Sons of India ! Let your sadness
Turn to gladness ;
For the long night of your sorrow
Now has passed ; a glorious morrow
Dawns upon you. Day is shining
Cease repining.C, F, Andrews,
IN the darkest hour of Mr. Tilak’s life, when neither friend nor foe expected him to survive six long years ^f transportation, the Hon. Mr. Gokhale could not forget his old grievances against him. But Mr. Tilak was nothing if not chivalrous, and on hearing the unexpect###ed news of Mr. Gokhale’s death, (19th February 19 15) he motored down to Poona from Sinhgad to do honour to the great Moderate. The funeral oration delivered by him on this occassion is intensely passionate. Mr; Tilak said : —
" This is not a time for cheers. This is a time for shedding tears. This diamond of India, this jewel of Maharashtra, this prince of workers is laid to eternal rest on the funeral ground. Look at him and try to emulate him. * * * Every one of you should place his life as model to be imitated, and should try to fill up the gap caused by his death ; and if you will do your level best to emulate him in this way, he will feel glad even in the next world/.
224 LOKAMANYA TILAK
In the Provincial Conference (May 1915) in moving the resolution of condolence to Mr. Gokhale’s family Mr. Tilak described how he was partially responsible###for introducingMr. Gokhale into the field of public life. This chivalry towards his political opponents has been markedly displayed by him on several occassions and it reflects great credit on Mr. Tilak, whose heart, stern and unbending though it was in political warfare, always responded to every note of affliction. In November 1915 died Sir P. M. Mehta mourned by Mr. Tilak and the country at large.
Towards the British Empire, in its hour of danger, he was equally chivalrous. We have already seen how, immediately on the outbreak of the great War (1914)^ Mr. Tilak publicly declared his willingness to co-operate with the Government. He suggested the raising of a citizen army. But, though even the most Moderate lea###ders enthusiastically favoured the idea, the Bureaucrats rejected the spontaneous offer of help frcm educated India. Of course, we were all patted on the back for the " fine Imperialistic instinct," but in this life-and###death struggle with Germany, instead of availing them###selves of help from whatever quarter it came, the powers that be confined the work of raising recruits only to those classes who were devoid of all patriotic conscious###ness. Had the attention of Mr. Asquith’s Government been drawn to India’s eagerness to fight for the Empire, America’s help would have been superflous and conscrip###tion in England would nor have been necesssary. It was only when Mr. Lloyd George became Premier (December 1916) that the Cabinet called upon the Viceroy to make special efforts to raise recruits in India*
THE GREAT HOME-RULER 22$
The Premier even went out of his way and suggested that an attempt must be made to catch the imagination of Indians and to stimulate their enthusiasm. But Lord Chelmsford himself lacked that precious quality of imagination and his associates wanted rather to damp than rouse the enthusiasm of the people. Had a Round-table Conference of India’s trusted leaders been convened and the necessity of supplying strong contingents been explained to them, a few lakhs of young Indians would have at once joined the colours. It is, indeed, pitiable to find that the officials did not display even a fraction of that enthusiasm in raising citizen sol###diers which they did in collecting the war-loan. A Defence India Force of 6,000 was advertised for ; 6,000 in thirty crores of people ! ! The necessary Bill was passed. No assurance was given with regard to Home Rule, no assur###ance with regard to commissioned ranks to the Volun###teers ! Still the enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds. Mr. Tilak led the agitation at Poona and Bombay by powerful speeches, calling upon the youth, as they valued their country’s freedom to suspend studies for a year or two and vindicate the fair name of their country. " If age and grey hair are no disqualifica###tions, I am prepared to stand in the fighting line." said he I But it was to no purpose. Eight hundred men at Bombay volunteered themselves on the spot. It seemed as if the Bureaucrats did not want the help. They signalized their appeal for the " Defence of India Force " by a resort to the notorious " Defence of India Act."! ! A few hours before Mr. Tilak’s powerful appeal to the young men, he was served with an order from the Punjab Government prohibiting him from entering the 15
226 LOKAMANYA TILAK
Punjab ! Surely, this was " Co-operation " with a vengeance ! The satrap of the Punjab led the way ! The Delhi Commissioner followed suit ; and wonder of wonders , Mr. Tilak had not even dreamt of going over to the Punjab or to Delhi. When the Premier wanted an appeal which would fire the imagination of the Indians, here was an appeal of a very different sort. But this was only the beginning. The Press Deputation that waited on the Viceroy returned cruelly disappointed. The Press Act must still disfigure the Statute Book. Instead of promising substantial con###cessions to the people, the Government deprecated in strong langauge political agitation. Coercion was threatened. The threat was soon carried out and Mrs. Besant, the tall Poplar of Indian Politics was intern###ed. These were some of the measures intended to persuade the Indians to become soldiers of the Empire ! It is no wonder that the movement of a citizen army, thus ushered into existence soon collapsed.
But Mr. Tilak did not like that matters should rest here. He wanted to carry the case right up to the British Democracy and explain to it the state of things in India. He knew that if he could only convince the British public that the military resources of India were abundant and could well be availed of for the speedy termination of the War, not only would India get the military training denied to her these hundred years and more, but the solution of the Politicial problem also would be prompt and liberal. He tried his best to finduce the Congress to send a Deputation to England^ When, at last that hope was gone, he led the Home Rule League Deputation. As fates would have it, the
THE GREAT HOME-RULER 22/
War Cabinet refused to allow the Deputation to sail at the last moment. In vain did Mr. Tilak appeal. Evi###‘dently the reactionary element in the Cabinet was powerful and Mr. Tilak had to rest content with a cable to the Premier suggesting that India could supply five to ten millions of men, if our youths were made to feel that they were not fighting to establish a principle abroad which was not applied to them in own mother###land.
At the Delhi War Conference (April 1918) Mr. Tilak was not even invited ; at the Bombay War Conference (June 1918), though invited and asked to speak he was not allowed to continue, but had to stop after speaking only for a couple of minutes. Mr. Tilak wanted to show how recruiting could be made popular ; but as the Government had their own ideas in the matter, the Home Rulers were invited to the Conference only to hear an ill-advised homily deli###vered to them by His Excellency the Governor (Lord Willingdon).
It will be thus seen that Mr. Tilak strenuously at###tempted to help the Government in their hour of need and trial; but his well-meant efforts met only with fail###ure and even rebuffs. But the irony of it all was that though Mr. Tilak had made attempts, which the blun###dering Bureaucracy frustrated, to encourager recruiting he was (August 1918) served with an order prohibiting him from lecturing without the previous permission of the District Magistrate ; and what was the reason ? Mr. Tilak, presiding at the annual Shivaji Festival {22nd June 1918) spoke in a way " calculated to dis###courage recruiting." Only a week before, Mr. Tilak had.
228 LOKAMANYA TILAK
publicly undertaken to enlist 5,000 recruits within six months on receiving an assurance that the highest military career without distinction of caste, creed or colour would be thrown open to the recruits ; and as guarantee of good faith, he had sent to Mahatma Gandhi a Deposit Receipt for Rs. 50,000 the amount to be forfeited as penalty if certain conditions were not fulfilled. Com###ment is superflous on these two pictures — Mr. Tilak pledging his word and money in support of recruiting and the Government of Bombay accusing him of " dis###couraging recruiting."
Though Mr. Tilak was prepared to help the Govern###ment in every way to wage the war with success, he was not wilhng to shelve the all-important question of Home Rule. To those of the Bureaucrats who wanted Indians not to press contentious questions upon their attention, Mr, Tilak explained that Liberty is and ought to be always a non-contentious topic. It was absolu###tely impossible, he said, for India to watch with folded arms the stupendous conflict in Europe between Auto###cracy and Democracy. A vast intellectual revolution had been brought about in India as a result of the World-war, The moral, intellectual and political outlook of even the most ignorant villagers had widened. Even they had begun to take interest in the politics of their own country and that of the world at large. The declarations of respon###sible ministers, interpreting this world-war as a war of Liberty had considerably helped the national awaken###ing ; and under these circumstances, it was impossible for Indians to keep quiet. Lord Willingdon had led the way by asking Mr. Gokhale to make a statement of post-war reforms. It was, therefore, in the interests
THE GREAT HOME-RULER 229
-of India and England alike, that this long-delayed set###tlement should be made.
During 1915 and 1916, Mr. Tilak worked assiduously to organize his party. A strong party needs (i) a magnetic leadership (2) a rallying point, and, (3) a war-cry. In the personality of Mr. Tilak that first essential was found. The National Congress would have been an ideal rally###ing point. But it was still in its inglorious and suicidal isolation. The attempted compromise had failed (1914). Mr. Tilak, therefore, decided to hold a Session of the Pro###vincial Conference, the machinery of which was still ia the hands of the Nationalist Party. Under the able presi###dentship of Mr. Joseph Baptista, the Nationalists, more than 1,000 in number met at Poona ; and this excep###tionally large number of delegates, together with the enthusiasm which marked the proceedings conclusively proved that the party was still powerful and had a bright future before it. This conhdence was increased by the Moderate Conference, which was held a couple of months later and which, totally lacking in good at###tendence and enthusiasm, could seek consolation only in the fact that Lord Willingdon had kindly paid it a visit. The Belgaum Provincial Conference (1916), as successful as the Poona one, strengthened the Nation###alist in the belief that the future was in their hands. The success of the Poona and Belgaum Conferences nerved the Nationalists to join the Congress even though the concessions to their sentiments and self###respect were tardy and halting.
It was this Poona Conference which gave the Nation###alists, the necessary war-cry — Home Rule. When the Moderates were busy only with the preparations of
^30 LOKAMANYA TILAK
schemes of political reform, Mr. Tilak gave his country* men something more inspiring. Ever since his returm###from prison he had fixed his heart on a tremendous agitation in favour of Home Rule ; knowing that the Bureaucracy would question the legality of the move###ment with the object of resorting to repression, he in###tended to introduce a Bill in Parliament through the good cfiices of Labour leaders and then concentrate all his activities on a vast propaganda. The sudden ad###vent of the war came to his rescue. The Bureaucracy with their armoury full of repressive legislation had to keep quiet and bide their time. With the Indian army sent away to France, repression was out of the question; and so the Nationalists got the necessary respite to###mobilize their forces and they were not slow to take full advantage of this opportunity.
During these days Mr. Tilak’s dealings with the two other parties were unexceptionable. Conscious of the grow###ing virilitj^ of the Naticnalists, he could afford, especially in the larger interests of the country to be generous m> bis dealings with the Moderates. Mrs. Besant too, in spite of occasicnal lapses was on the path of ccmplete alliance wilh him. the felt that she was regarded as an interloper by the leading Modeiales and was feared and distiusted by them. Mr. Tilak’s vision was so much f cssessed with the future and its immense possi###bilities that he was in no meed to keep open the old sores. He tried to placate the Moderates and did his best to induce them to co-operate with him. The reso###lutions of the Pcona and Belgaum Conferences were drawn up with a ‘skill that silenced the ultra-Modera###tes ; and lor the sake of unity, Mr. Tilak defered his.
THE GREAT HOME-RULERj 231
full programme of activities in connection with Home###Rule.
A notable instance of Mr. Tilak’s desire for unity can be seen in his hearty acceptance of the " Reform Memo###randum " of the nineteen elected members of the Imperial Legislative Council (October 1916). Left to himself, Mr. Tilak would have made more radical demands and we know some of his Bengal followers did actually make them. But Mr. Tilak wanted complete unanimity ; and so he was willing to take his stand on the memorandum with its subsequent development, vix
— The Congress-League-Scheme.
The inauguration of the Indian Home Rule League (23rd April 1916) was also a step in the same direction. Mr. Tilak clearly reahsed that the Congress with the small survivors of the Old Guard would not go in for the radical propaganda he wished to concentrate upon. If the co-operation of the leading Moderates was de###sired, the pace of our activities must be slowed down j and this he was unwilling to do. He therefore started the Indian Home Rule League where he and his enthu###siastic followers would have a free hand. As a conces###sion to the misgivings of the timid Moderates the Home Rule League accepted the creed of the National Congress, a thing which gratified the(Right) Hon. Mr. Shrinivasa Shastri. But the Government was not so gratified. They wanted to crush the Heme Rule Propaganda by striking at the towering personality to whose organising genius the League owed its birth.
This year (1916), the sixty-first anniversary of Mr. Tilak’s birth was celebrated in Maharashtra. It was certainly a proud and glorious day. The harassments
232 LOKAMANYA TILAK
and persecutions that had fallen to Mr. Tilak’s share were simply innumerable. Only he could have emerged unscathed out of such a terrific ordeal. More, he turned seeming defeats to account and successfully enhanced his prestige and honour from out of every reverse. Since 1890, he had been steadily gaining in power and popularity, while latterly the tide of his influence had become irresitible. No wonder, that, not only those who were associated with him in politics but many others took part in the celebration. A large meeting attended by over 8,000 persons was held (23rd July). Friends and admirers from different parts of Maharashtra read addresses and delivered congratulatory speeches. A dress of honour, several individual presents and a huge sum of one lakh of Rupees — testified to the feelings of his admirers. Sitting heavily garlanded in the midst of jubilant friends and well-wishers, Mr. Tilak thought of the past ; " Memories of storm and suffering " said he " rather than those of comparative happiness rise before my mind’s eye." He was also saddened to find that those with whom he started his career in the early eightees — Chiplunkar, Dharap, Apte, Kelkar, Agarkar, Namjoshi, Gokhale — had " shuffled off their coil " one after the other. He alone remained to represent them. " Looking into the future " said he " after completing sixty years, one’s mind cannot but be filled with mis###givings ; and with declining strength one is apt to feel less hopeful. But I devoutly hope that with your support, I may be granted life and strength to add to whatever work of public good I may have done."
When, under somewhat similar circumstances, Par###Bell was presented with an enormously big cheque, he
THE GREAT HOME-RULER 23J
<quietly pocketed it and did not so much as thank his iriends for their generosity. He took the present as a matter of course. Mr. Tilak was made of a far finer stuff. With simple modesty and characteristic gener###osity, he said : —
" I do not know what I can do with the money. I do not want it for my own sake nor would it be proper for me to accept it for personal use. I can only accept it in trust to spend it in a constitutional way for National work after adding my own quota to it."
If the people brought their birth-day present to Mr. Tilak, the Government, too, contributed their mite. They, too, sent a birth-day present to Mr. Tilak in the form of a notice calling upon him to show cause why he should not be bound over for good behaviour for a period of one year in a sum of Rupees 20,000 in his own recognizance and in two securities of Rs. 10,000 each. This is a striking illustration of how " Mr. Tilak’s public life has been like a double-faced Janus — one face of it expressing the enjoyment and the delight of public ap###preciation and the other, inseparable from the first, expressing the toil of determined resistance to official persecution."
The Government wanted to silence Mr. Tilak, not to imprison him ; perhaps, the war came in the way. They, therefore, picked up three of his speeches — the ^one delivered (ist May 1916) at Balgaum and the other two at Ahmadnagar (31st May and ist June 1916). These speeches were models of sobriety and moderation. " Almost every alternate sentence pro###claimed the speaker’s loyalty to the British connec###tion." Failing to find stronger exhibitions of Mr.
^34 LOKAMANYA TILAK
Tilak’s disloyalty, the Government fixed on these Home Rule speeches to launch their offensive against him. Through their counsel, they took care to inform the court and the world at large, that they took exception to Mr. Tilak’s lectures on Home Rule and not to Home Rule itself. Mr. Binning in opening the case on 7th May 1916 before the District Magistrate, Poona, did not hesitate to call Mr. Tilak’s declarations of loyalty as a mere cloak to defend himself from the clutches of law. He (Mr. Binning) questioned Mr. Tilak’s bona fdes, laid stress on isolated passages and pressed for conviction. Mr. G. W. Hatch, District Magistrate placed rehance on Mr. Justice Strachey’s interpretation (misinterpretation, we must now say) of the word dis###affection which was regarded as meaning " absence of
ajffection." " Looking at these speeches, as a whole, fairly, freely and without giving undue weight to isola###ted passages " the only impression produced on the###mind of the Magistrate was that " Mr. Tilak wanted to disaffect his audience towards the Government " and knowing that he could not interest his audience in his arguments unless he illustrated them forcibly told them " that they were slaves, that their grievances remained undressed and that the Government only considers its interests, which are ahen to those of the Indians, and intends to keep the people in slavery under the excuse that Indians are not fit to rule themselves.’’ The Magistrate, therefore, under Section 108 of C. P. Code, directed Mr. Tilak to enter into a bond in a sum of Rs. 20,000, with two sureties each in the sum of Rs. io,ooa to be of good behaviour for a period of one year. The decision was, however, reversed (9th November
THE GREAT HOME-RULER 23$
- as it deserved to be, by Mr. Justice Batchelor and Justice (Sir) Lallubhai Shah in their separate but concurring judgments. (The Hon.) Mr. Jinnah ably defended Mr. Tilak both in the lower and the revisional court. But though Mr. Tilak triumphed, still his main points were not satisfactorily solved. The main feature of his speeches as the Times of India then re###marked was a distinction between the King and the King’s Government. This sage paper shrewdly re###marked that if Mr. Tilak wanted, by this subtle distinc###tion to evade a law, with the meaning of which he ought to have been familiar, then “he is far less astute than. we thought him to be.” This is not however a question of the evasion of the law or of that astuteness of the offender. Nor can it be set at rest by the opinions of the two learned Judges, Mri Justice Batchelor and Mr. Justice Shah. Mr, Tilak openly and sincerely professes his loyalty to His Majesty the King Emperor and the British Parliament which really are " the Government by law established in India." He claims full freedom to criticize the administration of the country. But Mr. Justice Batchelor holds that Government could act only through hum.an agency ; and as the Civil Service is admittedly the principal agency, where it is criticised en blcc, in an intemperate language, hatred of the Civil Service and consequently hatred or contempt of the Government is likely to be the result. According to this decision, it is purely a question of fact dependent on the language used and not on the distinction on which Mr. Tilak and his counsel relied. Regarding Mr. Tilak’s speeches, Mr. Justice Batchelor writes as follows : — *’ Probably the fairest way to ascertain the effect i&
■236 LOKAMANYA TILAK
to read the three speeches from beginning to end, quietly and attentively, remembering the arguments and remembering the politically ignorant audience to whom Mr. Tilak was addressing. I have so read these speeches, not once, but several times, and the impres###sion left on the mind is that, on the whole, despite cer###tain passages which are rightly objected to by the prosecution, the general effect would not probably and naturally be to cause disaffection, that is hostility or
enmity or contempt "
Mr. Tilak’s triumph was the triumph of the Home Kule cause. His enemies were crest-fallen. The Times of India, which immediately after the decision of the District Magistrate, had preached a homily to Mr. Tilak and poured out its venom in the " Politics in the Deccan " was compelled, knowing discretion to be the better part of valour, to unreservedly withdraw the re###marks. An attempt was made within a fortnight of the decision of the High Court to lure and terapt Mr. Tilak to disobey the District Police Act. At Gadag, •where Mr. Tilak had gone on private business, the Dis###trict Magistrate, finding that the people had assembled to do hirq honour, served upon him an order prohibiting him from delivering any harangue. This order was served not at the eleventh hour, but at he twelfth and a less astute or farsighted man than Mr. Tilak would have felt tempted to test its legality by breaking it. Mr. Tilak, however, refused to allow the District Magistrate to regain the ground which the Government had lost by their deba###cle in the Security Case. Ultimately, pansupari ^as given to Mr. Tilak at the meeting and the
THE GREAT HOME-RULER 237
proceedings ended without any hitch after Mr. Tilak had made a short speech.
In October 19 16, Mr. Tilak attended the Ahmedabad Provincial Conference under the presidency of Mr. Jinnah. He received a grand reception from Gujarat He exhorted the Conference to support the constitu###tional reforms suggested in the " memorandum of 19 " In November he was elected a member of the All -India Congress Committee.
It is pleasant to recall these days when he worked band-in-hand with Mrs. Besant. The Home Rule Pro###poganda was in full swing. The Bureaucrats were non-plussed, the Moderates were shaking their heads with doubt and hesitation. The nation was drunk with enthusiasm. In Europe, Autocracy was being shattered to pieces. India’s loyalty was clear as the sun. The British Nation was grateful ; the reactionary element was weak and helpless. The sky was resounding with the cry of Reforms and though many an advanced Moderate and valiant Nationalist did signal service to the National Cause during this period, posterity will justly give credit to the two mighty Lieutenants of the Goddess of Liberty for having kept the flag flying — Mr Tilak and Mrs. Besant,