The Triple Stream, August 15, 1948 Editorial

THE TRIPLE STREAM, AUGUST 15, 1948 EDITORIAL (Reprinted)

K. Ramakotiswara Rau

Twenty years after, THIS is Triveni, Vol. XX, No. 1, and published from Madras though edited from Bangalore. Tired, but happy,–that is how I feel. It is a great mercy that Triveni is alive. Sri S. Viswanathan, the Publisher, has relieved me of the anxiety about the business aspect of the journal. For the first time in twenty years, I am free to give adequate attention to an editor’s proper work of editing. But it will be some months before I can settle down and accustom myself to the new situation. It is like exchanging a precarious independence for a dignified Dominion status. I must strive to be worthy of the opportunity now given to me, of working and not worrying.

The long and toilsome journey, on which I started in December 1927 came to an end on the 15th of August 1948. A small incident symbolised to me the turn of the wheel. I happened to be in Madras and staying in the Y.M.I.A. Buildings, George Town, where Triveni was originally planned and had an office for several years. There was a great demand that morning for persons who could hoist the flag of freedom in different parts of the city. And my friend, the Superintendent of the Y.M.I.A., wanted me to go up a flight of stairs and a narrow ladder and perform the ceremony. I pulled at a rope, and the flag flew proudly over the spot where the great Dr. Besant carried on her campaign for Home Rule. Her Commonwealth of India Bill was the forerunner of the Indian Independence Act; the Home Rule flag of red and green led the way to the Congress flag of 1921 and ultimately to the Dominion flag of today. I had been a member of the Home Rule League before I came into the Gandhian movement, and was, therefore, happy to officiate at the simple ceremony which, in a sense, linked those two fighters for Indian freedom. As the flag flew, I said to myself: “The arduous journey is over. After much wandering, Triveni is in its birthplace.”

By a welcome coincidence, Manjeri S. Isvaran, Assistant Editor of Triveni when the office was in the Y.M.I.A., is once again cooperating with me as Deputy Editor, looking through manuscripts, passing proofs, reviewing books, and writing stories and literary essays as in the old days. We two and M. Chalapati Rau (now Editor of The National Herald, Lucknow) were like the Three Musketeers, while K. Chandrasekharan was the D’Artagnan of the group. I am looking forward to the day when Chalapati Rau will come down South and take his place on the staff of Triveni. That will be a dream come true.

Tasks Ahead: One year of freedom has taught India many things. If freedom is to be retained, we must develop strength of will, soundness of judgment, and the desire to lead a more purposive life as a nation. The tendency to claim preferment in return for services rendered during the freedom struggle, has brought in an element of selfishness into our public life. Worse still, large sections of citizens who had kept aloof from political activity in the pre-freedom days have infiltrated into political organisations, with a view to utilising power for personal ends. Both these types have to be weeded out, if a clean political existence is to become possible.

A new alignment of political parties is inevitable, and, when elections under the new Constitution are held, a party like that of the Socialists under Sri Jayaprakash Narayan is likely to emerge as a powerful opposition group. People, who now owe allegiance to the Congress but are dissatisfied with its policy and programme, will rally round the Socialists. In India, as in other countries, a swing to the Left is noticeable, and as the Socialists are committed to parliamentary methods for achieving their ideal of a Socialist State, they will attract large numbers occupying a middle position between the present-day Congress and the Communists. One of the tasks before any party in power is to treat political opponents with courtesy, as long as they do not resort to violent methods or seek to undermine the foundations of the State.

The happiness and dignity of the ordinary citizen must be secured by providing not merely food, clothing, and shelter, but opportunities for moral and intellectual growth. No democracy can function without the intelligent participation in public affairs of the average citizen. The general level of intelligence has to be raised by setting up higher standards in education, and by the wide diffusion of the art and literature of the nation. The wielders of power should endeavour to elevate the citizen, from a mere manual worker to a sharer in the cultural heritage of the race. This, indeed is the meaning of the famous expression, “Let us educate our masters.”