Current Topics

LALAJI: PATRIOT AND SCHOLAR

To the younger generation of Indians, the names of Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak are hallowed beyond compare. Patriots and scholars of distinction, they never permitted their love of learned leisure to come in the way of unremitting toil for the Motherland. The unspeakable humiliation of subjection to the foreigner burnt into their souls; and, at a time when patriotism was a crime, they were content to stand forth as criminals and wear the crown of thorns that is the reward of the foremost men of a subject nation. The deportation of Lalaji and the long incarceration of the Lokamanya two decades ago, marked the beginnings of a long and peaceful warfare for India's emancipation. May it not be that the lathi blows which are believed to have hastened Lalaji's death will inaugurate a swift, short struggle, bound to achieve that very emancipation?

It is significant that Lalaji commenced his great career with the publication of the lives of the illustrious heroes of the Italian Risorgimento: for, more than any Indian of our times, he was gifted with the vision of Mazzini, the heroism of Garibaldi and the far-seeing statesmanship of Count Di Cavour. He has left us many precious legacies, but assuredly the greatest of them all is the fight for freedom. May the Nation that he loved and served so well prove worthy of him, and fight the good fight to a finish!

Mr. SASTRI'S SUCCESSOR

The selection of a successor to the Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri as Agent-General to South Africa must have been a matter of considerable difficulty. India possesses few men like Mr. Sastri. By his splendid eloquence and wide culture, and his inimitable tact combined with firmness, India's first Ambassador served to enhance her prestige among nations. Under the circumstances, no nomination could be expected to meet with a chorus of approval. But Sir K. V.Reddi has to his credit a long record of public work In various spheres. He is a speaker of outstanding ability in English as well as Telugu, though not an orator like Mr Sastri. He is known to be a great fighter for communal, if not national rights. It may sound paradoxical, but Sir Kurma, the champion of the cause of the Non-Brahmins of Madras whom he believed to have been oppressed and kept out of their just rights, may be trusted to champion with equal tenacity the cause of the Indians of South Africa as against the Whites. His is a difficult task in any case, and coming immediately after Mr. Sastri he is apt to be judged by rigorous standards. It is to be hoped that he will prove equal to the occasion and safeguard the interests of his countrymen.

K.R.

SIR SANKARAN'S SILENCE

The public of India are much intrigued by the imperturbable silence of Sir Sankaran Nair. What may account for it? If we thought that he reserved his powder and shot for the Central Legislature and the Central Government, we were greatly mistaken. At Delhi he preserves the same sphinx-like attitude as at Poona, Lahore or Karachi. Neither the tragedy of the Lala's precipitated death nor the super-arrogance of Sir John Simon has moved him to say one word during the Course of enquiry beyond the one sentence that he ejaculated in poona. There the evidence was tending to launch the Conference into communal discussions. After having slipped into it, perhaps unwittingly, Sir John Simon sounded the warning to the witness that they were drifting into communal issues. "Ah, we have already sunk into them," interposed Sir Sankaran Nair, and by his remark he must have stung to the quick that astute lawyer and vigilant politician, Sir John, who has been ruling the Joint Free Conference with an iron hand. Verily, the little finger of Sir Sankaran Nair must have proved thicker than the loins of Sir John Simon. The pity of it, however, is that while Sir John is able to lead his team, Sir Sankaran is not. He has two Moslems who stand for separate electorates, one Panchama who would have separate representation, a Sikh with separatist tendencies, and one or two colleagues who may agree with him. So far, Sir Sankaran Nair has not shown his hand, but the real doubt is whether he has any trumps concealed in his pack.

THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

Both interesting and outspoken has been the evidence tendered by the Central Government before the Joint Free Conference. The topics dealt with stand on a higher plane and the level of discussion also has reached a correspondingly high level. It was up to Mr. Haig and Mr. Dunnet to ask for an in camera sitting, but wisely and well did they not seek it. They have made some frank admissions which show that Government observe no high standards of ethics in seducing the elected members from their loyalty to their electorates. If only fifteen elected members are won over, said they, Government carry the day. And fifteen men out of a hundred elected must be easy to secure. But when Messrs. Haig and Dunnet averred that in all controversial measures they could invariably appeal to the European or the Muslim group, they showed the cloven hoof. So the Government of India are unabashed in their admissions that they carryon sedulous lobbying, try to divide and rule, wean patriots from their fealty to the cause of their country, exploit the slackness of their party organization and make good by hook or by crook.

These however are elementary facts which do not require the Home Secretary and a special officer to elucidate. The forward wing of Indian politicians have all along warned betimes those that showed an inclination to Council politics, about them. So early as in November 1922, when Desa-bandhu Das's private residence was the scene of warm debates, these very issues were raised and answered. Yet some of our friends and elders, the doubting Thomases that they were, wanted an ocular demonstration and they have had it., On the top of it all comes the plain-spoken and unmitigated admission of the easy strategy by which the bureaucracy have fought its battles over a decade and won its victories. What the people's representatives will propose after this must be interesting beyond measure.

POLITICS AND ETHICS

But the popular representatives and public men who have not coveted that role labour under certain irremovable disabilities. They, especially the latter, are handicapped by their logic and by their ethics. Politics is not a game in which you can visualise the steps right up to the end. It proceeds on the policy that sufficient unto the day is the strategy thereof. And how easily does strategy degenerate into the stratagems and wiles of politicians! If strategy is opposed to logic, stratagems are opposed to ethics. The public man in India who has unbending principles in his moral code and is strictly ethical in all his utterances and acts, is severely handicapped in his political career. He must kill all ambition if he would speak the truth. Ambition requires however to be worked out by the aid of untruth. Men known to be unscrupulous, men with whom therefore you would not hobnob, have to be coaxed and cajoled and cultivated. Their help must be sought and their co-operation always carries with it a price. This price must be paid in cash or rewards sooner or later. Individual convictions require to be merged in, or even buried under, party considerations. Party implies organization, organization means funds, funds come only in return for services, services subserve interests. Interests are public or private. The former need not canvass support, the latter alone must purchase advocacy. Here comes the conflict between party considerations and public duty, between personal Interests and commonweal, between expediency and principle, between ambitiousness and morality. Is it any wonder that the best men of a country avoid politics?

S. P.

‘SWARAJYA’ AND ‘JANMABHUMI’

During the present month of November, Swarajya enters on its eighth year and Janmabhumi on its tenth. The latter was launched immediately before the Amritsar Congress, and since then it has been pouring forth, week after week, a refreshing stream of editorial comments which rightly entitle it to the foremost position amongst the views-papers of India. Never coveting place or position either in the Councils of the Government or of the Congress, the Editor has consistently and fearlessly battled for the right, and during times of crisis, when men's minds are perplexed and their vision clouded, he has given a clear and unambiguous lead.

Of Swarajya it is difficult to speak without emotion. Started at the height of the Non-co-operation movement, and drawing unto itself the joyous allegiance of a band of high- spirited youths under the inspiring leadership of Mr. Prakasam, Swarajya has won a unique place amongst Indian Nationalist papers. To those like the writer, who were associated with it at the beginning but were called away to other fields, Swarajya is dear as an alma mater. May these patriotic concerns flourish for many a long year!

K. R.