Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank you most cordially for the trust you have placed in me in calling upon me to preside on this 19th Session of the Hindu Mahasabha; I don't take it so much as an honour bestowed upon me by my nation for service rendered in the past as a command to dedicate whatever strength us still left in me to the Sacred Cause of defending Hindudom and Hindustan our common Motherland and our common Holyland, and pressing on the fight for our National Freedom. So far as the Hindus are concerned, there can be no distinction nor conflict in the least between our Communal and National duties, as the best interests of the Hindudom are simply identified with the best interests of Hindustan as a whole. Hindudom cannot advance or fulfil its life mission unless and until our Motherland is set free and consolidated into an Indian State in which all our countrymen to whatever religion or sect or race they belong are treated with perfect equality and none allowed to dominate others or is deprived of his just and equal rights of free citizenship as long as everyone discharges the common obligations and duties which one owes to the Indian Nation as a whole. The truer a Hindu is to himself as a Hindu, he must inevitably grow a truer National as well. I shall substantiate this point later on as I proceed.
With this conviction and from this point of view, I shall deal in this my presidential address with some fundamental aspects of the Hindu Sanghatan Movement as expounded by this Mahasabha or as I understand them and leave detailed and passing questions, to be deliberated upon and decided, to the representatives assembled in this Session.
Homage to the Independent Hindu Kingdom of Nepal
But before proceeding further I feel it my bounden duty to send forth on behalf of all Hindus our loyal and loving greetings to His Majesty the King of Nepal, His Highness Shree Yuddhsamasher Ranajee-the Prime Minister of Nepal and all of our co-religionists and countrymen there who have even in the darkest hour of our history, been successful in holding out as Hindu Power and in keeping a flag of Hindu Independence flying unsullied on the summits of the Himalayas. The Kingdom of Nepal stands out today as the only Hindu Kingdom in the world whose independence is recognised by England, France, Italy and other great powers. Amongst some twenty five crores of our Hindus in this generation, His Majesty the King of Nepal is the first and foremost and the only Hindu today who can enter in the assemblage of King, Emperors and Presidents of all the independent nations in the world, with head erect and unbent, as an equal amongst equals. In spite of the passing political aspect of the question, Nepal is bound to Hindudom as a whole by the dearest ties of a common race and religion and language and culture, inheriting with us this our common motherland and our common Holyland. Our life is one. Whatever contributes to the strength of Hindudom as a whole, must strengthen Nepal and whatever progress the latter records is bound to elevate the first. Hence all Sangha tanist Hindus long to see that the only Independent Hindu Kingdom is rapidly brought to an up-to-date efficiency, political, social, and above all military and aerial so as to enable Her to hold out Her own in the National struggle for existence that is going on all around us and march on and fulfil the great and glorious destiny that awaits Her ahead.
Message of Sympathy to the Hindus in the Greater Hindusthan
Nor can this session of the Hindu Mahasabha forget to send forth its message of sympathy and loving remembrances to those of our co-religionists and countrymen abroad who have been building a greater Hindusthan without the noise of drums and trumpets in Africa, America, Mauritius and such other parts of the world and also to those who as in the island of Bali are still holding out as remnants of the ancient world Empire of our Hindu Race. Their fortune too are inextricably bound up with the freedom and strength and greatness of Bharatavarsha, which is the 'Pitrubhoo' and 'Punyabhoo'-the Fatherland and the Holyland of Hinduism as a whole.
Hindusthan must ever remain one and indivisible
Nor can the Hindu Mahasabha afford to be forgetful of the Hindus who reside in the so-called 'French India' and 'Portuguese India' in India! The very words sound preposterous and insulting to us. Apart from the artificial and enforced political divisions of today, we are indissolubly bound together by the enduring ties of blood and religion and country. We must declare, as an ideal at any rate, that Hindusthan of tomorrow must be one and indivisible, not only a united but a unitarian nation, from Kashmir to Rameshwar, from Sindh to Assam. I hope that not only the Mahasabha but even the Congress and such other national bodies in Hindusthan will not fight shy of claiming. Gomantak, Pondicherry, and such other parts of Hindusthan as parts as inalienable and integral to our Nation, as is Maharashtra or Bengal or Punjab.
The definition of the word 'Hindu'
As a whole superstructure of the mission and the function of the Hindu Mahasabha rests on the correct definition of the word 'Hindu,' we must first of all make it clear what 'Hindutva' really means. Once the scope and the meaning of the world is defined and understood, a number of misgivings in our own camp are easily removed, a number of misunderstandings and objections raised against us from the camp of our opponents are met and silenced. Fortunately for us, after a lot of wandering in wilderness, a definition of the word Hindu which is not only historically and logically as sound as is possible in the cases of such comprehensive terms, but is also eminently workable is already hit upon when 'Hindutva' was defined as :-
।। आिसंधूिसंधूपयता [ यःय भारतभूिमका ।।
।। ǒपतृभूःपुÖयभूयैƱैव स वैǑहंदǐरितःम ु तः ृ ।।
'Everyone who regards and claims this Bharatbhoomi from, the Indus to the Seas as his Fatherland and Holyland is a Hindu. Here I must point out that it is rather loose to say that any person professing any religion of Indian origin is a Hindu. Because that is only one aspect of Hindutva. The second and equally essential constituent of the concept of Hindutva cannot be ignored if we want to save the definition from getting overlapping and unreal. It is not enough that a person should profess any religion of Indian origin, i.e., Hindusthan as his पुÖयभूhis Holyland, but he must also recognise it as his ǒपतृ भू too, his Fatherland as well. As this is no place for going into the whole discussion of the pros and cons of the question, all I can do here is to refer to my book 'Hindutva' in which I have set forth all arguments and expounded the proposition at great length. I shall content myself at present by stating that Hinduism is bound and marked out as a people and a nation by themselves not by the only tie of a common Holyland in which their religion took birth but by the ties of a common culture, a common language, a common history and essence of a common fatherland as well. It is these two constituents taken together that constitute our Hindutva and distinguish us from any other people in the world. That is why the Japanese and the Chinese, for example, do not and cannot regard themselves as fully identified with the Hindus. Both of them regard our Hindusthan as their Holyland, the land which was the cradle of their religion, but they do not and cannot look upon Hindusthan as their fatherland too. They are our co-religionists but are not and cannot be our countrymen too. We Hindus are not only co-religionists, but even countrymen of each other. The Japanese and the Chinese have different ancestry, language, culture, history and country of their own, which are not so integrally bound up with us as to constitute a common national life. In a religious assembly of the Hindus, in any Hindu Dharma-Mahasabha, they can join with us as our brothers-in-faith having a common Holyland. But they will not and cannot take a common part or have a common interest in a Hindu Mahasabha, which unites Hindus together and represents their national life. A definition must in the main response to reality. Just as by the first constituent of Hindutva, the possession if a common Holyland-the Indian Mahommedans, Jews, Christians, Parsees, etc. are excluded from claiming themselves as Hindus which in reality also they do not,-in spite of their recognising Hindusthan as their fatherland, so also, on the other hand, the second constituent of the definition that of possessing a common fatherland exclude the Japanese, the Chinese and others from the Hindu fold in spite of the fact of their having a Holyland in common with us. The above definition had already been adopted by number of prominent Hindu-sabhas such as the Nagpur, Poona, Ratnagiri Hindu-sabhas, and others. The Hindu Mahasabha also had in view this very definition when the word Hindu was rather loosely explained in its present constitution as ' one who profess any religion of Indian origin.' I submit that the time has come when we should be more accurate and replace that partial description by regular definition and incorporate in the constitution the full verse itself translating it in the precise terms as rendered above.
Avoid the loose and harmful misuse of the word 'Hindu'
From this correct definition of Hindutva, it necessarily follows that we should take all possible care to restrict the use of the word 'Hindu' to its defined and definite general meaning only and avoid misusing it in any sectarian sense. In common parlance even our esteemed leaders and writers who on the one hand are very particular in emphasizing that our non-Vedic religious schools are also included in the common Hindu brotherhood, commit, on the other hand, the serious mistake if using such expressions as 'Hindus and Sikhs', 'Hindus and Jains' denoting thereby unconsciously that the Vaidiks or the Sanatanists only are Hindus and thus quite unawares inculcate the deadly virus of separation in the minds of the different constituents of our religious brotherhood, defeating our own eager desire to consolidate them all into a harmonious and organic whole. Confusion in words leads to confusion in thoughts. If we take good care not to identify the term ' Hindu ' with the major Vedic section of our people alone, our non-Vedic brethren such as the Sikhs, the Jains and others will find no just reason to resent the application of the word ' Hindu ' in their case as well. Those who hold to the opinion that Sikhism, Jainism and such other religions that go to form our Hindu brotherhood are neither the branches of nor originated from the Vedas but are independent religions by themselves need not cherish any fear or suspicion of losing their independence as a religious school by being called Hindus if that application is rightly used only to denote all those who won India, this Bharatbhoomi, as their Holyland and fatherland. Whenever we want to discriminate against the constituents of Hinduism as a whole, we should designate them as 'Vaidiks and Sikhs', 'Vaidiks and Jains' etc. But to say 'Hindus and Sikhs', 'Hindus and Jains' is as self-contradictory and misleading as to say 'Hindus and Brahmins' or 'Jains and Digambers' or 'Sikhs and Akalees.' Such a harmful misuse of the word Hindu should be carefully avoided especially in the speeches, resolutions and records of our Hindu Mahasabha.
The word 'Hindu' is of Vaidic origin.
We may mention here in passing that the word 'Hindu' is not a denomination which the foreigners applied to us in contempt otherwise but is derived from our Vedic appellation of सƯिसंधू (Saptasindhus) a fact which is fully dealt with in my book on Hindutva and is borne out by the name of one of our provinces and peoples bordering on the Indus who are being called down to this day as िसंध and िसंधी.
The Hindu Mahasabha is in the main not a religious but a national body
From this above discussion it necessarily follows that the concept of the term 'Hindutva'-Hinduness-is more comprehensive than the word 'Hinduism'. It was to draw a pointed attention to this distinction that I had coined the words 'Hindutva', 'Pan Hindu' and 'Hindudom' when I framed the definition of the word 'Hindu'. Hinduism concerns with the religious systems of the Hinds, their theology and dogma. But this is precisely a matter which this Hindu Mahasabha leaves entirely to individual or group conscience and faith. The Mahasabha takes its stand on no dogma, no book or school of philosophy whether pantheist, monotheist or atheist. All that it is concerned with, so far as 'ism' is concerned, is the common characteristic, which a Hindu, by the very fact of professing allegiance to a religion or faith of Indian origin necessarily possesses in regarding India as his Holyland, as his पुÖयभूिम-the cradle and the temple of his faith.
Thus while only indirectly concerned with Hinduism which is only one of the many aspects of Hindutva resulting from the second constituent of possessing a common Fatherland. The Mahasabha is not in the main a Hindu-Dharma-Sabha but it is pre-eminently a HinduRashtra-Sabha and is a Pan-Hindu organization shaping the destiny of the Hindu Nation in all its social, political and cultural aspects. Those who commit the serious mistake of taking the Hindu Mahasabha for only a religious body would do well to keep thise distinction in mind.
The Hindus are a Nation by themselves
Some cavil at the position I have taken that the Hindu Mahasabha as I understand its mission, is pre-eminently a national body and challenge me-'How the Hindus who differ somuch amongst themselves in every detail of life could at all be called a nation as such ?' To them my reply is that no people on the earth are so homogenous as to present perfect uniformity in language, culture, race and religion. A people is marked out a nation by themselves not so much by the absence of any heterogeneous differences amongst themselves as by the fact of their differing from other peoples more markedly than they differ amongst themselves. Even those who deny the fact that the Hindus could be called a nation by themselves, do recognise Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Germany and other peoples as nations. What is the test by which those peoples are called nations by themselves ? Take Great Britain as an example. There are at any rate three different languages there; they have fought amongst themselves dreadfully in the past, there are to be found the traces of different seeds and bloods and race. If you say that in spite of it all they are a nation because they possess a common country, a common language, a common culture and common Holyland then the Hindus too possess a common country so well marked out as Hindusthan, a common language the Sanskrit from which all their current languages are derived or are nourished and which forms even today the common language of their Scriptures and literature and which is held in esteem as the sacred reservoir of ancient scriptures and the tongue of their forefathers. By 'Anuloma' and 'Pratiloma' marriages their seed and blood continued to get commingled even since the days of Manu. Their social festivals and cultural forms are not less common than those we find in England. They possess a common Holyland. The Vedic Rishis are their common pride, their Grammarians Panini and Patanjali, their Poets Bhavabhooti and Kalidas, their heroes Shri Ram and Shri Krishna, Shivaji and Pratap, Guru Govind and Banda are a source of common inspiration. Their Prophets Buddha and Mahaveer, Kanad and Shankar, are held in common esteem. Like their ancient and sacred language-the Sanskrit-their scripts also are fashioned on the same basis and the Nagari script has been the common vehicle of their sacred writings since centuries in the past. Their ancient and modern history is common. They have friends and enemies in common. They have faced common dangers and won victories in common. One in national glory and one in national disasters, one in national despairs and one in national hope and Hindus are welded together during aeons of a common life and a common habitat. Above all the Hindus are bound together by the dearest, most sacred and most enduring bonds of a common Fatherland and a common Holyland, and these two being identified with one and the same country our Bharatbhumi, our India, the National Oneness and homogenity of the Hindus have been doubly sure. If the United States with the warring crowds of Negroes, Germans and Anglo-saxons, with a common past not exceeding four or five centuries put together can be called a nation-then the Hindus must be entitled to be recognized as a nation par excellence. Verily the Hindus as a people differ most markedly from any other people in the world than they differ amongst themselves. All tests whatsover of a common country, race, religion, and language that go to entitle a people to form a nation, entitle the Hindus with greater emphasis to that claim. And whatever differences divide the Hindus amongst themselves are rapidly disappearing owing to their awakening of the national consciousness and the Sanghatan and the social reform movements of today. Therefore the Hindu Mahasabha that has, as formulated in its current constitution, set before itself the task of 'the maintenance, protection and promotion of the Hindu race, culture and civilization for the advancement and glory of "Hindu Rashtra' is pre-eminently a national body represent the Hindu Nation as a whole.
Is this mission of the Mahasabha narrow, anti-Indian and Parochial aim ?
Some of our well meaning but unthinking section of Indian patriots who look down upon the Mahasabha as a communal, narrow and anti-Indian body only because it represents Hindudom and tries to protect its just rights, forget the fact that communal and parochial are only relative terms and do not by themselves imply a condemnation or curse. Are not they themselves who swear by the name of Indian Nationalism in season and out of season liable to the same charge of parochialness ? If the Mahasabha represents the Hindu nation only, they claim to represent the Indian nation alone. But is not the concept of an Indian Nation itself a parochial conception in elation to Human State ? In fact the Earth is our motherland and Humanity our Nation. Nay, the Vedantist goes further and claims this Universe for his country and all manifestation from the stars to the stone his own self. 'आमचा ःवदेश । भुवनऽयामÚये वास ।।' says Tukaram ! Why then take the Himalayas to cut us off from the rest of mankind, deem ourselves as separate Nation as Indians and fight with every other country and the English in particular who after all are our brothers-inHumanity ! Why not sacrifice Indian interests to those of the British Empire which is a larger political synthesis? The fact is that all Patriotism is more or less parochial and communal and is responsible for dreadful wars throughout human history. Thus the Indian Patriots who instead of starting and joining some movement of a universal state, stop short of it, join an Indian Movement and yet continue to mock at the Hindu Sanghatan as narrow and communal and parochial succeed only in mocking at themselves.
But if it is said justification of Indian Patriotism that the people who populate India are more akin to each other bound by ties of a common ancestry, language, culture, history, etc. than they are to any other people outside India and therefore we Indians feel it our first duty to protect our Nation from our political domination and aggression of other non-Indian nations then, the same reason could be adduced to justify the Hindu Sanghatan Movement as well.
When national, communal, or parochial movements are harmful to Humanity ?
No movement is condemnable simply because it is sectional. So long as it tries to defend the just and fundamental rights of a particular nation or people or community against the unjust and overbearing aggression of other human aggregates and does not infringe on an equal just right and liberties of others, it cannot be condemned or looked down simply because the nation or community is a smaller aggregate in itself. But when a nation or community treads upon the rights of sister nations or communities and aggressively stands in the way of forming larger associations and aggregates of mankind, its nationalism or communalism becomes condemnable from a human point of view. This is the acid test of distinguishing a justifiable nationalism or communalism from an unjust and harmful one. The Hindu Sanghatan movement, call it national, communal or parochial as you like stands as much justified by this real test as our Indian Patriotism can be. The Hindu Mahasabha is perfectly National in its Outlook For what does the Hindu Mahasabha aim at ? As the national representative body of Hindudom it aims at the allround regeneration of the Hindu people. But the absolute political independence of Hindusthan is a sine qua non for that allround regeneration of Hindudom. The fortunes of the Hindus are more inextricably and more closely bound up with India than that of any other non-Hindu sections of our countrymen. After all the Hindus are the bedrock on which an Indian independent state could be built.
Whatever may happen some centuries hence, the solid fact of today cannot be ignored that religion wields mighty influence on the minds of men in Hindusthan and in the case of Mohammedans especially their religious zeal, more often than not, borders on fanatism ! Their love towards India as their motherland is but an handmaid to their love for their Holyland outside India. Their faces are ever turned towards Mecca and Madina. But to the Hindus Hindusthan being their Fatherland as well as their Holyland, the love they bear to Hindusthan is undivided and absolute. They not only form the overwhelming majority of Indian population but have on the whole been the trusted champions of Her cause. A Mohammedan is often found to cherish an extraterritorial allegiance, is moved more by events in Palestine than what concerns India as a Nation, worries himself more about the well-being of the Arabs than the well-being of his Hindu neighbours and countrymen in India. Thousands of Mohammedans could be found conspiring with the Turkish Khilaphatists and Afghans with an object to bring about a foreign invasion of India if but a Mohammedan rule could thus be established in this land. But to a Hindu, India is all in all of his National being. That is the reason why the Hindus predominate in the struggle that is going on for the overthrow of the political domination of England over this country. It is the Hindus who went to the gallows, faced transporation to the Andamans by hundreds and got imprisoned by thousands in the fight for the liberation of Hindusthan. Even the Indian National Congress owes its inception to Hindu brain, its growth to Hindu sacrifice, its present position to Hindu labours in the main. A Hindu Patriot worth the name cannot but be an Indian patriot as well. In this sense the consolidation and the independence of Hindu Nation is but another name for the independence of the Indian Nation as a whole. For, the Hindu Sanghatanists know full well that no regeneration of Hindudom could be brought about and no honour and equal place could be secured for the Hindu Nation amongst the Nations of the world unless swarajya and swatantrya are won for Hindusthan, their Fatherland and Holyland.
But what does this Independence of India -this ःवराÏय or ःवातंŧय mean?
In common parlance ःवराÏय is understood as the political Freedom of our country, of our land, the independence of the geographical unit called India. But the time has come when these expressions must be fully analysed and understood. A country or a geographical unit does not in itself constitute a nation. Our country is endeared to us because it has been the abode of our race, our people, our dearest and nearest relations and as such is only metaphorically referred to, to express our national being. The independence of India means, therefore, the independence of our people, our race, our nation. Therefore Indian swarajya or Indian swatantrya means, as far as the Hindu Nation is concerned, the political independence of the Hindus, the freedom which would enable them to grow to their full height.
Only geographically speaking India as a land and a state was absolutely independent of any other non-Indian powers when an Allauddin Khilajee or an Aurangzeb ruled over her. But that kind of independence of India proved a veritable death-warrant to the Hindu Nation. That is why Sanga and Pratap, Guru Govind Singh and Bir Banda, Shivaji and Bajirao fought and fell and won in the end and established a Hindu Empire under the Marathas, the Rajputs, the Sikhs, The Gurkhas throughout our Motherland and saved our Hindudom from the clutches of the non-Hindu aggression. Does it not prove to a hilt that merely the geographical independence or swarajya of India does not mean the independence of Hindu Nation-nay, may at times prove a positive curse to their Race?
India is dear to us because it has been and is the home of our Hindu Race, the land which has been the cradle of our prophets and heroes and gods and godmen. Otherwise land for land there may be many a country as rich in gold and silver on the face of the earth. River for river the Mississipi us nearly as good as the Ganges and its waters are not altogether bitter. The stones and trees and greens in Hindusthan are just as good or bad stones and trees and greens of the respective species elsewhere. Hindusthan is a Fatherland and Holyland to us not because it is a land entirely unlike any other land in the world but because it is associated with our history, has been the home of our forefathers, wherein our mothers gave us the first suckle at their breast and our fathers cradled us on their knees from generation to generation.
The cottage wherein our beloved dwell, grows dearer to our eyes than a palace elsewhere. But let the dear faces disappear from it and go to dwell elsewhere and the cottage shrinks suddenly to the wretched hut that it was. We discard it and follow our beloved to their new abode. So with the nations also. Look at the Jews or the Parsees ! When the Arabians invaded them and only a choice was left to them between their land and their racial and cultural identity and with their book and cultural went away in search of a more congenial abode.
They refused to barter away their racial soul for a mere mess of pottage, a mere bit of lifeless earth !
The real meaning of swarajya then, is not merely the geographical independence of the bit of earth called India. To the Hindus independence of Hindusthan can only be worth having if that ensures their Hindutva-their religious, racial and cultural identity. We are not out to fight and die for a 'swarajya' which could only be had at the cost of our 'swatva' our Hindutva itself !
A united Indian Sta e and the Co-operation of the Minorities
So far as ःवराÏय in this right sense is concerned, the Hindus have ever been in the forefront in the movement and struggle for Indian independence and for founding a united Indian State. It is they who first dreamt of a united Indian State. It is the Hindus again who have by their sacrifices and struggle brought it within the scope of practical politics of today. Taking into account their present strength and weakness the Hindus have ever been willing to secure the co-operation of all non-Hindu sections of their countrymen in this common struggle with a view to establish a common and united Indian State. In spite of their overwhelming majority in India, in spite of the consciousness that it is they who have borne the brunt of the fight, struggled single-handed down to this day while the other non-Hindu sections and especially the Mohammedans who are nowhere to be found while the national struggle goes on and are everywhere to be found in the forefront at the time of reaping the fruits of that struggle-in spite of all this the Hindus are willing to form a common united Indian Nation and do not advance any special claims, privileges or rights reserved only for themselves over and above the non-Hindu section in Hindusthan.
Let the Indian State be purely Indian. Let it not recognise any invidious distinctions whatsoever as regards the franchise, public services, offices, taxation on the grounds of religion and race. Let no cognizance be taken whatsoever of man's being Hindu or Mohammedan, Christian or Jew. Let all citizens of that Indian State be treated according to their individual worth irrespective of their religious or racial percentage in the general population. Let that language and script be the national language and script of that Indian state which are understood by the overwhelming majorty of the people as happens in every other state in the world, i.e., in England or the United States of America and let no raligious bias be allowed to tamper with that language and script with an enforced and perverse hybridism whatsoever. Let 'one man one vote' be the general rule irrespective of caste or creed, race or religion. If such an Indian State is kept in view the Hindu Sanghatanists will, in the interest of the Hindu Sanghatan itself, be the first to offer their wholehearted loyalty to it. I for one and thousands of the Mahasabhaites like me have set this ideal of an Indian State as our political goal ever since the beginning of our political career and shall continue to work for its consummation to the end of our life. Can any attitude towards an Indian State be more national than that? Justice demands that I must plainly proclaim that the mission and policy of the Hindu Mahasabha with ragard to an Indian state have been more national than the present-day policy of Indian National Congress itself. The Hindus ask nothing more than what is their due as Indian citizens on the special plea that they are Hindus or that they from the majority of the Indian population, over and above the other non-Hindu sections of their countrymen. Are the Mohammedans ready to join such a truly national Indian State without asking any special privilege, protection or weightage on the fanatical ground that a special merit attaches to them of being Mohammedans and not Hindus?
The anti-national designs of the Mohammedans Fortunately for the Hindus Mr. Jinnah and the Moslem Leaguers have deliberately disclosed their real intentions this year at the Lucknow session of the Moslem League more authoritatively, more frankly and even more blatantly than they used to do before. I thank them for it. An open enemy is safer than a suspicious friend in dealing with him. Their resolutions at Lucknow are in fact no news to us. But upto this time the onus of proving the existence of the Moslem anti-national attitude and their Pan-Islamic ambitions more or less lay on the Hindus. But now we need do no more than point out to the authoritative speeches and resolutions of the League delivered and passed at that Lucknow Session to explain the anti-Hindu, anti-Indian and extra-territorial designs of the Moslems. They want the unalloyed Urdu to be raised to the position of the national tongue of the Indian state, although it is not spoken as a mother-tongue by more than a couple of crores of Moslems themselves and is not understood by some twenty crores of people in India, Moslems included; in spite of the fact that it can claim no more literary merit than Hindi which is the mother tongue of some seven crores of people and is easily understoood by some ten crores more ! While the Arabian language itself, on which Urdu is fed is deemed outlandish by Kemal and the Turks in the land of the Khaliphas itself, the Moslems expect some twenty-five crores of Hindus to learn it and to adopt it as their national tongue ! As to the national script, the Moslems insist on adopting the Urdu script and would have nothing to do, at any rate so far as they are concerned, with the Nagari ! Why ? Kemal may have discarded the Arabian script itself as unsutied to the present day needs, the Nagari may be more scientific, more amenable to printing, more easy to learn, may already be current amongst or known to twenty crores of people in Hindusthan, yet the Urdu script must be the state script and the Urdu the state language for the only merit that attaches to them of being recognised by the Mohammedans as their cultural asset and therefore, to make room for it, the cultures of the Hindus and other non-Moslem sections in Hindusthan must go to dogs ! The Moslems will not tolerate the 'Vande Mataram' song. The poor unity-hankers amongst the Hindus hastened to cut it short. But the Moslem would not tolerate even the piece of it cut to order. Drop the whole song and you will find that the Moslems would demand that the very words 'Vande Mataram' are a standing insult to them ! Get a new song composed even by an overgenerous Ravindra, Moslems would have nothing to do with it because Ravindra being a Hindu could not but commit the heinous offence of using some Sanskrit words as 'Jati' instead of 'Kaum,' 'Bharat' or "Hindusthan' instead of 'Pakistan' !! They cannot be satisfied unless a national song is composed by an Iqbal or Jinnah himself in unalloyed Urdu, hailing Hindusthan as a Pakistan-the land dedicated to Moslem domination !
When will our unity-hankers understand that the real question at the root of this Moslem displeasure is not a word here or a song there ! We would have sacrificed a dozen songs or a hundred words of our own free will if thereby we could really contribute to the unity and solidarity of Hindusthan. But we know the question is not so simple as that. It is the strife of different cultures and races and nations and these trifles are but the passing and outward symptoms of this malady deep seated in the Moslem mind. They want to brand the forehead of Hindudom and other non-Moslem sections in Hindusthan with the stamp of selfhumiliatiom and Moslem domination and we Hindus are not going to tolerate it any longer not only in the interests of Hindudom alone but even in the interest of Indian Nation as well.
But if we do not tolerate this the Hon. Mr. Fuzlul Huq told there and then at Lucknow what would happen to us ! From the high altitude of a Prime Minister's gaddi he promised to 'satana' the Hindus in Bengal (मɇ Ǒहंदओु ंको सताउंगा) if other Hindus proved recalcitrant elsewhere to the orders of the Moslem League. Now the gaddi of the Prime Minister in Bengal was the outcome of the reforms which were wrested out from the English hands by the martyrdom and sacrifice of the Hindu Patriots in Bengal. The Moslems there as everywhere did not claim a special representation or weightage in those sufferings and sacrifices. But as soon as the reforms came, who could occupy and deserve the gaddi of a Prime Minister but the Hon. Mr. Fuzlul Huq ! And now he threatens the very Hindus in Bengal who struggled most and suffered most to whose sufferings alone Mr. Huq owes his gaddi that he will 'satana' (सतायेगा) them, in all shades of the meaning of that word from teasing to oppressing ! I should like to assure the Nonourable Mr. Fuzlul Huq that the Bengal Hindus are a hard nut to crack. They have at times forced some of the prancing roconsuls of even the powerful British Empire like Lord Curzon to climb down ! But if he ever does persecute our Bengal Hindus then let him not forget that we Hindus also can in Maharahstra and elsewhere deal out to his comrades the same treatment, measure for measure, full to the brim and well shaken !
I need not refer to the attitude of the Moslem as regards the Communal Award and the Federation in which case also they want to humiliate the Hindus and Shylock-like insist on having their pound of flesh ! I don't want to tire you out with a plethora of figures which you all know by heart. It is only enough to remind you of the audacious proposal openly debated in the League regarding the Moslem demand to cut up the body politic of our Motherland right in two parts-the Mohammedan India and the Hindu India,-aiming to form a separate Moslem country-Pakistan-comprising of the provinces of Kashmir, Punjab, Peshawar and Sind !
Hands off, sir, hands off ! If you aim thus to reduce the Hindus to the position of helots in their own land, you should do well to remember that a seccession of Aurangazebs when they wielded an Imperial power here had failed to perform that feat and in their attempt to carry out that design only succeeded in digging their own graves ! Surely, Jinnahs and Huqs cannot accomplish what Aurangazebs failed to achieve !
Real Unity can only come when the Mohammedans need it !
Let the Hindus remember that the real cause of this mischief is nothing else but the hankering of the Hindus after the Willow-the-Wisp of a Hindu-Moslem, unity. The day we gave the Mohammedans to understand that Swaraj could not be won unless and until the Mohammedans obliged the Hindus by making a common cause with them, that day we rendered an honourable unity impossible. When an overwhelming majority in a country goes on its knees before a minority so antagonistic as the Mohammedans, imploring them to lend a helping hand and assures it that otherwise the major community is doomed to death, it would be a wonder if that minor community does not sell their assistance at the higher bidder possible, does not hasten the doom of the major community and aim to establish their own political suzeraignty in the land. The only threat that the Mohammedans always hold before the Hindus is to the effect that they would not join the Hindus in the struggle for Indian freedom unless their anti-national and fanatical demands are granted on the spot. Let the Hindus silence the threat once for all telling point blank : 'Friends ! We wanted and do want only that kind of unity which will go to create an Indian state in which all citizens irrespective of caste and creed, race and religion are treated all alike on the principle of one man one vote. We, though we form the overwhelming majority in the land, do not want any special privileges for our Hindudom; nay more, we are even willing to guarantee special protection for the language, culture and religion of the Mohammedans as a minority if they also promise not to infringe on the equal liberty of other communities in India to follow their own ways within their own respective houses and not to try to dominate and humiliate the Hindus. But knowing full well the anti-Indian designs of the pan-Islamic movement, with a link of Moslem nations from Arabia to Afganisthan bound by their recent offensive and defensive alliances and the ferocious tendencies of the frontier tribes to oppress the Hindus out of religious and racial hatred, we Hindus are not going to trust you any longer with any more blank cheques. We are out to win Swarajya in which our ःव×व along with the ःव×व of all other constituents will be safe. We are not out to fight with England only to find a change of masters but we Hindus aim to be masters in our own house. A Swarajya that could only be had at the humiliation and cost of Hindutva itself is for us Hindus as good as suicide. If India is not freed from foreign domination the Indian Moslems cannot but be slaves thsmselves. If they feel it to be true, if and when they feel they cannot do without the assistance and the good will of the Hindus let them come then to ask for unity and that also not to oblige the Hindus but to oblige themselves.' A Hindu Moslem unity which is effected thus is worth having. The Hindus have realised to their cost that in this case seeking unity is losing it. Henceforth the Hindu formula for Hindu-Moslem unity is only this-'if you come, with you; if you don't without you; and if you oppose, in spite of you-the Hindus will continue to fight for their National Freedom as best as they can' !
Non-Moslem Minorities in India
So far as other minorities in India are concerned, there cannot be much difficulty in arriving at an Indian National consolidtion. The Parsees have ever been working shoulder to shoulder with the Hindus against the English domination. They are no fanatics. From the great Dadabhai Nowroji to the renowned revolutionary lady Madam Kama the Parsees have contributed their quota of true Indian patriots, nor have they ever displayed any but goodwill towards the Hindu Nation which to them had proved a veritable saviour of their race. Culturally too they are most closely akin to us. In a lesser degree the same thing could be said about the Indian Christians.
Although they have yet done but little to contribute any help to the national struggle yet they have not acted like a millstone round our neck. They are less fanatical and are more amenable to political reason than the Moslems. The Jews are few in number and not antagonistic to our national aspirations. All these minorities of our countrymen are sure to behave as honest and patriotic citizens in an Indian State.
Those who accuse the Hindus and the Mahasabha of being communal should ponder well on the fact that Hindus have never been found wanting in reciprocating feelings of amicability towards these non-Moslem minorities, nor ever have they grudged to let them have what is justly due to them-their countrymen.
So far as the Anglo-Indians are concerned their present arrogance and the lion's share they got in the Franchise under the present Reforms Act would vanish in a minute as soon as England goes out. Their sound political instinct will soon bring them in a line with other Indian citizens; otherwise they could easily be brought to their senses.
But with the Mohammedans the case is quite different. I warn the Hindus that the Mohammedans are likely to prove dangerous to our Hindu nation and the existence of a common Indian State even if and when England goes out. Let us not be stone blind to the fact that they as a community still continue to cherish fanatical designs to establish a Moslem rule in India. Let us work for harmony, let us hope for the best, but let us be on our guard !
Two antagonistic Nations living in India side by side
As it is, there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India several infantile politicians commit the serious mistake in supposing that India is already welded into a harmonious nation, or that it could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so. These our well-meaning but unthinking friends take their dreams for realities. That is why they are impatient of communal tangles and attribute them to communal organizations. But the solid fact is that the so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of a cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and the Moslems. When time is ripe you can solve them; but you cannot suppress them by merely refusing recognition of them. It is safer to diagnose and treat deep-seated disease than to ignore it. Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main; the Hindus and the Moslems, in India. And as it has happened in many countries under similar situation in the world the utmost that we can do under the circumstances is to form an Indian State in which none is allowed any special weightage of representation and none is paid an extra-price to buy his loyalty to the State. Mercenaries are paid and bought off, not sons of the Motherland to fight in her defence. The Hindus as a nation are willing to discharge their duty to a common Indian State on equal footing. But if our Moslem countrymen thrust on a communal strife on the Hindus and cherish anti-Indian and extra territorial designs of establishing a Mohammedan Rule or supremacy in India then let the Hindus look to themselves and stand on their own legs and fight singlehanded as best as they can for the liberation of India from any non-Hindu yoke, be it English or Moslem or otherwise.
Vote only for those who pledge o defend Hindutva and are tried Sanghatanists
With this end in view I exhort you all to asset yourselves as the Hindus ! Down with the apologetic attitude that makes some of us feel shy to proclaim themselves as Hindus, as if it was something unnational, something like a disgrace to be born of the line of Shri Ram and Shri Krishna – Shivaji and Pratap and Govind Singh ! We Hindus must have a country of our own in the Solar System and must coutinue to flourish there as Hindus-descendants of a mighty people. Then up with the Shuddi which has not a religious menaing alone but a political side as well ! Up with Sanghatan for the consummation of which it is simply imperative for non Hindus to capture whatever political power has been wrung out by our efforts in the past under the present Reforms Act. The Mohammedans only vote for those who openly and boldly pledge to guard and aggressively secure rights for the Mohammedan people. But we Hindus commit the suicidal blunder of voting for those who openly declare that they are neither Hindus nor Mohammedans and yet are never tired of recognising Mohammedan organizations and dealing with them and of adjusting compromises in the name of the Hindus, ever against Hindu interests and to unbearable humiliation of the Hindus. You must henceforth vote for those who are not ashamed themselves of being Hindus, openly stand for the Hindus and pledge themselves not to keep burning incense, always at the cost of the Hindus before the fetish of a dishonourable unity-cult. Let the Varnashram Swarajya Sang, the Hindu Mahasabha, Shiromani Sikh Sabhas, the Arya Samajists, the political organizations like the Democratic Swarajya Party in Maharashtra that stand for an honourable unity and a truly national Indians State and the great Ashrams, Sanghas and Jateeya Sabhas, that take their stand on Hindutva from a united Hindu party in the legislatures and let no Hindu vote for a man who is not a Sanghatanists and you will find then that your own ministries will be championing the just cause of our but even the Indian State to come. For truly Hindus are and cannot but be the main stay of our Indian State !
We shall ever guarantee protection to the religion, culture and language of the minorities for themselves, but we shall no longer tolerate any aggression on their part on the equal liberty of theHindus to guard their religion, culture and language as well. If the nonHindu minorities are to be protected then surely the Hindu majority also must be protected against any aggressive minority in India !
Now in the end I assure you, Oh Hindus, that if but you do not lose self-confidence in yourselves and are up and doing in time, all that is lost may yet be regained. There is some such virility and staying power inherent in your race as find a few parallels in the annals of the world. Let alone the Daityas and Asuras you vanquished in your mythological and the pre-historical period of your annals-but your very history dates from some two thousand years B.C. ! Amidst the terrible struggle for existence which is incessantly going on in creation, survival of the fittest is the rule. The nations of the mighty Inkas and Pharaohs and Nebuchadnezars were swept away and no trace left behind. But you survived those national cataclysms because you were found the fittest to survive. There are ups and downs in the life of every nation. This very England which rules today over an Empire had often fallen an easy prey to the Romans and the Danes, the Dutch and the Normans as well. We too had to face great national disasters. But each time we rose and tided them over. The Greeks under Alexander the Great came conquering the world but they could not conquer Hindusthan. Chandra Gupta rose and we drove the Greeks back inflicting crushing defeats on them military and cultural. Three centuries after the Huns came on us like an avalanche. All Europe and half Asia lay at their feet, they smashed the Roman Empire to pieces. But after some two centuries of a life-to-death struggle against them we vanquished them in the end under our Vikramaditya the great ! The Shakas also fared no better. The mighty hands of Shalivahan and Yashodharman beat them to a chip. Where are those of our enemies-the Huns and the Parthians and the Shakas today ? The very names are forgotten ! Gone, effaced from the face of India and the world as well. The virility and the staying out power of our race triumphed over them all. Then centuries after, the Mohammedans invaded India and carried everything before them. Their Kingdoms and Empires seemed to reign supreme. But we rallied again and ever since the day that Shivaji was born the God of War sided with us. Battle after battle we beat the Moslems in a hundred fields; their Kingdoms and Empires, their Nababs and Shahas and Badashahas were brought to their knees by our warriors till at last Bhausaheb the Commander-in-Chief of the Hindus, as if smybolically raised his hammer and literally smashed the very Imperial throne of the Moghals at Delhi to pieces, Mahadji Shinde held the imbecile Moghal Emperors as prisoners and pensioners in his custody and Hindu supremacy was once more re-eastablished all over the land.
In the meanwhile before we could recover from the struggle of centuries with Moslems, the English faced us and won on all points. We do not grudge their victory. Because though we have been vanquished in the field yesterday, yet enough fight is still left in us today, we have not given up the struggle for lost nay, have already returned to the charge.
Who knows that some future and more fortunate President of this our Hindu Mahasabha may not be able to rise here, if not in this generation yet in the generation of our sons and proclaim the triumphant news to that session to come that as happened in the case of the Huns and the Greeks and the Shakas in the past there is not a trace left behind to the British domination in our land ! The banner of Hindudom flies supreme on the summits of the Himalayas, Hindusthan is free again and Hindudom triumphant !!
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