The Indian National Congress was created by a group of English-speaking urban
intellectuals in 1885. The original "moderate" leadership was soon more
"militant" group, led by Bal GangadharTilak (1856-1920), which demanded
"Swaraj [self-rule] for India.
What follows is an excerpt from Tilak's address to
Indian National Congress in 1907 calling for boycott of British goods and resistance to
British rule.
Two new words have recently come into existence with regard to our politics, and
they are Moderates and Extremists. These words have a specific relation to
time, and they, therefore, will change with time. The Extremists of today will be
Moderates tomorrow, Just as the Moderates of today were Extremists yesterday. When the
National Congress was first started and Mr. Dadabhai's views, which now go for Moderates,
were given to the public, he was styled an Extremist, so that you will see that the term
Extremist is an expression of progress. We are Extremists today and our sons will call
themselves Extremists and us Moderates. Every new party begins as Extremists and ends as
Moderates. The sphere of practical politics is not unlimited. We cannot say what will or
will not happen 1,000 years hence - perhaps during that long period, the whole of the
white race will be swept away in another glacial period. We must, therefore, study the
present and work out a program to meet the present condition.
It is impossible to go into details within the time at my disposal. One thing is
granted, namely, that this government does not suit us. As has been said by an eminent
statesman - the government of one country by another can never be a successful, and
therefore, a permanent government. There is no difference of opinion about this
fundamental proposition between the old and new schools. One fact is that this alien
government has ruined the country. In the beginning, all of us were taken by surprise. We
were almost dazed. We thought that everything that the rulers did was for our good and
that this English government has descended from the clouds to save us from the invasions
of Tamerlane and Chingis Khan, and, as they say, not only from foreign invasions but from
internecine warfare, or the internal or external invasions, as they call it. . . . We are
not armed, and there is no necessity for arms either. We have a stronger weapon, a
political weapon, in boycott. We have perceived one fact, that the whole of this
administration, which is carried on by a handful of Englishmen, is carried on with our
assistance. We are all in subordinate service. This whole government is carried on with
our assistance and they try to keep us in ignorance of our power of cooperation between
ourselves by which that which is in our own hands at present can be claimed by us and
administered by us. The point is to have the entire control in our hands. I want to have
the key of my house, and not merely one stranger turned out of it. Self-government is our
goal; we want a control over our administrative machinery. We don't want to become clerks
and remain [clerks]. At present, we are clerks and willing instruments of our own
oppression in the hands of' an alien government, and that government is ruling over us not
by its innate strength but by keeping us in ignorance and blindness to the perception of
this fact. Professor Seeley shares this view. Every Englishman knows that they are a mere
handful in this country and it is the business of every one of them to befool you in
believing that you are weak and they are strong. This is politics. We have been deceived
by such policy so long. What the new party wants you to do is to realize the fact that
your future rests entirely in your own hands. If you mean to be free, you can be free; if
you do not mean to be free, you will fall and be for ever fallen. So many of you need not
like arms; but if you have not the power of active resistance, have you not the power of
self-denial and self-abstinence in such a way as not to assist this foreign government to
rule over you? This is boycott and this is what is meant when we say, boycott is a
political weapon. We shall not give them assistance to collect revenue and keep peace. We
shall not assist them in fighting beyond the frontiers or outside India with Indian blood
and money. We shall not assist them in carrying on the administration of justice. We shall
have our own courts, and when time comes we shall not pay taxes. Can you do that by your
united efforts? If you can, you are free from tomorrow. Some gentlemen who spoke this
evening referred to half bread as against the whole bread. I say I want the whole bread
and that immediately. But if I can not get the whole, don't think that I have no patience.
I will take the half they give me and then try for the remainder. This is the line of
thought and action in which you must train yourself. We have not raised this cry from a
mere impulse. It Is a reasoned impulse. Try to understand that reason and try to
strengthen that impulse by your logical convictions. I do not ask you to blindly follow
us. Think over the whole problem for yourselves. If you accept our advice, we feel sure we
can achieve our salvation thereby. This is the advice of the new party. Perhaps we have
not obtained a full recognition of our principles. Old prejudices die very hard. Neither
of us wanted to wreck the Congress, so we compromised, and were satisfied that our
principles were recognized, and only to a certain extent. That does not mean that we have
accepted the whole situation. We may have a step in advance next year, so that within a
few years our principles will be recognized, and recognized to such an extent that the
generations who come after us may consider us Moderates. This is the way in which a nation
progresses, and this is the lesson you have to learn from the struggle now going on. This
is a lesson of progress, a lesson of helping yourself as much as possible, and if you
really perceive the force of it, if you are convinced by these arguments, then and then
only is it possible for you to effect your salvation from the alien rule under which you
labor at this moment.
Source:
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920): Address to the Indian National Congress, 1907,
reprinted in William T. de Bary et al., Sources of Indian Tradition (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1958), pp. 719-723.
This text is part of the Internet
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© Paul Halsall, July 1998
