Price of Freedom 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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Price of Freedom and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

 

 

At the outset, I wish to thank you for your kindness in thinking of me. You will be interested to know that I had stalwart Pathans from your district working with me as civil resisters during the eight long years of the struggle in South Africa. One of them was working in a Natal mine. He was severely beaten by his foreman apparently for no other cause then that he had joined the civil resistance movement. Being under the pledge not to resist the wrongdoer and yet to disobey his will, he meekly suffered the punishment for disobedience. He came to me and bared his striped back as he was saying, “I have suffered this for the sake of my pledge and you. I am a Pathan and the man who laid his cruel hands upon me would not have gone unscathed any other time.” His suffering and that of thousands like him secured, among other things, repeal of the abominable poll-tax of £3 which our poor countrymen, their wives and the grown-up children had to pay annually as the price of freedom for the principal member to reside in Natal without indenture.  I have never yet known a slave-owner teaching his slave the price of freedom, the price of liberty. Wherever slaves have enfranchised themselves, they have done so in spite of the slave-owner.

I am not now attacking the system of education, base as it is, imperfect as it is. I am simply attacking the aegis under which this imperfect, this base instruction is given to the youths of India. I consider it undesirable on our part to go to these schools and colleges to nurture disaffection. And it is disaffection I am spreading throughout the length and breadth of India. I say affection for this Government is disaffection to God. It is disaffection towards India, it is disaffection towards Islam, and we are bound to remain disaffected towards the Government until it mends its wrongs and until it bends upon its knees. I pray to God for forgiveness to retrieve the blunders that it has committed. So, my friends, I suggest to you that the choice before you is absolutely clear. The case that I have made out before you is, in my opinion, also clear. I do not for one moment wish to suggest that you have not derived some advantages from this Government. That is only Satan’s way. When Satan comes in the garb of a righteous man he is most deceptive. ‘Beware of the Greeks when they approach you with their gifts’ this is a wise saying. Beware of this Government when it professes to approach you with titles, with its seats in the Councils, with judgeships, with its governorships and most of all, you, youths of India, who have a right to carry a clean slate, beware of the traps that this Government has laid for you in establishing factories for creating slaves. You may get posts under the Government. 1

But all these are badges not of our freedom but they are badges of our slavery. If you feel that you cannot tolerate this Government for one moment, honour demands, the self-respect of India demands, that you leave these colleges and schools tomorrow. You must not harbour disaffection and dishonorable means in those schools and colleges. You must not say that you go to these schools in order to demolish this Government. In my opinion it would be disloyalty. It is not disloyalty of the Penal Code. It is not manufactured disloyalty but it is disloyalty in accordance with the eternal laws of God. If you go to these schools and colleges established by the Government you should go to these schools and colleges with a clean heart. Imagine the Governor attends the schools and you have got to stand up. You have got to sing “God save King George”. An Englishman, and we as gentlemen, can pray to God to save King George but we cannot with a clear conscience cry out “God save the King” of this kingdom. That is the meaning: God save this kingdom. Does it mean that the present ruler who sits in England in the Buckingham Palace may remain alive for eternity? It means that this British Empire in which the sun never sets may remain forever, till eternity. And if you, the youths of India, the future hope of India on whom the foundation of the nation rests, if you feel with me that it is not possible for you to get up to honour the Governor in virtue of his office when he attends your schools and colleges, that it is not possible for you to get up when “God save the King” is struck up in schools, then I say, do not go to these schools and colleges. You will be false to your traditions and you will be false to India’s past. 2

Mr. Gregg sends me the following extracts from a written address by Thomas Paine to the soldiers of General George Washington’s American army in the Revolutionary War, December 1776, fighting against the British for the freedom of the thirteen American Colonies: These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly; ’tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated. I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, “Well, give me peace in my day.’ Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, ‘If there must be trouble, let it be in my day that my child may have peace,’ and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.

Not a place upon earth might be as happy as America. Her situation is remote from the entire wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them. I call not upon a few, but upon all, not on this state or that state, but on every state; up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but ‘show your faith by your works’ that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home countries and back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one.

There are persons too who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both. It is remarkable how similar are the qualities required of soldiers of peace and soldiers of war. Thomas Paine’s speech could be addressed almost word for word and with complete appropriateness to the Congress volunteers of 1921 who enrolled under the Ahmadabad Congress pledge of complete non-violence in thought word and deed. Whether you secure freedom by the use of physical force or spiritual force, i.e., through self-suffering, the price to be paid must be heavy, if it is to be a valuable article. Bravery and perseverance in the face of odds are as necessary, if not more, to the man of the spirit as to the man of the sword. Whether we will win swaraj by violent means or non-violent, we shall have to discard ease and comfort, not to speak of luxuries. Pratap reduced himself to penury for the sake of what he believed to be freedom. Prahlad delivered his body for free destruction for what he believed to be his freedom. But there are among us not a few who would gain swaraj for a song. Thomas Paine tells us that such a thing is not possible. 3

The conversations were strictly confidential and, therefore, the report can only come from a fertile journalistic brain. Ever since I have entered upon this self-imposed mission on behalf of political prisoners and detenus, I have made known the terms upon which I have intervened. But the giving of assurances by prisoners or detenus as a price of freedom has never crossed my mind. As a civil resister, I would not be guilty of inducing any political prisoner to give such assurances. And I can also add that during my talks with the prisoners at Alipore and Howrah jails and the Regulation III prisoners at Hijli, they made it absolutely clear to me that they would give no assurance to anyone for the purpose of purchasing their freedom. I wish for the sake of the cause that the newspapers will not anticipate events. Every unauthentic report adds to my difficulties which are already formidable. 4

It was a soul-stirring sight to see people standing knee-deep in water awaiting instructions to disperse. I feel God ranged Himself on the side of the people and gave them a foretaste of the suffering to be voluntarily undergone as the price of freedom. Every session has its lesson. This has a lesson for workers to choose a site which will be proof against bad weather. Not that the slightest reflection can be cast on those who chose Ramgarh as their site. They have had no reason to fear rain at this time of the year. I feel for Rajen Babu, who, with his band of workers, slaved night and day to make the session a success so far as the arrangements are concerned. 5

 

References:

 

1. Young India, 9-8-1919
2. Amrita Bazar Patrika, 18-12-1920
3. Young India, 9-12-1926
4. Harijan, 9-4-1938 
5. The Hindu, 20-3-1940