Nalini Ranjan Sarkar 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

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Nalini Ranjan Sarkar and Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, the Mayor, presented the civic address in the afternoon. The address was printed in Bengali on white khaddar the interests of the city, without any distinction of caste, colour and creed. He hoped that this great body would work in a way as could make it the object of pride and admiration to the whole of Hindustan.  It is estimated that nothing less than Rs. 10, 00,000 would meet the requirements. We believe, too, that 10 lakhs is in no way an extravagant sum for a Memorial to our deceased countryman. We, therefore, appeal to the public of Bengal for the sum. Our desire is to make this a non-party Memorial so that all who know the worth of Deshbandhu, although they might not have shared his politics, might take part in subscribing to the memorial. The present trustees are: Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy Sj. Nirmal Chunder. Tulsi Ch. Goswami Kumar Satya Mohan Ghosal Sj. Nalini Ranjan Sarkar They have consented, in order to give the trust a non-party character and under the powers reserved to them, to take two more trustees, namely: Dr. Sir Nilratan Sarkar and Sj. Satish Ranjan Das. Sir Rajendra Mukherjee of No. 7, Harington Street, has kindly consented to act as Treasurer. 1

Dead cattle hide is certainly enough for our wants. Have I told you that we are exporting nine crores worth of dead cattle hide out of India? You must remember that millions in India go barefooted. Sir Nalini Ranjan Sarkar told me that the reason why many tanneries have failed was because the leather want was limited in this country. Anyway I did not expect you to raise such an academic question because it is exactly on such academic questions that many of the evils in the world are sustained, as for instance meat-eaters justify meat eating on the plea that the earth will be overrun by the animals they ate if they became vegetarians. Birth-control people justify birth control on the ground among others that there would be overpopulation if there was no artificial control. Even war has been justified on the ground that without it we should perish of pestilence and disease. Celibacy is condemned for one reason among the others that the earth will cease if all became celibates. Does it not strike you that it will be time enough to consider the question when we have absorbed nine crores worth of dead cattle hide? I am writing to Pratap Pandit and enclosing the letter with this. Your argument about machinery is not happily worded. Surely we can run a tannery both for the instruction of villagers and for supplying the wants of those who need foot-wear made out of dead-cattle hide. The main consideration about machinery is that it should not displace the labour of those who cannot otherwise be employed.

You will find that this one argument answers all objections. We do not want to displace hand processes. We want to cultivate hand processes to perfection but where it is found to be absolutely necessary let us not hesitate to introduce machinery. Do you know that some of the most delicate life-saving appliances would have been impossible without the aid of some machinery? After all the simple charkha is also a machine. What we must dread is huge machinery run not by hand but by non-human power such as steam, electricity, etc. But even this need not be tabooed. If this is not still clear to you, you must continue to challenge my arguments. 2 Maulana Saheb told me that you had given up your portfolio in the Bengal Cabinet. I think you have done a patriotic thing. 3

 

References:

 

1. 1.      Amrita Bazar Patrika, 23-6-1925
2. 2.      Letter to Giri Raj, October 4, 1929
3. 3.      The Hindu, 26-12-1939