Page:The Pilgrims' March.djvu/115

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MR. PATEL ON NATION'S DUTY.

WILL THEY RESIGN NOW?

Fear of Jail Fast Vanishing.

A public meeting under the auspices of the Mandvi Ward District Congress Committee was held on Wednesday when Mr. Patel delivered the following thoughtful speech on the present situation.

Friends,—In opening the proceedings of this meeting you will allow me to speak what is uppermost in my mind and I believe in the mind of every one of you: namely, the present situation. I have no heart in the business which has brought us together this evening. Repression is in the full swing in the country. Every day every wind that blows brings some news of the arrest in every nook and corner in our country of our prominent coworkers. Two ex-Presidents and the President Elect of the Congress not to talk of several hundreds of our countrymen are already on a jail pilgrimage. I frankly confess I was not prepared for this feat of the bureaucracy, particularly at a time when our future Sovereign is touring in our midst.