone, but it has
been decided this year to make propaganda abroad, especially in the Eastern
countries. Will you please mention in your paper that one of the dearest hopes
of the Indian Congress is to establish good relations with the Egyptian
Nations; and that should an Egyptian delegation visit India they will receive
the warmest reception not only from the Conference but from all Indians,
whatever sects they may belong to. Our aim is to create relations with the
Eastern Countries who are struggling for their independence, such as China,
etc. I shall avail myself of my presence in Egypt to discuss this matter with
some prominent Egyptians. It is our duty to take our part in your joys and
pains; and if it is not now possible to support each other politically, we can,
at least do so morally and we can exchange visits. It is quite true that the
British Government will fight this movement in refusing us visas but we would
like to overcome all difficulties which may handicap our rapprochement.
--
Can you tell me something about the Indian independent principalties?
--
There are no independent principalties in our country because these
principalties are far worse than colonies, every prince has a British delegate
with him who has the complete control over all the acts of the prince, even
those movements concerning the poorest employee. Princes are at the mercy of
the British Government. The Indian people have some rights, but the princes
have gradually been deprived of all their rights.
If
you consult the agreements between these princes and Great Britain, you will
find them tolerable, but the Britishes ( as is their costum in every country
they occupy) have deprived these Princes of gradually of Authority and have
created “antecedents” which gave them a
complete and absolute control over the Princes.
You may think that these Princes
have got their Armies, but it would be sufficient for you to know that the name
of such armies is “British Service Armies” and that they compose a party of
Great Britain’s Forces to realise that the Princes only enjoy the pleasure of
spending on their armies which are in fact at the Service of Great Britain.
When asked for his opinion as to the
British Committee he said that we do not hope much of it; because it will soon
say that we are not fit for Autonomy on the grounds that we are retrogressive
and divides, but the results of this Committee are dependent upon solidarity
and our perseverance in boycotting it.
I asked him as to the Educational
Situation; he said : Ignorance is prevalent in India amongst the great
majority. It is the policy of Great Britain in countries they occupy to keep
the people in complete ignorance because education will enlighten their brains
and make them revendicate their rights.
As to the political situation, he
said : all the sources of income in our country are in the hands of Great
Britain and it is impossible for any industry to prosper without the help of
Great Britain; this entails that the Indian interests are dependent upon
British interests.
Here, Mr. H.R. Bay arrived and we
discussed other matters.
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