Who Won in the Assembly?

Who won in the Assembly? Is it the Government which prides on its one achievement or rather lack of achievement,–its pusillanimous exercise of veto powers which no doubt nullified for the time being the wishes of the people,–or is it the Congress Party which, on account of its magnificent solidarity and unimpared discipline, could score such victories as did actually isolate Government from even its European and nominated supporters? The people of India stand vindicated in the eyes of the world by the straight conduct of their representatives, and the Government which is miscalled that ‘of India’ is shown up as a tiny bauble in the hands of the wirepullers of Whitehall, to whose solemn dictates the civilian autocrats here render obeisance and homage. Haughty officials like Sir James Grigg may assert that the Congress has done nothing, and can do nothing till it throws off its recalcitrance and wears the badge of recantation, but he who runs may read that, despite certification and repeated exercise of extraordinary powers, the Government has collapsed in its sinister attempt to isolate the Congress and thus crush it. In fact, if anything, repression has only added strength to the Congress. The Congress does not suffer thereby; its prestige is actually enhanced with every fresh exercise of Government’s extraordinary powers. The claim that India has settled down to peace and order is disproved by every act of certification, which, in other words, is really a recognition of the fact that India is still far from the normal, or is on the war-path. Every safeguard which disfigures the India Bill is an eloquent testimony to the lack of moral fibre in British rule over our country. That coercion is the only ultimate safeguard is the bitterest conclusion to which Government has been driven, and this is nothing but a confession of abject defeat.

But what of the positive side of Congress achievement? The first success of the Congress, and the fullest success, was among the electors who repudiated repression and refused to be parties to it. The armoury of repression, however, is still full and the Government, not content with the retention of obsolete laws like the regulations of 1818 and 1819, are contemplating to replenish the statute book by flooding it with permanent amendments to the Criminal Law which will put the most arbitrary powers into the hands of the bureaucracy. As to what the Assembly would do with such a law, one hardly need doubt. It will consign it to the Government which sponsors such measures. No weak betrayal, we may be sure, will any longer allow the Government to wear the mask of popular acquiescence. The electors’ wishes will be fully carried out, for the pledge of a Congressman is as good in deed as in word.

This apart, the Congress has served to press the popular claim that the country is overtaxed and must be relieved of iniquitous tax burdens. The salt-tax must go and the Postal and Railway rates must be reduced to bearable levels; that was the claim of the Congress in the Assembly and it had the it support of all the elected representatives in that House. The military burden, demanded our representatives, must be reduced very considerably both by retrenchment and Indianisation, while in the matter of military policy, the Congress desires to substitute real peace at the frontiers for the present bluff and bluster which arises out of a contempt of the tribesmen. To a subject country like ours groaning under tax-burdens, the most positive contribution which an Assembly can make will be a reduction in those burdens. If the Congress achieves this and nothing else, it will be entitled to the lasting gratitude of our people. Every rupee of tax taken off enables the peasant to lift his head and find a little comfort in no additional doles of food. His aching finds relief as the burden falls off, and it is only then that he will look upon education or public health as subjects in which to interest himself. It is this ing of the peasant that gives the Congress its real strength. No more selfless service can be rendered to the people of India than to fight for the reduction of heavy taxation and replace a costly system of administration which spends a fourth of its own gross revenues in salaries and allowances, a percentage which no country meaning business can countenance. The Congress Party in the Assembly fought for such reduction and has justly earned the confidence of the nation.

Next to this in importance is the inauguration of a new work code which will find employment for the millions and at the same time keep out foreign exploitation. Thereby the Government undertakes huge publicity works on its own responsibility and keeps the wage level at a reasonable figure, making it impossible for industrialists to effect unjust cuts in an already dwindling wage. This the Congress Party pressed for through its members on the floor of the Assembly, and though the Government merely ridiculed the plan of raising large loans for any such scheme, it cannot resist popular pressure for long. Work for the languishing masses has been our slogan, and legislators of other parties lacking imagination and frightened at the idea of new commitments for the nation must be told that this will be the main plank in the coming years. Not one crore for village work and rural uplift, but several crores which will rebuild all our villages, rescue them from filth and change the face of their living, is the present plan: not an ideal at which we aim, but the live issue of our present fight with Government. There may be no peace in India till the face of the countryside is changed and the dry bones of the peasant find fresh blood flowing in them, and he finds additional food, a decent dwelling place, healthy surroundings, and an industrious family. The Congress Party based its programme on the service of the peasant which is not, as in the case of other parties copying the Congress programme and calling it by different names, a mere shibboleth or an election stunt, but a creed every word of which has been made good by the self-sacrifice of its workers.

The Congress Party has stood for freedom of speech and association for all, including the communists. Having been assailed by repression by Government in previous years, it could not have done otherwise. Its very presence is a solid bulwark of defence against new fetters being forged, though the Government has already wide powers and may not pay heed to its clamour for the repeal of existing laws.

The Congress has defeated Government eighteen times. But Government still clings to power, unyielding to the popular will. The Congress represents today the hope of a free India and it certainly forebodes ill for any Government which attempts to suppress what may be termed a righteous revolt. Who wins? Is it Authority parading in the robes of repression, or is it the oppressed who, in spite of repeated lashes, gather renewed strength and adorn the fray? Let the people of India and the Congress answer. The voice of freedom says unmistakably: ‘Join the Congress, for it is the power that Wins.’