indignation the harsh and Immiliating and cruel treatment to which
British Indians, even of the highest respectability and position
have been subjected bv the British Colonies in South Africa, and
expresses its alarm at the likelihood of such treatment resulting in
far-reaching consequences of a mischievous character calculated to
cause great injury to the best interests of the British Empire, and
trusts that the Imperial Parliament, when granting the new Consti-
tution to South Africa, will secure the interests of the Indian
inhabitants of South Africa.
That this Congress begs earnestly to press upon the Bi-itish
Parliament and the Government of India, the desirability of deal-
ing with the Self-Governing Colonies in the same manner in which
the latter ruthlessly deal with Indian interests, so long as they
adhere to the selfish and one-sided policy which they pi'oclaim and
practise, and persist in their present coui-se of denying to His
Majesty's Indian subjects their just rights as citizens of the Empire.
That this Congress, while aAvare of the declaration of responsi-
ble statesmen in favour of allowing the Self-Governing Colonies in
the British Empire to monopolise vast tracts of undeveloped terri-
tories for exclusive white settlements, deems it right to point out
tliat the policy of shutting the door and denying the I'ights of full
British citizenship to all subjects of the British Crown, while
preaching and enforcing the opposite policy in Asia and other parts
of the world, is fraught with grave mischief to the Empire and is as
unwise as it is unrighteous.
Partition of Bengal
Y. Resolved — That this Congi-ess earnestly aijpeals to the
Government of India and the Secretary of State for India to reverse
the Partition of Bengal, or to modify it in such a manner as to keep
the entire Bengali-speaking community under one and the same
administration.
That this Congress is of opinion that the rectification of this
admitted error will restore contentmeTit to the Province of Bengal,
give satisfaction to the other Provinces, and instead of impairing,
will enhance the jjrestige of His Majestj-'s Government throughout
the country.
Swadeshi
\'I. Resolveii — Tliat tliis Congress accords its most cordial
support to the Swadeshi Movc^nient, and calls u})on tlie peoj)U' of the
couTitry to laljour for its success by making earnest and sustained
efforts to promote the growth of industries capable of de\-elopment
in the country, and respond to the eiforts of Indian producers by
THE TWENTY-THIRD CONGRESS 487
giving preference, wherever practicable, to Indian products over
imported conamodities, even at a sacrifice.
VII. Resolved — -That this Congress enters its emphatic protest
against the fresh burden of £:?00,000 which the British War Office
has imposed on the Indian Exchequer for military charges on the
reconimendation of the Ronier Committee, the proceedings of which
the Under-Secretary of State for India has refused to lay on the table
of the House of Commons, in conti-avention of previous practice in
such matters.
That this Congress views with the greatest regret the
repeated imposition of military charges by the British War Office on
the Indian tax-payer from the date of the Army Amalgaination
Scheme of 1859, in regard to which imposition the Government of
India has rejjeatedly remonstrated.
That this Congress respectfully urges upon the attention of His
Majesty's Govenanent the necessity of revising the Army
Amalgamation Scheme of 1859 in the light of the experience of the
last fifty years, and the desirability of laying down a fair and
reasonable principle which shall free the Indian Exchequer froia
unjust exactions of this character.
IX. Resolved — That this Congress prays that the high recogni-
tion of the valour and fidelity of the Indian troops by His Majesty the
King-Emperor in his Message to the Princes and Peoples of India
should include the throwing open to Indians of higher careers in the
Army, from which, as this Congress has repeatedly pointed out,
they have been hitherto excluded.
Legal
VIII. Resolved — That this Congress records its satisfaction
that the proposal for the separation of Executive and Judicial
functions has received the sanction of the Government in some
definite shape for the Province of Bengal ; but is at the same time
of opinion that the scheme should also be extended throughout the
country, and that it will not succeed in its object unless and until
the entire Judicial Service be placed directly and absolutely under
the High Court or Chief Court, as the case may be, even in matters
of promotion and transfer.
Coercion
Lettres de cachet
X. Resolved — That having regard to the recent deportations,
and the grave risk of injustice involved in Government action based
upon ex parte and untested information, and having regard to the
penal laws of the country, this Congress strongly urges upon the
Government the repeal of the Bengal Regulation III of 1818 and
488 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM
similar Regulations in other Provinces of India; and it respectfully
prays that the persons recently deported in Bengal be given an
opportunity of exculpating themselves, or for meeting any charges
that may be against them, or be set at libert3%
Acts of 1908
XI. Resolved — That this Congress deplores the circumstances
which have led to the passing of Act VII of 1908 and Act XIV of
1908, but having regard to their drastic character and to the fact
that a sudden emergency alone can afford any justification for such
exceptional legislation, this Congress expresses its earnest hope
that these enactments will only have a temporary existence in the
Indian Statute Book.
Provincial Grievances
XII. Resolved — That this Congress urges upon the Govern-
ment the necessity of:
[a) placing in regard to legislative and administrative
matters the Province of Berar on the same footing as the Provinces
included in British India ; and
{h) establishing a Legislative Council for the combined
territory of the Ceuti'al Provinces and Berar.
High Prices of Food-stuffs
XIII. Resolved — That this Congress is of opinion that hav-
ing regard to the high prices of food-stuli's for the past several
years, and the hardships to which the middle and poorer classes
are put thereby, an enquiry should be instituted by Government
into the causes of such high prices, with a view to ascertain how
far and by what remedies such causes could be removed.
Eiducation
XIV. Resolved — That this Congress is of opinion that the
Government should take immediate steps :
(a) to make Primary Education free at once and gradually
»oompulsory throughout the country,
(6) to assign larger sums of money to Secondary and Higher
Education (special encouragement being given where necessary to
•educate all backward classes),
(c) to make adequate provision for imparting Industrial and
'Technical Education in the different Provinces, having regard to
local requirements, and
((/) to give effective voice to the leaders of Indian public
opinion in shaj)ing the policy and system of Education in this
countiy.
THE TWENTY-THIRD CONGRESS 489
111 the opinion of this Con^'ress the time has arrived for
people all over the country to take up earnestly the question of
supplementing existing institutions and the efforts of the Govern-
ment by organisinsr for themselves an independent system of
Literary, Scientific, Technical, and Industrial Education, suited to
the conditions of the different Provinces in the country.
Permanent Settlement
XV. Resolved — That this Congress is of opinion that the
prosperity of an agricultural country like India cannot be secured
without a definite limitation of the State demand on land, and it
regrets that Lord Curzon in his Land Resolution of 1902 failed to
recognise the necessity of any such limitation, and declined to
accept the suggestions of Sir Richard Garth and other memo-
rialists on the matter.
This Congress holds that in Provinces where the Permanent
Settlement does not now exist, a reasonable and definite limitation
of the State demand and the introduction of Permanent or a
Settlement for a period of not less than sixtj' years, are the only true
remedies for the growing impoverishment of the agricultural
population.
This Congress emphatically protests against the view that the
Land Revenue in India is not a tax but is in the nature of rent.
Grief of Congress
XVI. Resolved — That this Congress records its sense of the
great loss which the country has sustained in the death of:
Mr. Kalicharan Bannerji,
Pandit Bishambarnath,
Mr. Alfred Webb,
Mr. Bunsilal Singh, and
Rai Bahadur P. A.nanda Charlii.
Congratulations and Thanks
XVII. Resolved — (a) That the following message be
addressed by the Congress to Mr. A. O. Hume.
This Congress sends you its cordial greetings and congratula-
tions. The reforms announced by Lord Morley are a partial fruition
of the efforts made by the Congress during the last twenty-three
years, and we are gratified to think that to you, as its father and
founder, they must be a source of great and sincere satisfaction.
(b) This Congress offers its sincere congratulations to Sir
William Wedderburn, Bart., on his recent recovery from a serious
illness and takes this opj)ortunity to give expression to its deep
gratitude for the unfiagging zeal and devotion, and the love,
490 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM
patience and singleness of purpose with which he has laboured for
the Indian cause during the last twenty years, and which has been
largely instrumental in securing for Congress' views and
representations the favourable considei-ation which they have
received in England.
(c) This Congress desires to convey to members of the British
Committee its grateful thanks for their disinterested and
strenuous services in the cause of India's political advancement,
XIX. Resolved — That this Congress accords its most hearty
thanks for the hospitality with which the Reception Committee
has received the delegates and the pei-fection of the arrangements
made for their comfort during their stay in Madras. The Congress
also thanks the Captain, Lieutenants and Members of the Congress
Corps for the trouble they have taken in looking after the
comforts of the delegates, and in being ver^' diligent in preserving-
order throughout the session.
Formal
XVIII. Resolved — That the following gentlemen are
appointed members of the All-India Congress Committee. (List
omitted).
XX. Resolved — That Mr. D. E. Wacha and the Hon. Mr. Daji
Abaji Khare be appointed General Secretaries for the ensuing year.
XXI. Resolved — That the next Congress assemVjle at Lahore.
CHAPTER XXIV
The Twenty-fourth National Congress met in Lahore,
in the Bradlaugh Hall, on the 27th December, 1909.
There was a great chill over the countr^y, in con-
sequence of the way in which the Minto-Morley Re-
forms had been wrecked by the rules made for their
carrying out ; the Panjab was restless and sullen ;
the number of delegates dropped, to 243, and only
76 came from the Panjab itself ; the Official Report
describes the Hall as " fairly well filled ". The
delegates were distributed as follows :
Madras 20
Bombay (27), Sindh (30)
Bengal
C. P. and Berar
U. P
Panjab
57
20
6
64
76
243
Lala Harkishan Lai, the Chairman of the Re-
ception Committee welcomed the President-elect
and the delegates. His speech was in the minor
key, for the Congress had been attacked on all
sides ; some said it was disloyal at heart, others that
it excited the young and so caused tendencies which
492 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM
would lead to violence ; others said its day-
was over. The Muslim League and the Hindu
Conference had both assailed it. Hence the smallness
of their gathering. He condemned the Council
Regulations as unjust and impolitic, and disapproved
of the Land Legislation embodied in the Acts of 1900,
1905 and 1907. He called on Mr. Surendranath
Bannerji to propose that Pandit Madan Mohan
Malaviya should take the Chair.
Surendranath Babu welcomed him as President, as
one of the earliest and most devoted of Congressmen ;
he remembered him in 1886, when he made his first
speech, which marked him out as a future leader,
and that promise had been fulfilled. They owed him
special thanks, in that though sufi^ering from the
eifects of malarial fever, he had stepped forward to fill
the vacancy suddenly occurring in the Presidentship
of the Congress, an act of devoted self-sacrifice.
Mr. G. K. Parekh seconded, Dewan Bahadur L. A.
Govindaraghava Aiyar and Raizada Bhagat Ram
supported, and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya took
the Chair amid loud applause.
The President alluded to the sudden resignation of
Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, the duly elected President,
only six days before the Congress, and the great
disappointment caused. He had had no time for pre-
paration, but would try to do his best. They had to
mourn the loss of Mr. Lalmohan Ghose and Mr.
Romesh Chandra Dutt, and also of that true friend of
India, the Marquis of Ripon. I'he President then
turned to the total change of feeling among educated
THE TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS 493
Indians : at the last Congress they had hailed the
Refoi-ms with jo}^ ; the Regulations, issued five weeks
before the present Congress, had caused widespread
disajDpointment and dissatisfaction. He then sketched
the history of the claim for representative Government
from 1876, when Messrs. Surendranath Bannerji and
Ananda Mohan Bose had established the Indian
Association of Calcutta, which had representative
Covernment among its objects. The most striking
feature of the Reforms was the admission of Indians to
the Executive Councils of the Viceroy and of the
Governors of Madras and Bombay. The United
Provinces, with a population of 48 millions, far larger
than either Madras (38 millions) or Bombay (19
millions), was not given an Executive Council. The
Regulations had introduced religion into politics,
and had differentiated electorates by religious beliefs.
Muhammadan minorities were given separate elector-
ates and were alloAved also to vote in the general elec-
torates, while Hindu minorities in the Panjab and
Assam enjoyed no such electorates. Further a Muham-
madan who paid an income-tax on Rs. 3,000 a year,
money or land revenue, had a vote. But the non-
Muhammadan paying on three lakhs of rupees had
no vote. Muhammadan graduates of five years stand-
ing had a vote; non-Muhammadan graduates of
thirty years had none. Again, only members of
Municipal and District Boards were eligible to the
Provincial Councils. The President pointed out the
many other defects, such as the nominations which
made the " non-oflicial majority " a farce, except in
494 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM
Bengal, thanks to Sir Edward Baker. He then spoke
on a number of other questions, expressed the deep
sorrow of the Congress for the murders of Sir William
Curzon-Wylie, Dr. Lalkaha and Mr. Jackson, and for
the attempt on the life of the V^iceroy, condemned the
deportations, the Partition of Bengal, and the Panjab
Land Alienation Act. Pie concluded a fine speech
— when did Pandit Madan Mohan speak otherwise
than finely 't — by defending the Congress, and depre-
cating sectarianism, and then moved from the Chair
the first three Resolutions, grieving for the loss of
Messrs. Lalmohan Ghose and Romesh Chandra Dntt,
and for that of the Marquis of Ripon, and thanking
the Government for appointing the Hon. Sir S. P.
Sinha a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council,
and the Right Hon. Mr. Amir Ali a member of the
Privy Council.
The delegates from each Province were then re-
quested to elect the Subjects' Committee, and the
Congress adjourned.
On the second day the first place was given to the
Regulations under the India Council Act of 1909,
and Mr. Surendranath Bannerji moved Resolution lY,
embodying the Congress view. It ran :
That this Congress while gratefully appi^eciating
the earnest and arduous endeavours of Lord Morley and
Loi^d Minto in extending to the people of this country a
fairly liberal measure of constitutional reforms, as now
embodied in the India Councils' Act of 1909, deems it its
duty to place on record its strong sense of disapproval of
the creation of sepjirate electorates on the basis of religion
and regrets that the Regulations framed under the Act
have not been framed in tlie same liV;eral spirit in which
THE TWENTY-FOURTH CONGKESS 495
Lord Morley's despatch of last year was conceived. In
particular the Eegulations have caused widespread
dissatisfaction throughout the country by reason of :
(a) the excessive and unfairly preponderant share of
representation given to the followers of one particular
religion ;
(6) the unjust, invidious, and humiliating distinctions
made between Muslim and non-Muslim subjects of His
Majesty in the matter of the electorates, the franchise,
and the qualifications of candidates ;
(c) the wide, arbitrary and unreasonable disqualifica-
tion and restrictions for candidates seeking election to the
Councils ;
(d) the general distrust of the educated classes that
runs through the whole course of the Regulations; and
(e) the unsatisfactory composition of the non-ofiicial
majorities in the Provincial Councils, rendering them
ineffective and unreal for all practical purpose.^.
And this Congress earnestly requests the Government
so to revise the Regulations, as soon as the present elections
are over, as to remove these objectionable features, and
bring them into harmony with the spirit of the Royal
Message and the Secretary of State's despatch of last year. .
Mr. Surendranath Bannerji pointed out :
It is no exaggeration to say that the Rules and Re-
gulations have practically wrecked the Reform scheme as
originally conceived with a beneficence of purpose and a
statesmanlike grasp that did honour to all that are
associated with it . . . Who wrecked the scheme ? Who
converted that promising experiment into a dismal
failure !" The responsibility rests upon the shoulders of
the bureaucracy Is the bureaucracy having its
revenge upon us for the part we have played in securing
these concessions P
One point he strongly urged was the disqualification
of many of the most distinguished men by the
496 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM
qualifications demanded for eligibility. Further, the
non-official majority was a delusion, for nominees of
the Government usually voted with the (lovernment.
Still, let them not abandon hope.
Let us see to it that, in the depths of our desperation,
we do not forget the immemorial traditions of our race,
or renounce the unalteral^le faith which is ours in the
ultimate triumph of constitutional and righteous means
for the attainment of National regeneration.
Dewan Bahadur L. A. Govindaraghava Iyer seconded
the Resolution, dealing especially with his own Prov-
ince, and showed that to say there was a non-official
majority in Madras was " a travesty of truth ".
Mr. Harichandrai Vishandas said that the pteans of
praise sung in chorus in the last Congress were a
little too previous, and the benedictions of their
leaders were premature. Mr. Syed Hasan was
against all communal representation. The Hon.
Munshi Ganga Prasad Varma analysed the effect of
the Regulations in the U. P. Mr. J. B. Petit showed
that religions and i^ace hatreds would be aroused by
the Regulations ; if one minority were represented,
others should be. The Resolution was further sup-
ported by Messrs. Rajpal Kane, Pandit Gokarannath
Misra, Messrs. Rambhuj Dutt Choudhuri, Harnam
Das, and A. Choudhuri, and unanimously carried.
Resolution V, urging the formation of Executive
Councils in the United Provinces, the Panjab, Eastern
Bengal, Assam, and Burma, was moved by Dr. Tej
Bahadur Sapru, who rapidly outlined the history of
Ao-ra in respect to this question, and showed the
absurdity of a Province containing 48 millions of people
THE TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS 497
being governed by one man, a Lieutenant-Governor,
without an Executive Council. Dewan Laclimi Narain
seconded the Eesolution, and it was supported by Lala
Hakamchand and Moulvi Abdul Qasini, and carried.
Resolution VI criticised the Panjab Regulations
under the Act, and Mr. Sundar Singh Bhatia,
moving it, said that the educated community of the
Panjab was in a state of profound disappointment,
bordering on despair. For the first time a barrier
was raised between Muhammadans and non-
Muhammadans, the Hindus were relegated to a
subordinate position, and, in spite of all their efforts,
were thrown back. Under Muhammadan rule, the
highest offices were open to Hindus ; now they were
sent to a back seat. Lala Dharmdas Suri second-
ed, and the Resolution was carried.
Mr. C. Y, Chintamani moved Resolution A'^II, com-
plaining of the treatment of the Central Provinces and
Berar, which had not even a Legislative Council, Berar
being peculiarly unfortunate in that in disabilities
it was British territory, but from privileges it was
excluded as belonging to the Nizam. Mr. N. A.
Dravid seconded, saying that Berar was held from the
Nizam on a perpetual lease, which Avas a doom of
perpetual disfranchisement. Being under British
administration, they have no rights under the Nizam,
and not being British subjects they could not be
represented in British India. The Resolution was
carried and the Congress adjourned.
On the third day, Mr. Bhupendranath Basu moved
Resolution VIII, asking for a modification of the
39
498 HOW INDIA WROUGHT FOR FREEDOM
Partition of Bengal, and appointing Mr. Surendranatli
Bannerji and himself as a deputation to England, to
lay the question before the authorities and the public.
He said the Bengalis would not rest until they were
re-united, for the boys of eastern and western Bengal
were now separated, brought up under different ideals
of manhood. East Bengal was police-ridden, tyrannised
over, boys were arrested, and thousands of lads were
being driven into the camp of the extremists, filled
with bitter hostility. The speaker concluded with a
passage of splendid and moving eloquence, declaring
that Bengal would never admit its cause was lost :
I stand before you, I, a Bengali from Bengal, one of
a very small number of men who have been able to come
to your Province to attend this Congress. I stand before
you, I stand at the bar of my own country, I stand before
the best and the highest men in all India, I stand like a
neophyte at the altar which you have raised for the wor-
ship of our Mother, to plead for a cause which to others
may seem to be lost, to re-vitalise what to others may
seem a vanished hope. Geiitlemen, so long as the Ben-
gali race will last, so long as the blood which flows
through our veins courses through generations yet unborn,
so long as the picture of a United India remains on our
vision, so long as the mighty rivers of my native Province
flow on in their majesty and glory to the sea, so long as
the fields and meadows of East Bengal wave in all their
verdant glory, our cause will not be lost. So long as the
inspiriting strains of Bande Mataram put new heart into
generations of Bengalis yet to come, our cause will not be
lost. For the moment we may have suffered defeat. For
the moment the question seems to l)e settled, but, God
willing, wo sliall yet tui'u tlie defeat into victory.
And they did.
Mr. K. Ekambara Iyer seconded, Mr. Parameshwar
Lai supported the Kesolution and it was carried.
THE TTVENTY-FOURTH CONaRESS 499
Resolution IX was moved by the Hon. ^Ir.
G. K. Grokhale, and embodied the cry for help from
the Indians in South Africa. He sketched the history
of the Indians in the Transvaal under the Boers, the
Crown, and the Colonial Grovernment. He then described
the endless negotiations and the breaches of faith, and
the long patient struggle of the Indians led by Mr.
Gandhi ; now the Congress said to the Government of
India that " they have made endless representations,
but so far they have produced no effect. The time
has come for retaliation." The Indians in South
Africa were engaged in the passive resistance
struggle :
^Yhat is the passive resistance struggle ? It is
essentially defensive in its nature, and it fights with
moral and spiritual weapons. A passive resister re-
sists tyranny by undergoing suffering in his own person.
He pits soul force as'ainst brute force ; he pits the divine
in man against the brute in man ; he pits suffering
against oppression, pits conscience against might ; he pits