Corruption - Its Cause and Cure

There was a full dress debate in the Constituent Assembly on its legislative capacity on the need for putting down corruption in the public services. It was admitted on all hands that corruption existed on a large scale and that must be checked. The Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel frankly acknowledged that there was corruption and that Government wish it to be eradicated. But he cautioned the Assembly against adopting remedies which will make the disease worse. The introduction of a system of espionage is such a measure. Forty percent of the nearly 1500 cases investigated were not prosecuted, and of those prosecuted, about forty percent resulted in conviction. It is not safe to say that all the cases not prosecuted, should not have been investigated or that the person in the cases convicted were the worst offenders. But the vice of the system is in creating uncertainty and anxiety in the minds of all men in the services, which is not conducive to honest and efficient discharge of duty. Besides, investigating staff itself may be open to corruption; for the moment, espionage may be the only course open to put down corruption or rather to remind corrupt officials of the risks to which they expose themselves. But permanent remedy it is certainly worse than corruption.

The only completely effective means of avoiding corruption is a high sense of personal honour and public duty among officials. The creation of such qualities is helped by payment to officials of salaries which put them above reasonable wants. Mere increase of emoluments will not bring about purity. It may only increase the amount paid as bribes. Even on low scales of pay officials in the German Reich were acknowledged to be as incorruptible as civil servants in Britain. The civil servants pay even in Britain is less than what an ambitious man can earn in grade or commerce or as a cinema star. Public servants must be free of the profit motive. At the same time, unduly low salaries promote corruption. Edmund Burke wisely observed that to demand heroic virtues from the mass of men, ends in corruption. Low salaries have to be compensated by allowances perquisites and other extras or officials are likely to use their power to eke out their income by corruption or extortion.

The debate mostly turned on the corruption of officials. But the distressing feature of the present situation is the minister themselves often fall under the imputation. The public at the moment are more concerned about ministerial corruption than the corruption of permanent officials. One reason for this is the absurdly low salaries paid to ministers. These have to be supplemented by allowances for house rent, motor cars, and frequent movements from place to place which have become ministerial disease where a letter or telegram would be suffice in the old order, it is now thought only a person visit often by air, would do. A consolidated salary of reasonable proportion, with no allowances, travelling or other, would be a good remedy. But a worse cause, is the selection of Ministers not for merit but for caste or community. Men who are chosen for high office because they belong to a class are seldom the best type of men in that class. These men feel themselves safe from criticism or dismissal because they can easily make out that they are the victims of the prejudice against their particular class, whether it actually exists or not. The minority representative, therefore, enjoys a certain amount of immunity in wrongdoing. Until we get rid of this vicious system of having to provide for classes and communities, we cannot ensure perfect incorruptibility. Above all the men and women who lead or ought to lead should set to example of real and not ostentatious simplicity in their own personal lives.

Corruption it should be added is of various kinds. Bribery by payment of cash is the crudest and most easily detected form. There are many more insidious kinds which ramify in so many directions that it is practically impossible to detect them. These are the most dangerous forms. Espionage is powerless except as a means of blackmail against them.

Source - Indian Social Reformer - 13th December 1947

VANDE MATARAM

SOMNATH TEMPLE TO BE REBUILT

Standing amidst the ruins of the famous temple of Somnath, during his visit to Kathiawar, in connection with the Junagadh State's preservation from anarchy by the Indian Dominion, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel declared last week that the temple would be re-constructed and the image of Somnath reinstalled in the same site, where they stood when Mahomed Ghazni sacked and looted one thousand years ago. This act of vandalism which Professor Habib has condemned as an act of avarice under the cloak of religion, was a wrong both to islam and to Hinduism-more to Islam than Hinduism. The restoration of the temple and the re-installation of the image will be a tardy atonement. But no one with a spark of historic feeling, can fail to be thrilled by the declaration of the Sardar with whom were Mr. N. V. Gadgil, Minister of Public Works in the Government of India, and the Jam Saheb of Nawanagar in whose territory Patan is situated. The outstanding movement of the last century and a half is the revival of Hinduism and the reconstruction of the Somnath Temple will be a fitting climax to it. It should not cost the State a single piece. Hindus all over India will gladly contribute the necessary funds. Broad-minded muslims too will co-operate in redeeming their great religion from an infamy which the Ghaznavite's  greed has associated with it in the popular mind.

Source - Indian Social Reformer - 22nd November 1947

VANDE MATARAM

SARDAR PATEL'S SPEECH - 23rd November 1946

In moving a resolution relating to the Interim Government Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel explained the difficulties that stood in the way of the Central Government's intervention in Provincial matters, such as the Calcutta and Noakhali disturbance. He declared that he had warned Bengal's leaders who saw him after the Calcutta riots that East Bengal was bound to be the next scene of trouble. He told them. "If you want independence you must learn to defend yourselves and your neighbours and others helpless people. You should not run to the army or the police for protection".

Replying to critics who spoke of non-violence and avoidance of civil strife Sardar Patel reiterated his conviction that the sword must be met by the sword. Mahatma Gandhi said it was better to use violence than to be a coward. Non violence was a weapon which it was beyond the power of ordinary men to use, and, therefore, Sardar Patel urged people to adopt violence in self-defence and only in self defence, or in defence of neighbours. He gave this advice because the present Central Government during the transference of power was in a state of paralysis.

VANDE MATARAM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - SARDAR PATEL

सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल - आज के युग का एकलव्य

सरदार पटेल को आज के युग का एकलव्य कह सकते है। यह मै इस वजह से कह्ना चाहता हूँ क्योकि एकलव्य ने गुरुभक्ति के लिये गुरुदक्षिणा के रूप मे अपना अंगुठा काटके गुरुके चरणो मे अर्पण कर दिया। सरदार पटेलने गांधीजीको अपने गुरु के रूपमे स्वीकार किया था । सरदार पटेलने देशभक्ति, गुरुभक्ति और राष्ट्रप्रेम को सदा अग्रेसर रखा और गांधीजीके कहने पर हंसते हंसते कोंग्रेस प्रेसीडंट के पदके चुनाव से अपना नाम वापस ले लिया ।

मेरे जैसे कई लोगोका यह मानना है कि सरदार पटेल के साथ अन्याय हुआ है और वह प्रधानमंत्री पद के लायक थे और वे कोंग्रेस प्रेसिडंट का चुनाव जीत भी गये थे फिर भी उन्हे प्रधानमंत्री नही बनाया गया और उनसे चुनावमे से अपना नाम वापस लेने के लिये गांधीजीने कहा। उन सब से मेरा एक सवाल है -- क्या सरदार पटेल अन्याय को सहन करने वाले व्यक्तिओमे से एक थे? उन्होने तो सदा गांधीजीकी बात का समर्थन ही किया है, कभी भी उनकी बात अनदेखा नही किया। उन्हे कभी भी ऐसा लगे कि गांधीजी की कोई बात गलत है तो वह गांधीजी के साथ विचार विमर्श कर लेते थे लेकिन करते वही थे जो गांधीजीने कहा होगा, और हमेशा गांधीजी के निर्णय के अनुसार कार्य किये है। अगर उनको ऐसा लगा होता कि उनको प्रधानमंत्री न बनाके गांधीजीने उनके साथ अन्याय किया है तो उन्होने कभी न कभी इस बात का झिक्र तो गांधीजी को किया होता लेकिन ऐसी कोई बात सामने आज तक न सुनी न पढी गई। ईस बात को अगर गुरुभक्ति या गुरुदक्षिणा के रूप मे देखा जाए तो गलत नही होगा। सरदार पटेल आज कल के नेताओ जैसे नही थे कि अपनी राजहठ को मनाने के लिए अलग पक्ष कि रचना करे या फिर विरोध प्रदर्शन करे। सरदार पटेल अगर देश के प्रधान मंत्री बने होते तो आज देशके हालात अलग होते लेकिन उस वक्त कि परिस्थिति और देश के हालात ऐसे थे कि देश गुलामीमे से बहार निकलने की खुशी मनाए या फिर बंटवारे का दु:ख मनाए, सरदार पटेल को कभी कोई पद की लालच नही थी, बल्कि उनका तो यह मानना था कि देशसेवा के लिए कोई पद की जरूरत नही हे, बिना पदके भी देश के लिए काम किया जा सकता है। एक बात से मैं खुद सहमत हुं कि यह अन्याय तो देश के साथ हुआ है, अगर सरदार पटेल देश के पहले प्रधानमंत्री होते तो देश आजादीके बाद जिन परिस्थितिओ मे से गुजरा वह परिस्थिति नही होती, लेकिन इस प्रकारके अन्याय से ज्यादा आज कल के नेता सरदार पटेल के नाम को अपनी राजकीय परीस्थिति को सुधारने के लिए करते है यह सबसे बडा जानबुझ के किया हुआ अन्याय है । उन्होने उप-प्रधानमंत्री और ग्रुह मंत्री का पद सम्भालते हुए देश के सामने आनेवाली हर चुनोती का सामना बखुबी किआ। उनका सदैव यही मानना था कि अपने घरकी मुसीबतो के हल के लिए घर के बाहर से मदद कभी नही लेनी चाहिए । मुसीबत अपने घर की है तो उसका सामनाभी घरके सदस्य मिल के करेंगे। और ऐसा उन्होने साबित करके भी दिखाया। चाहे वह जुनागढ की बात हो या फिर हैद्राबादकी बात हो । करीब करीब कश्मीर की समस्या भी सुलझने वाली थी लेकिन जवाहरलाल नहेरूने युनाईटेड नेशन को देश की कश्मीर की समस्या सुलझाने के लिए आमंत्रित किया । और आज यह भूल हमपे भारी पड रही है ।

सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल जिस प्रकार शौर्य के प्रतीक थे उसी प्रकार चातुर्य के धनी थे । स्वतंत्रता संग्रामके महारथी थे, और स्वराज्य के सुत्र संचालनके कुशल सारथी थे । भारतमें परिवर्तन की राजनीति तेजी से दिखलाई दे रही थी, उसके पीछे ब्रिटिश प्रधानमंत्री एटली का भी बहुत बडा हाथ था । उन्होने चुनावो के समय ही अपने दल की एक नीति कि घोषित की थी कि वे सत्तारुढ होतेही भारतको पुर्ण स्वतंत्रता देने की नीति अपनाएंगे । उन्ही उद्देश्योको लेकर लार्ड वावेलने २१ अगस्त १९४५ की ब्रिटिश सरकारने भारतमें अंतरिम सरकार का गठन करने के लिए केंद्रिय तथा प्रांतीय धारासभा के चुनावो की घोषणा भी कर दी । उस समय कोंग्रेसने पार्लियामेंट्री बोर्ड का अध्यक्ष सरदार को ही बनाया था । ईस बार सरदार जेल से छुटने के बाद अस्वस्थ थे और गांधीजी के साथ पूना के पास उरुलीकांचन में थे, लेकिन कोंग्रेस ने पुन: उनके उपर ही चुनावों का बहुत बडा दायित्व सौंप दिया । यहां तक कि सभी उम्मीदवारों को चुनाव लडने के लिए फंड की व्यवस्था भी उनके उपर ही पडी । सरदार पटेल दिर्घ द्रष्टा थे  उन्होने अनुमान लगा लिया था कि मुस्लिम लीग के कारण कठिनाईयां बहुत है, लेकिन फिर भी इसके लिए जी-जान लगा दी । किसी उम्मीदवार को किसी प्रकार का अभाव नही होने दिया । टिकटो के बंटवारे से लेकर वित्तीय सहायता का भार भी उन्होने ढोया और कोंग्रेस विजयी रही । सरदार ने चुनावो के दौरान देश की जनताको यह विश्वास दिलाया था कि – “अब जहाज किनारे पर पहुच गया है । और भारतकी आजादी निकट आ गई है ।“

सरदार पटेल को चाणक्य कहा जाता था, इसीलिए कि उन्होने पहले ही अपना यह निर्णय कह दिया था कि वर्तमान स्थिति मे संविधान परिषद की बेठक में बिना किसी छिपाव-दुराव के कहा “मैने विभाजन को अंतिम उपाय के रूपमें तब स्वीकार किया था, जब सम्पुर्ण भारत हमारे हाथ से निकल जाने का खतरा पैदा हो गया था । मुस्लिम लीग के पांच सदस्य देश का बंटवारा करने की मंशा के साथ ही अंतरिम सरकार मे संम्मिलित हुए थे ।“

सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल स्वतंत्रता के साथ देश के पहले गृहमंत्री बने, और उन्होने अपने कुछ ही दिनो के तजुर्बे से यह समझ लिया था कि जितनी समस्याए हैं, उन्हे सुलझाने के लिए अनुभवी अधिकारियों की सख्त जरूरत है । उन्होने तीन श्रेणियां बनाई – एक वे जो पाकिस्तान जाना चाहते हो, वे पाकिस्तान चले जाए । दुसरे वे जो सेवा में नही रहना चाहते हो वे सेवा से निव्रुत हो जाए और तीसरे वे जो सेवा में रहना चाहते हो, वे अब अपनी कार्य पध्धति को सुधारे और अपने को जनता का सेवक माने । उन्होने साफ शब्दोमें कहा कि हम लोगों को संघर्ष और आंदोलन का तजुर्बा है लेकिन शासन का अनुभव नही है । इसलिए आप यदि अपना पूर्ण समर्थन और विश्वास दे, तो हम भी आपको विश्वास में लेने को तैयार है । और इसका नतीजा यह आया कि अधिकांश भारतीय अधिकारियोंने सरकार की सेवा जारी रखी । सरदार पटेल ने ऐसे समय सबसे बडा प्रतिमान देशभक्ति और राष्ट्रियता का रखा । जहां नऐ लोगो की नियुक्ति की आवश्यकता थी वह भी किया । के. पी. एस. मेनन और वी. शंकर जैसे वरिष्ठ आई. सी. एस अधिकारियो को उन्होने पूर्ण विश्वास में लिया तथा देशी राज्यो के विलय मे उनसे जवाबदेही के काम लिए ।

३० जनवरी १९४८ को सरदार पटेल ने गांधीजी को अंतिम मुलाकात में यह निवेदन किया था – “बापु, मुझे मंत्रीमंडल से अलग होने की अनुमति दीजिए, क्योंकि मौलाना आजाद सद्रश कई ऐसे व्यक्ति है, जो मुझे और जवाहरलाल को एक देखना नही चाहते । वह हम दोनो में मनोमालिन्य पैदा करना चाहते हैं, ताकि  मेरी अनुपस्थिति में “जी हजुरी/’ करके मनमानी कर सके और मंत्री मंडल में प्रभाव बढा सकें । गांधीजी की इस संबंध में एक ही राय थी कि सरदार पटेल और पंडित नेहरू दोनोमें किसी प्रकार का वैमनस्य न हो । दोनो एक रहे इसीमें राष्ट्र की भलाई है ।

आखिर मै मुझे कवि दिनकर की पंक्तियां सहसा याद आ रही है –

“बडा वह आदमी जो जिंदगी भर काम करता है, बडी वह रूह जो रोए बिना तन से निकलती है “

सरदार वल्लभभाई पटेल के बारे में ये पंक्तिया सटीक बैठती है । उन्होने अपनी आखरी सांस तक काम करते रहे है, वे कर्म मे विश्वास रखने वाले योद्धा थे । 

रशेश नरेंद्रभाई पटेल - करमसद 

THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAMPAIGN BEGINS

In his letter to the Viceroy which was published in the last issue of the Reformer, Mahatma Gandhi informed his Excellency that if he did not received a satisfactory reply by the 11th instant, he would proceed with his co-workers to disregard the provisions of the salt law. The Viceroy's reply, conveyed through his Private Secretary, was very brief. It was dated March, 7th New Delhi as follows. "His Excellency the Viceroy desires me to acknowledge your letter of March 2nd. He regrets to learn that you contemplate a course of action which is clearly bound to involve violation of the law and danger to the public peace." Next day, Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel left Sabarmati to make arrangements for the reception in the villages, on the route to the seaside place selected for the commencement of operations, of Mahatma Gandhi and his company who were to march on Wednesday morning the 12th instant. At one of these villages, he was served with an order under the Police Act not to make any speech, and on his saying he would not obey it, he was at once arrested, put up before a Magistrate, was sentenced to 3 months simple imprisonment on his pleading guilty to the charge of disobeying the Police order, and taken and confined in the central prison at Sabarmati. Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel, or as he is popularly know Sardar Vallabhbhai, is the brother of the Hon. Mr. Vithalbhai Patel President of the Indian Legislative Assembly, and like him, is a Barrister-at-Law. He has been one of the inner circle of Mahatma Gandhi ever since the commencement of non-co-operation ten years ago. He was elected President of the important Municipality of Ahmadabad city five years ago, and showed a zeal, energy and initiative in the administration which was almost unique in non-official municipal executives and which made his regime memorable in the history of that large industrial city. His success as a practical administrator was recognised by the Bombay Government in their review of the work of the municipality. But his great achievement, which established his reputation as a born leader of men, was the organisation of the  peasanty of Bardoli, a large in the Surat district, to resist the increased assessment on their lands which Government had sanctioned.

The story of this movement which Mr. Vallabhbhai brought to a triumphant issue, has found an able and sympathetic chronicler in Mr. Mahadeo Desai who has written a very readable bok of 360 pages, published by the Mahatmaji's Navjivan Press,  Ahmedabad. Mr. Vallabhbhai maintained that the rules of Government regarding the revision of land assessment, had not been carried out in this case, and demanded a fresh enquiry. Government were obliged to grant it, and the report made by their own committee of two English officials, fully sustained Mr. Vallabhbhai's contention. Fresh orders were passed in supersession of those sanctioning the increase of assessement. This was an unprecedented event in Indian administration, and Mr. Vallabhbhai's fame as a leader rose high in the country. But he kept his head cool and was not in the least elated by his success. On the contrary, his experience gained during the struggle, turned his thought in the direction of constructive social work as the first necessity for setting the peasants on their feet and make them self-reliant. He began an intensive campaign against the curse of drink and carried it on with such effect that in several villages Government had much difficulty in selling the right of vending liquor to the people. In the midst of this campaign, he was called to preside over the Tamil Nadu political conference at Vedaranyam in the extreme south of the Peninsula. When a resolution of Independence was introduced, he thrust it aside as academic and it was not passed. This incident if of significance in connection with his imprisonment in the course of his activities in connection with the Lahore Congress resolution. Mr. Vallabhbhai was strongly opposed to the Lahore resolution both as regards Independence and civil disobedience along with several other staunch Congress workers. But when at Mahatma Gandhi's instance, it was adopted, he out of loyalty to Mahatmaji in whom he implicitly believes as a "pious saint" threw himself with his accustomed energy into the task set to him. His imprisonment is a serious deprivation to Mahatmaji who said at a mass meeting in Ahmedabad that he had not dreamt that Vallabhbhai would be arrested before him, and that without him he felt as if he had lost his right arm. 

But Mahatma Gandhi had made his plans. For a moment, he was impelled to start his own great march a day or two earlier on account of Mr. Vallabhbhai's arrest. But he dismissed this impulse and stuck to his original program. He went about the daily routine as if nothing unusual was about to happen. At the dawn of Wednesday the 12th instant, he had his usual prayer meeting for the inmates of the Ashram. His congregation on this occasion was enormously increased by hundreds of visitors whom he addressed exhorting them to non-violence and patient perseverance in the course in which he was embarking. Then he visited those who were sick in the Ashram and stepped out punctually at 6.30, as arranged, at the head of his band of implicit believers in non violence on his memorable march to the village of Dandi on the Surat coast where the law forbidding the production and removal of salt is to be deliberately and publicly violated. Up to the time of writing (Friday morning) the march is going according to time-table without interruption. The whole country is watching with breathless interest the result of this struggle in which the protagonists are a frail old man clad in a loin cloth and the sturdy Policeman with a stout lathi behind whom is ranged the whole strength of a mighty Empire. Let us not be unfair to that Empire. An autocrat would have solved the problem at least for the time being by hiring a gang of rufflans to deal summarily with the satyagrahis. Democracy has many faults but it has a moral conscience which is decisive in the long run. And it is not only the British democracy which is gravely exercised in mind over Mahatma Gandhi's great experiment. All the democracies of the world are watching to see how the British democracy will deal with this essentially moral problem. Let us hope that British statementship will prove fully equal to the occasion, and that now as in the long past Britain will maintain her reputation, to use the words of Swami Vivekananda, as the world's great political Guru. 

THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

No apology is needed for reproducing in full in this issue of the Reformer the documents which have been published relating to the peace negotiations which ended last week. Apart from their immediate political interest which, of course, is considerable, the documents comprising the record are of intense human interest. The personalities concerned in this drama are these : the Viceroy and Mahatma Gandhi, as the principal protagonists, Mr. M.R. Jayakar and Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, as intermediaries, and Pandit Motilal Nehru and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, as secondary characters, Sarojini Naidu, Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel, Mr. Jairamdas Daulatram and Dr. Sayed Mahmud are also in the picture Their opinions, no doubt, influenced the course of the discussion. Another figure which does not appear in the group but exerted much influence behind the scenes in the penultimate and final acts, is Mr. A. Rangaswami Aiyangar, the able and tactful Editor of the Hindu Newspaper.

Courtesy : Indian Social Reformer - September 13, 1930.

HAPPENINGS AT BARDOLI

The Times of India published the following regarding happenings in Bardoli in its issue of the 20th Instant : "Agriculturists in Bardoli Taluka, it is reported, are resorting to a "Hijrat" (wholesale migration) from their villages, many of them having already removed all their moveable property. Cultivators in the taluka, it will be remembered, had resolved not to pay land revenue until Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel gave them permission to do it. Any stringent measures by Government for the collection of Land revenue, the villagers stated, would be defied and rendered nugatory by the latter talking the bold step of migrating into the territories of the adjoining Indian States. Information has just reached here from Bardoli that the people residing in almost all the villages of the Taluka have resolved on a "Hijrat", true to their challenge to Government. It is further stated that the inhabitants of Sarbhon, Kadod, Wankaner and Valod have begun to evacuate their villages and migrate into other places, taking with them the remnants of their movable belongings. It is difficult to ascertain how many families have so far left their homes. Unless the cultivators vacale the villages in large numbers one can hardly determine if they have left their homes for good or only temporarily or it is merely a gesture. The villagers have taken this step, it is alleged, as the result of the activities of Mr. Ismail K. Desai, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who has been specially appointed for political offences." In its issue of the 23rd, the same paper publishes the following from its correspondent in Poona where the Government of Bombay now is : "The report of wholesale migration of the people of Bardoli into surrounding Indian States has not so far become known in Government circles in Poona, but it is well known that many of the people are removing all their valuables and even their household goods in order to avoid their attachment for non-payment of land revenue. The local authorities have been making such reports for sometime, and there is no doubt that such a move is in keeping with their avowed intention to defy all attempts to secure revenue from them before they are instructed by the Congress leaders to pay. It has also been reported that in one or two cases women and children have been removed, but it is generally considered very unlikely that the cultivators themselves should leave now and go to Indian States on the borders of Bardoli, such as Baroda, Rajpipla, Bansda and Dharampur, where they would not be very welcome, particularly in view of the fact that in a few weeks their crops will be ripe for harvest." A reliable gentleman in Bombay told us the other day that he was getting private information to the effect that the exodus is due to the villagers not trusting themselves to remain non-violent under the provocations to which they were exposed. Some of the Bombay representatives to the Round Table  Conference would do well to pay a flying visit to Bardoli to ascertain the actual truth before leaving India. 

MR. PATEL AND THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF THE ASSEMBLY

We are somewhat surprised to learn on very good authority that Mr. V. J. Patel is a candidate for the post of President of the Legislative Assembly. The election takes place, we think, next August when the Assembly will meet for the autumn session at Simla. But already very active canvassing is said to be going on. The post carries with it a monthly honorarium of rupees four thousand and from the pecuniary point of view it is certainly something to tempt even very capable men. But at the same time, acceptance of this position will mean the death of the political life of the Honourable member who may be induced to do so. Mr. Patel is one of the stalwarts of the Swarajya Party. He is about the most uncompromising opponent of the present system of administration in this country. He has been the most outspoken advocate of mass civil disobedience through which he believes India will achieve her political emancipation without striking a single blow or shedding one drop of blood. For such a man to seek the presidential chair of the Assembly means political suicide for himself and an irreparable loss of driving force to the Party of which he is one of the most prominent leaders. Yet we hear that even his own Party is ready to vote him into this place. Perhaps the motive here is to get this inconvenient partisan out of the way. For it is notorious that Mr. Patel made Pandit Motilal's position anything but pleasant during the passage of the Tariff Act last summer. Be that however as it may, this readiness on the part of so strong a Swarajist to accept office, though it may be an elective one, does not indicate a healthy tendency in the Swarajist Party. No one who wants to fight for Swaraj can afford just now to bury himself in the presidential chair of the legislature. If Mr. Patel be really elected the Assembly will certainly be the poorer for the loss of his fighting speeches and his unconscious humour.

Courtesy : Indian Opinion - June 12th, 1925

PEACE CONVERSATIONS

On Sunday night Pandit Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Mahomed who was arrested and convicted with them, were taken by special train from Allahabad Central Jail and brought to Yerravada Jail where Mahatma Gandhi is interned. Mahatmaji, they and Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel who is also serving his sentence in Yerravada, had a preliminary conference on Tuesday after which Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Mr. Jayakar joined them. The conference was continued on Wednesday and Thursday and is to be renewed on Friday when this is written. That it has not been broken off, is a good sign. The method of carrying on negotiations in jail has serious disadvantages, the worst of which is that the principals in jail must accept what they are told of the state of things outside and cannot teat their information at first hand. If for instance Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Motilal want to know how their movement is faring in Andhra, they cannot question and Andhra leader like Mr. Jogiah who was quite recently in Bombay. In the Pandit's own province it appears that even among very sympathetic observers there is a feeling that things are being pushed almost to the verge of non-violence. Leadership everywhere has passed into the hands of people with more enthusiasm than knowledge and the few experienced people outside jails find it experdiert to conceal their real opinions and shout with the largest crowd. It is to the credit of the young enthusiasts that they are keeping up the movement bravely, and it is not their fault that it tends to become a monotonous series of processions and public meetings. On the other hand, the officials are doing much what they please, especially in the districts. The ridiculous order against Gandhi caps by a magistrate in Andhra, has been set aside, as being likely to provoke the very evils which it was its professed object to avoid, by the Madras High Court, after it had been in force and scores of persons had suffered by its enforcement for several days. The country cannot be allowed to drift as, we are afraid, it is doing, on the offchance of its being washed ashore some delectable region.

Courtesy : Indian Social Reformer August 16, 1930

PRESIDENT PATEL'S RESIGNATION

Mr. Vithalbhai J. Patel has resigned the Presidentship of the Legislative Assembly. Under the reformed constitution, the Assembly was to elect its own President from amongst its elected members after the lapse of the first four years when it had a President nominated by the Governor - General. Mr. Patel was the first President so elected. In a long letter to the Viceroy, he sets forth the difficulties against which he had to contend during his term of office, due to the open and veiled opposition of the official members. Mr. Patel's position was more analogous to that of the Speaker of the British House of Commons in the days when it was engaged in its long struggle to establish its influence against the Crown than that at the present day when it has been firmly established. The only difference was that in Mr. Patel's case it was not the Crown he had to contend against, as the Viceroy's support was consistently extended to him, but the officials who had accepted the Reforms without much enthusiasm and were not inclined to go out of their way to make them a success. Mr. Patel proved to be a strong President in maintaining the rights of the elected members of the Assembly, and if at times he seemed to strain his powers almost to the breaking point in withstanding what he suspected to be attempted cucroachments on them, this is no more than what great Speakers of the House of Commons have done in similar circumstances. At the last session, the President was obliged to place on record his considered opinion that the Assembly was deprived by the attitude adopted by Government of the opportunity of a free debate on the proposal for imposing a differential duty on cotton goods imported from countries other than Great Britain. Mr. Patel has been forced in view of these facts to the conclusion that he could serve the country better by resigning the Presidentship. With most of the leading men of the Congress party in jail, there is great need for other leaders to keep the non-violent movement within the strict bounds of its creed, and for that reason alone, if for no other, Mr. Patel's resumption of his freedom of action, is very opportune. 

Courtesy : - INDIAN SOCIAL REFORMER MAY 3, 1930

MR. VALLABHBHAI'S ARREST - SARDAR PATEL

In our leading article last week, we did not think it relevant to discuss the legality or otherwise of the arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel. The Satyagrahis court imprisonment and repression and it is immaterial from their point of view whether these, which are really essential conditions for their success, come legally or illegally. Perhaps, they would say that illegal imprisonment is better from their point of view than lega. The Leader, Allahabad, edited by an eminent Indian Liberal leader, Mr. C. Y. Chintamani, in two leading articles condemns the action taken against Mr. Vallabhbhai in severe terms. "We are clear and strong," it observes in its first article, "that the action taken against Mr. Vallabhbhai was a gross blunder which suited the campaigners far more than the guardians of law and order." In the second article written with further information, it uses even stronger language and insists that the obligation is greater on publicists, who do not approve of the Satyagraha campaign, to insist that the legal guardians of law and order do not themselves perpetrate illegalities, do not act in a discreditable spirit of petty vindictiveness and do their duty in a wise and becoming manner. It is, therefore, surprising to see some Liberal names among those who voted against Pandit Madan Mohan Malavia's motion i the Legislative Assembly to call attention to the action against Mr. Vallabhbhai. It is clear that unless Indian Liberals have a definite set of principles to which all members of the party are expected to adhere, they cannot claim to be a political party on the strength merely of being opposed to the National Congress. The history and principles of Indian Liberalism, as deducible from the practice of eminent leaders, from the subject of our leading article in this issue. 

Courtesy : Indian Social Reformer - March 22, 1930

President of Next Congress

Mahatma Gandhi having persisted in his refusal to accept the presidentship of the next session of the Indian National Congress, Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel who received the next largest number of votes from the Provincial Committees having likewise declined the responsibility, and new nominations not being permissible according to Congress rules, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was elected at the meeting of All India Congress Committee held at Lahore last week to the office. It was a case of more or less Hobson's choice with the Committee. The result has been received with enthusiasm by few and with frank misgivings by some organs of public opinion. Pandit Jawaharlal's own position is not an easy one. To the country at large he stands for independence of the British connection, but he is himself in the position of a captive balloon held down on one side by the pacific idealism of Mahatma Gandhi and on the other by the political realism of Pandit Motilal Nehru. The reasons given publicly by Mahatmaji are not necessarily all his reasons for insisting on the Junior Pandit's election this time to the Congress Presidentship. Politics, national as well as international, is now-a-days largely a matter of gestures, and Pandit Jawaharlal's presidentship is a gesture to the British Government. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru may be described as being the most moderate of extremists and Mahatma Gandhi has doubtless calculated the value of his co-operation in keeping the independence school within the bound of practical politics. On the whole, the choice is perhaps the best in the circumstances. 

Courtesy : INDIAN SOCIAL REFORMER - October 5, 1929

MAHATMA GANDHI'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Mahatma Gandhi begins his presidential address to the Belgaum National Congress with the statement that from September 1920 the Congress has been principally an institution for developing strength from within. "It has ceased to function by means of resolutions addressed to the Government for redress of grievances. It did so because it ceased to believe in the beneficial character of the existing system of Government. At the same time it was realised that the existence of the system depended upon the co-operation, whether conscious or unconscious, and, whether voluntary or forced, of the people. With the view therefore of mending or ending the system it was decided to try to begin withdrawing voluntary co-operation from the top." This was the genesis of the five-fold boycott, namely, of Government titles, law-courts, educational institutions, legislative bodies and foreign cloth. Mahatma Gandhi adds that though not a single boycott was anywhere near completion, every one of them had undoubtedly the effect of diminishing the prestige of the particular institution boycotted. This however, is only a negative result and it cannot be said that the object of " developing strength from within" has been advanced thereby, if, indeed, it has not developed some sort of weakness. But even this slight claim of Mahatmaji's is not supported by his own description on the next page of the state of the boycotts at the present time. "Whilst individuals hold firmly to their belief in non-co-operation," he says, "these boycotts cannot be worked as part of the National programme, unless the Congress is prepared to do without the classes directly affected. But I hold it to be just as impracticable to keep these classes out of the Congress as it would be now to keep the non-co-operators out." But "these classes" are themselves the non-co-operators who have given up the boycotts and among them are such leaders of Non-Co-operation as Mr. C. R. Das. Pandit Motilal Nehru, Mr. Gangadhar Rao Deshpande, Mr. Vithalbhai Patel, Mr. Srinivasa Iyengar, Mr. Prakasam and others. It is these leaders who have revolted against the Non-Co-operation programme.