Presidential Address to the Indian National Congress, Bombay

[…] Prasad mourns dead leaders, greets imprisoned colleagues and thanks the country for Bihar earthquake relief.

RECENT HISTORY

The Congress movement has passed through various phases during the last fifty years of its existence. One would feel tempted to take a bird's-eye view of its hope and aspirations, its weaknesses and failures, its successes and triumphs. But I would resist that temptation except in so far as its recent history may be necessary to elucidate the present and enable us to lay out a programme for the future.

It will be recalled that the last regular session of the Congress was held at Karachi in March 1931, soon after the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. It was much to be hoped that that Pact would open a way to permanent peace between Britain and India, but that was not to be. Now that Civil Disobedience has been suspended, it would be useless to go into a detailed examination of the circumstances which forced the hands of the Congress to re-start Civil Disobedience after Mahatma Gandhi's return from the Second Round Table Conference. I would content myself by stating that at every step the object of the authors of the Pact was frustrated by the officials who were in charge of affairs and had to give effect to its provisions. Lord Irwin had retired. Lord Willingdon had come in and there was undisguised resentment in official circles at what was regarded as a surrender on the part of Lord Irwin. And the moment he was away from the scene, a complete change in the Government policy came about and preparations were set afoot to take the Congress by surprise as soon as the Round Table Conference was over. It was known the Government could not afford, and did not intend, to accept the demands of the Congress. Events in England also proved favourable to this scheme of things.

[…] He recounts repression, depression and Indians abroad, and the government's dual policy of reforms and repression.

I will judge the White Paper proposals in the light of four tests, namely, (1) how far the proposed new legislatures will be representative of the nation; (2) how far the powers alleged to be transferred to popular control are real in the Centre and the Provinces; (3) what the Powers proposed to be transferred in regard to the Finances are, and what additional burdens India will have to bear for the New Constitution; and (4) whether the proposed Constitution contains within itself any elements of growth and development.

[…] He argues the new legislatures will be less representative, with more nominees and separate electorates.

POWERS CLAIMED TO BE TRANSFERRED

Now, no Constitution can be said to confer Self-Government or Responsible Government or Dominion Status, much less complete independence, which reserves to the Governor-General and refuses to transfer to Ministers under the control of a popular legislature, the administration of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Ecclesiastical Departments. But leaving this alone, which the White Paper frankly reserves, let us consider the Departments it professes to transfer. In regard to these also, it is clearly laid down that the Governor-General will not be guided by the advice of Ministers, if so to be guided would infringe on what are called the Reserve Departments, his special [p. 926] responsibilities and I may add also his discretionary powers. These are couched in such general terms that there are hardly any measure which the Governor-General could not hold up or prevent, if he considered it necessary to do so, in his wisdom, which will be the final arbiter in the matter. These special responsibilities are so vague and widespread that they may be said to pervade all departments.

[…] He goes through the Governor-General's special responsibilities one by one.

So much for special responsibilities. The discretionary powers of the Governor-General and the Governors are of a most drastic kind. Under the existing Constitution, the Governor has the power of certification and veto, but under the proposal embodied in the White Paper, he can also send message to the legislature not to proceed with a certain measure of legislation as also to proceed in a certain way; not to pass certain laws as also to pass certain others or that a particular measure must be passed by a particular date and in the event of the legislature refusing or failing [p. 930] to obey his command, it will become a Governor-General's or Governor's Act which will have the force of an Act of legislature without having the odium attached to the name of "ordinance" and without the fetters of a limited duration, which an ordinance has. These proposals place India under a virtual dictatorship. Mr. Churchill described the position admirably in another context:

The Viceroy or Governor-General was armed with all the powers of a Hitler or a Mussolini. By a stroke of pen, he could scatter the Constitution and decree any law to be passed or martial law, which was no law at all. Of all these he was the sole judge. Such a functionary was a dictator and he had a very powerful army.

All this power is given not only to the Governor-General, but even to Provincial Governors who are, for the first time, to be invested with powers to pass ordinances and Governor's Acts and all other powers within their spheres which the Governor-General possesses in respect of the country as a whole.

The White Paper proposals further take away certain powers which are now possessed by the Assembly in however attenuated a form they may be. Thus, a discussion of the Railway budget used to furnish an opportunity for the ventilation of grievance in connection with railway administration. Railways could now be discussed and voted upon by the Central Legislature, but the creation of the proposed statutory railway authority would have the effect of precluding the future Government and Legislature from making any effective criticism of any matter transferred to the statutory authority. That this is not a negligible matter is apparent from the fact that the Railways have some 800 crores invested in them and are very largely national concerns already and where they are not so, they are soon passing into the hands of the State.

FINANCE

When we come to consider the question of finance, the illusory nature of the so-called reforms becomes still more apparent. It has been calculated that 80 per cent. of the [p. 931] Central revenue in the Central Government will be eaten up by Army expenditure, Debt service, guaranteed pays, pensions and allowances, which will be outside the vote of the Assembly, and the remaining 20 per cent. with which alone the Minister, supposed to be responsible to the Legislature, could play, would be subject to a vote of the upper chamber which could bring it before a joint session of both Chambers for final determination. Further, if the Governor-General regards the demand for grants by the Minister under any head inadequate for the discharge of his special responsibility, he may include any additional amount which he regards necessary for the discharge of such special responsibility, and the legislature will not be at liberty to vote on the same. Thus it is apparent that the control of the Ministry over the public purse is practically nil in the Centre.

[…] He estimates the added yearly cost of the reforms.

FUTURE IN THE AIR

There is no provision for any automatic growth or development in the Constitution. Everything does and will continue to depend on the sweet will and pleasure of the British Parliament. There is no pretence at self-determination and even the Federation, which is to come after fulfilment of so many conditions precedent, can come only after a second vote of the Houses of Parliament.

[p. 932] And what is this federation? It is a kind of federation which has no parallel in history. In it the rulers of one-third of India will be called in to counteract through their nominees the progressive elected elements of the remaining two-thirds. There is absolutely no mutuality in any respect, the princes' nominees will have equal rights with the elected representatives of British India to interfere with the administration of British India without British Indian representatives having any the least voice in the administration of the States, which will continue their autocratic rule without so much as even declaring or guaranteeing the elementary, fundamental rights of citizenship, which are or rather ought to be the basis and foundation of any allegiance which the people may be required to bear to the State. In other words, it will be a kind of federation in which unabashed autocracy will sit entrenched in one-third of India and peep in every now and then to strangle popular will in the remaining two-thirds. But the princes themselves will be more helpless than they are now and will soon realise the effect of a federation which is conceived to keep them free from the baneful interference of British India people but nonetheless subservient to the Viceroy.

SUSPENSION OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE— COUNCIL PROGRAMME

I have thus far discussed the dual policy of Government. I come now to our own policies and plans. Events have somehow so happened that since the breach of the Truce in 1932, we have had to steer our course clear of Government policies. The suspension of the Civil Disobedience movement was declared not with reference to any declaration of policy by Government, but with reference to the peculiar moral and spiritual character of our struggle.

[…] He reviews the events before the Patna decision and two weaknesses of civil disobedience.

It has had to be suspended in the very interests of the movement and those of the country. The principal reason was our own weakness, and yet I do not feel that [p. 934] there is any reason to be down-hearted. Our object is nothing less than the liberation of a vast country which is as big as a Continent, with its varied population of many castes and creeds and speaking different languages. The response which the country has made from one end to the other to the call of the Congress, has been splendid and we have reason to be proud of it. Because our object is great and the task difficult and tremendous we have to consider our own shortcomings and defects of the Working Committee and the All-India Congress Committee and certain announcements which Mahatma Gandhi has made have been subjected to very searching criticism. The value and importance of these resolutions and the statements of Mahatmaji consist in the fact that they have brought in the forefront of discussion certain fundamental considerations. The first statement which Mahatmaji issued from Patna on the 7th April last, simultaneously with his correspondence with Dr. Ansari, announced his advice to the Congress and Congressmen to suspend Civil Disobedience except with regard to himself and to those who believed in entry into legislatures, to take up the programme of Council Entry. Both these items were considered at great length at a meeting of the All-India Congress Committee at Patna in the following May and were endorsed by it. The Council Entry programme naturally led to the creation of the Congress Parliamentary Board which has been entrusted with the work of organising, guiding and controlling propaganda in favour of election of Congressmen to the Assembly for the time being. Now, to-day we are in the midst of a campaign which has led to the formulation of the Congress policy in the legislatures in regard to the White Paper and the Government policy of ruthless repression on which all parties in it are agreed but also, unfortunately, on what has been called the Communal decision of the British Government on which all are not agreed. It will be recalled that after the Second Round Table Conference, the British Government announced its decision settling from its point of view the questions of communal representations in the legislatures under the [p. 935] reform constitution. The decision was given because the Indian members of the Round Table Conference were unable to arrive at an agreed settlement of the outstanding differences on the constitutional question amongst the various communities in India. It has created the unfortunate position that whilst we are unable to agree among ourselves, it is also impossible to accept this decision which is anti-national in many respects and is calculated to retard the progress of the country towards a common national outlook. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that some of the minorities particularly the Mussalmans are opposed to rejecting it or think in the main it safeguards their interests. The Working Committee had, therefore, to decide the question on which a large section of Hindus and Sikhs are on the one side and practically all Mussalmans, with a few leading exceptions, and perhaps members of some other minority communities are on the other, the former favouring the unqualified rejection of the decision and the latter equally strongly favouring its acceptance, until it was replaced by an agreed settlement. Under the circumstances, the Working Committee had no other alternative but to point out the unsatisfactory and anti-national nature of the decision hoping at the same time to be able in course of time to replace it by an agreed settlement, and to that end not to divert the attention of the country by creating an agitation in favour of either accepting or rejecting it.

MAHATMAJI'S STATEMENT

But events have marched quickly during the past few weeks, Mahatma Gandhi has just made two statements of far-reaching importance, in which he has recorded his reading of the history of the past fifteen years, placed his finger unerringly on the secret places of our heart and given us a warning for the future. Not even his worst critics have challenged his analysis and some have even gloated over the situation in an 'I told you so' spirit. It will be best for us and for our country if even at the end of these fifteen years of our struggle we realise the true situation. The first statement was in the nature of a challenge and a [p. 936] feeler, the second is the result of the country's reaction to the first. In the first he declared the things that he holds dearer than life itself—truth and non-violence and khadi, reform and revolution through conversion and not compulsion—and said as one section of the country was running away from these articles of faith and as the other was giving no effect to the allegiance to them which it professed from year to year there was nothing for it but for him to retire from the Congress. In the second statement he declares his conviction that his retirement is inescapable but as he retires in order to be of more service to the Congress and the country than heretofore, he has also suggested a reform in the Constitution which alone can save the Congress from disruption.

Now that leaders like Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Dr. Ansari and the Khan Brothers have given their hearty assent to the correctness of Gandhiji's decision, I do not think it necessary for me to take up your time discussing the pros and cons of the question of his retirement. I should certainly have done so if my own mind ran counter to the opinions of these colleagues, but I am in hearty agreement with them, though the mind and heart both boggle at the thought of his retirement. But I am steadied as soon as I remind myself that his decision proceeds out of the depth of his devotion to truth and non-violence and it must spur us on to further effort towards those ideals.

[…] He asks delegates to keep truth, non-violence and khadi in their creed and programme.

To my mind Truth, Non-Violence, and Khadi represent a triple force whereby we can achieve the whole of the Karachi programme and more. There is a section of our countrymen who without having achieved even what we pledged ourselves to do at Karachi insist on crying for more. Whilst I would have no objection to amplifying the Karachi programme and elucidating it wherever there may be any fear of a misunderstanding, I would say emphatically that we should do nothing that compromises by one iota the creed of non-violence. Whatever may be our failures, we have made rapid strides. Let us not by our impatience undo the work of the last fifteen years. My friends the Socialists, are keen on a [p. 938] more inspiring ideology and would hasten the elimination of all that stands for exploitation. I should like to tell them in all humility but with all the force at my command that there is no greater ideology than is expressed by the creed of truth and non-violence and the determination of the country not to eliminate the men that stand for exploitation but the forces that do so. Our quarrel is with the sin and not the sinner which we all are to a greater or less degree. Compulsion will react on us with redoubled force; conversion, however slow it may seem, will be the shortest cut and will mean a new contribution to history and civilisation.

[…] He backs Gandhi's plan to cut delegates and calls for constructive work and Swadeshi.

COUNCIL-ENTRY PROGRAMME

There is lastly the Councils programme. The All-India Congress Committee has decided to contest elections to the Legislative Assembly, so that the country might pronounce its verdict on the White Paper and the repressive policy of the Government. I hope that the electors will show by unmistakable action that the Congress possesses their full confidence. Let us not, however, be led away by the idea that Swaraj can be achieved by anything we could do in the legislatures. We have to remember that the price for freedom must be paid before we can get it and while we have every reason to be proud of what has been done and what the country has suffered, it is, after all, yet inadequate for the great object we have in view. The task we have taken upon ourselves is great and glorious. It requires inexhaustible patience, unflinching determination and unending sacrifice. Time and world forces are helping us and, above all, God is with us in this great epic struggle of an unarmed people fighting with the weapons of Satyagraha of Truth and Non-Violence a most powerful Government armed cap-a-pie and equipped with the latest engines of destruction devised by science and human ingenuity. For us there is no turning back. The goal is clear. It is nothing short of Independence.

MEANING OF INDEPENDENCE

Independence is the natural outcome of all that the freedom movement in India has stood for. It cannot mean isolation particularly when we remember that it has to be achieved by non-violence. It means the end of exploitation of one country by another and of one part of the population of the same country by another part. It contemplates a free and friendly association with other nations for the [p. 941] mutual benefit of all. It forebodes evil to none, not even to those exploiting us except in so far as they rely upon exploitation rather than goodwill. The sanction behind this Independence movement is non-violence which in its positive and dynamic aspect is goodwill of and for all. We already see signs of how it has begun appealing to a certain extent to world opinion. This appeal has to become irresistible. It can do so according as the element of distrust and suspicion, which has its birth in fear, is eliminated and replaced by a sense of security born of confidence in the goodwill of India. India, having no designs on others, will not then need a large army either for its protection against foreigners or for internal peace which will stand guaranteed by the goodwill of her inhabitants. Having no designs on others, she will be able to claim immunity from the evil designs of others, and her safety will be buttressed and protected by the goodwill of the world at large. Conceived in this light, our Independence ought not to frighten even the British unless they aim at perpetuating the present unnatural conditions.

The method too is crystal clear. It is active, dynamic, non-violent, mass action. We may fail once; we may fail twice; but we are bound to succeed some day. Many have already lost their lives and all. Many more have sacrificed themselves in their struggle for freedom. Let us not be deterred by the difficulties which confront us nor diverted from our straight course by fear or favour. Our weapons are unique and the world is watching the progress of great experiment with interest and high expectation. Let us be true to our creed and firm in our determination. Satyagraha in its active application may meet with temporary set-backs but it knows no defeat. It is itself a great victory, for as James Lowell put it:

Truth for ever on the scaffold

Wrong for ever on the throne

Yet that scaffold sways the future

And behind the dim unknown

Standeth God within the shadow

Keeping watch above His own.