Swarajya, February 28, 1959
It was most unfortunate for India that Gandhi was assassinated by a stupid group at a wrong moment in our history. It was even more unfortunate for India in the present concrete context of internal affairs that Vallabbhai Patel died when he did. If only he had overcome his illness and his heart-aches and lived, it would not have been necessary for m to speak or write as I have been doing.
Some people are disturbed to the point of distress and dismay when they find persons whom they respected and revered differ from one another in public. This is a sign of immaturity. If we have to run not a war, or a movement, but a democracy we should get used to such things and learn to think and discriminate, at any rate not to be distressed at the sight of differences of opinion over the policies of the government.
Rightly or wrongly I feel that it would be a lapse from duty if I remained silent when I sense danger and damage. Others might fear to speak but my loyalty and affection give me the courage to speak and write, even fiercely where I feel fiercely.
I feel I have no reason to fear any harm in expressing my views. The measure of my faith in Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru's integrity and qualities of heart is the measure of my courage in this respect.
Our country and our people who achieved a civilization of the highest type, material, moral and philosophical, many millenniums before other nations reached a comparable state, must continue to live a way of life wherein the individual freely gives to the community and is not reduced to the condition of a screw or nut in a lifeless machine, for the sake of illusory progress in the material sense.
We should drop the ambition to see things in our own time. It is enough we see things taking shape and we may leave a great deal to those who come after us. Soon achieved is soon lost. We should have the wisdom, the gift of sight to see achievement in the steps we steadily take towards it rather than indulge in the vanity of accomplishment in our own time.
Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than the general resistance to any ‘attack', as it is understood, on Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru. This is as it should be, for the good of India and its future.
There is no unifying force so effective as loyalty and affection, be it in England to queens and kings, or in India to their acknowledged leaders. Nations under the pressure of modern scepticism and personal ambitions and jealousies would go to pieces but for some over-riding loyalty of this sort. And it is God's grace that there is a good man in India who deserves to be idolised as he is. Let no one misunderstand the criticisms and apprehensions to which I have deemed it my duty to give public expression during the present period of ferment and impact of foreign forces. It was most unfortunate for India that Gandhi was assassinated by a stupid group at a wrong moment in our history. It was even more unfortunate for India in the present concrete context of internal affairs that Vallabbhai Patel died when he did. If only he had overcome his illness and his heart-aches and lived, it would not have been necessary for me to speak or write as I have been doing.
Some people are disturbed to the point of distress and dismay when they find persons whom they respected and revered differ from one another in public. This is a sign of immaturity. If we have to run not a war, or a movement, but a democracy, we should get used to such things and learn to think and discriminate, at any rate not to be distressed at the sight of differences of opinion over the policies of the government. Holding together is all right when we fight a foreign enemy; but in conducting the affairs of a people whose number is 400 millions, settled in more than a dozen distinct areas, open discussion is all-important.
Rightly or wrongly I feel that it would be a lapse from duty if I remained silent when I sense danger and damage. Others might fear to speak but my loyalty and affection give me the courage to speak and write, even fiercely where I feel fiercely. I feel I have no reason to fear any harm in expressing my views. The measure of my faith in Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru's integrity and qualities of heart is the measure of my courage in this respect. The dynamic that impels me to warn is not of any base kind but a sense of duty - a feeling that when those who could have more effectively warned and advised are not available - the hand of death having deprived the nation of their wisdom - I, who remain, would be untrue to the trust and the love that they had been bestowing on me if, preferring quiet and ease, I kept silent over what I felt. I repeat that what I have been saying and writing is a fulfilment of duty and it does matter very greatly to the nation that these things should be said by some one whose detachment, if I may presume to say so, is generally speaking not doubted. There is nothing so important for the leader and ruler of a great, big nation as independent and fearless advice. There is nothing so bad for the nation as for its guide and ruler to live in a palace of mirrors where he sees, wherever he turns, only his own reflection.
Our country and our people who achieved a civilization of the highest type, material, moral and philosophical, many millenniums before other nations reached a comparable state, must continue to live a way of life wherein the individual freely gives to the community and is not reduced to the condition of a screw or nut in a lifeless machine, for the sake of illusory progress in the material sense.
The world is facing two dangers, one nuclear annihilation (we cannot accumulate so much danger and yet remain safe for all time) and the greater danger of a soul-destroying urge to live in greater and greater comfort, and having more and more desires. The nations that are prosperity-mad have lost tranquility and the sense of a true purpose in life. The tension that they have developed for themselves is infecting the whole world. We should be warned against this and resist the fatal inroad.
It is better that we remain poor and happy than be favoured with facilities to grow richer and lose our independence. I was surprised and shocked to hear an eminent Australian say that his country has become a satellite of America no less than any one of the East European States to the giant U.S.S.R. This may be a figure of speech. But God save us from making ourselves a satellite to any other nation on earth. Let us cultivate friendship and international brotherhood but let us not make any Big Power our big creditor or our spiritual master. The craze for higher and higher standards of living should be substituted by a craze for spiritual freedom. There is a great deal in our own philosophy which we have to relearn, a great deal that we should preserve for our own happiness.
Let us not be deceived by the adulations of outsiders. It is a part - the latest part - in the strategies of the cold war. There is almost, what I may call, a mass drive for 'friendship' on the part of the West. Monetary aid and technical assistance are almost being pressed on us even without our asking. The time has arrived when we should resist these gifts and depend on ourselves Self- help is more important than gaining time. Delay does not matter but losing independence matters very seriously.
We should drop the ambition to see things in our own time. It is enough we see things taking shape and we may leave a great deal to those who come after us. Soon achieved is soon lost. We should have the wisdom, the gift of sight to see achievement in the steps we steadily take towards it rather than indulge in the vanity of accomplishment in our own time. Above all we should avoid doing injustice and undermining public confidence in the uniformity and stability of Law, which is not made by arbitrary legislators but formed in the conscience of men and which is not varied by the changing policies of governments. Otherwise individuals, who are the ultimate reality, will lose a sense of purpose in life and the nation which is made up of individuals will find it hard to progress merely depending on the compulsion of government.
