Government Grants and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

 

 

Government Grants and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

 

Since you have been so fearless, I hope you will remain so. What could be crueler than compelling a municipality to do the ignoble things which the Government compelled the Amritsar Municipality to do to cut off water supply to the people? Preserve your independence, though they torture you; do not be intimidated; do not follow the example of the Amritsar Municipality. The other thing I tell you is, you can make your schools independent if you but have the strength. Refuse Government grant and your schools will be independent. I want you to think seriously about both these things. 1 The least that you, in my humble opinion, can do is to decline any further Government grant, disaffiliate the great institution of which you are the trustees and reject the charter of the Moslem University. The least that the Aligarh boys can do, if you fail to respond to the call of Islam and India, is to wash their hands clean of an institution acknowledging the aegis of Government that has forfeited all title to the allegiance of Islam and India and to bring into being a larger, nobler and purer Aligarh that would carry out the inmost wishes of its great founder. I cannot imagine the late illustrious Sir Syed Ahmed keeping his noble creation under the control or influence of the present Government.  As I have been the originator of the idea of disaffiliation of Aligarh and rejection of the Government grant, I feel that I might be able to assist you in your discussions, and therefore, offer my humble services to you, and will gladly attend your meeting if you will allow me to do so. I am proceeding to Bombay and shall await your answer there. 2 

They are called upon, in the name of religion and country, to disregard the wishes even of their parents, should they dissuade them from leaving schools tainted with Government grant or affiliation. Such disregard is permissible only to sons and daughters who have cultivated the sense of scrupulous respect and obedience towards their parents and elders. That disobedience is a virtue only when it is resorted to in response to a higher call and has not a trace of bitterness, hostility, or resentment in it. It is a positive vice when it becomes thoughtless, insolent and rowdy. The one ennobles, the other degrades. And after all, do we not owe anything to Mrs. Besant’s years, her past brilliant services, and her sex? The rising generation will commit suicide if it becomes ungrateful. India’s gratefulness ought to ensure for Mrs. Besant a respectful hearing even when she opposes India’s sentiment. She does so from pure motives. She thinks that we are in error; she is of opinion that we are retarding India’s progress. Surely it is her duty to wean us from what she considers is our error. 3 

Ahmadabad and Surat Municipalities have been superseded— not because they have been found inefficient but because they have been too efficient and too independent. These two municipalities and that of Nadiad have been putting up a brave, dignified and orderly fight against the Government interference and undue control. Their crime consisted in freeing primary education from Government control. They gave up Government grant. Be it noted that the elected councillors who have commanded a majority have always acted after close consultation with the rate-payers. But that is just what the Government evidently does not want. It makes the public opinion effective. 4 Are you not principally dependent upon Government grant and recognition? The record you mention is certainly very good but it loses in public dignity and value. No Government or Government-aided institution suffers for want of funds. All are crowded, some even to suffocation. Whether they really serve the needy poor is a separate question. This criticism is independent of the fact that I have to ask you to be merciful and excuse me from the obligation you seek to impose on me. If I do succeed in visiting Madras for the Hindustani Prachar Sabha, I must ask friends who know me to extend to me their co-operation by imposing upon them restraint in the way of saving me from further burdens. 5

 

References:

 

 

1. Navajivan, 31-10-1920
2. Young India, 27-10-1920
3. Young India, 10-11-1920
4. Young India, 16-2-1922
5. Letter to G. Ramachandra Rao, October 27, 1945