Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo

No Common Ideal

                    THE surcharged state of the political atmosphere is not favourable to the growth of Moderate politics; and the present policy of the Government has made many mild Moderates realise the utter impossibility of securing our political rights by following the old course of the so-called constitutional agitation. And we are glad to note that some of our Moderate contemporaries have begun to show a distinct liking for what they used to abhor as "Dangerous Extremist politics." The Indian Patriot of Madras, so well known for its opposition to the New Thought, has the following: -

            "The fight between Moderates and Extremists, which has been going on now for over a year and a half, and which seemed to strain the feelings between the two to the breaking point at the last Congress, seems no longer destined to be a marked feature of Indian politics; for in the face of the danger which threatens law and liberty in the land, the fight will cease, and both will join in self-defence. Whatever may be their differences as regards principles and methods, and even as regards their aims, both will readily agree that the liberty of the subject should be respected, and that we should have freedom even in the midst of servitude. It is the interest of both to secure law and liberty against the aggression of the executive. All other considerations, every difference as regards opinions and principles, will be subordinated to this one end; for most educated Indians will recognise that liberty of persons and liberty of discussion are the chief safe- guards of all other liberties, and these it is impossible to maintain if the executive can by their mere will arrest and deport persons and prohibit public meetings. Hitherto the Moderates and the Extremists have been pulling violently in opposite directions, the one believing in the possibility of a remedy being found for every evil within the constitution itself, the other relying on dissociation with Government and quasi-Government institutions.

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In other words, the vast majority of educated Indians have believed in no progress except by means of association with the rulers of the land, while a growing minority have been urging methods of boycott as the only means of compelling reform."
            But afraid lest the words quoted above should be taken as an expression of Extremist opinion by Anglo-India, the Patriot hastened to disown any faith in the "unpractical" remedy recommended by the Extremists. But contradictory opinions are hard to reconcile, and in the very next sentence the Patriot again said, more in sorrow than in anger, that the Government had by its recent action allowed the Extremists to score a point. "The power," it admitted, "which the Government have exercised is a sort of dispensing power; they have for the time being dispensed with the laws of the land." This admission that the laws of the land have been dispensed with by the Government,~ together with the opinion expressed by our contemporary on the "unexpected proceedings of the Government" which it calls "aberrations of authority", - should have convinced at least our contemporary that it is not possible to get our political rights as gifts from a Government which has "dispensed with the laws of the land" and indulged in "aberrations of authority".
            Our contemporary's comments on the attitude of the Anglo- Indian Press towards the present agitation are even more hopeful. And though our contemporary's firm but misplaced faith in the Englishman's love of liberty and liking for the right of public discussion has made him express his surprise at the fact "that Englishmen should so largely approve of the liberty of the subject and of the right of public discussion being placed at the mercy of the executive", yet even to our contemporary "it shows, if any- thing, that there can be no common ideal for Indians and English- men in India; and the language used by the London Times, that the aims of the Congress are inconsistent with the fundamental, principles of British rule, conclusively establishes that progress according to the ideals of English-educated Indians is impossible of realisation". Exactly so. While the ideal of the Englishman in India is to keep the people here in perpetual servitude for his own benefit, the ideal of the Indian is to secure for himself those

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rights which alone make national existence worth enjoying.
            We wish our Moderate contemporary had stopped here. But the sudden flash that had revealed to him the real situation dies out as suddenly and he goes back to the old superstitions which they say die hard. What, asks our contemporary,-
            "Is then the hope for India and Indians? If we accept the dictum of the Times, there is none. We hope, however, that this is only a passing phase of political thought and not a deliberate declaration of an immutable principle. The Extremists would welcome nothing more cheerfully than such a declaration; for it gives strength to their theories, and sustenance to their opinions. They have no faith in appeals to authority; they" are against submitting petitions to Government. The idea may be chimerical. Still it is their idea, and they cherish it with hope. Amidst such a conflict of opinions, we can regard nothing as more unfortunate than such a declaration as that which the Times has made."

            Is it too much to hope that in the light of Mr. Morley's Budget speech and the spirit which pervaded it, Moderate publicists like the Patriot will get rid of this last lingering delusion that "this is only a passing' phase of political thought"? The Patriot is very sorry that facts should be justifying the Extremist theories. Why? Surely, what we want in India is a sound and sensible policy based upon the truth, and if it turns out that the English professions of liberalism in which the Patriot put faith were delusions and that the Extremist view is the right one, the discovery of the truth, however unexpected and momentarily unpalatable, should be welcomed by every sincere patriot. Least of all should the Patriot think it deplorable that the' Times and Mr. Morley should throw off the mask. What would have been deplorable was the continued resort to the mask and undue delay in the inevitable awakening.