Page:The Pilgrims' March.djvu/153

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MAHATMA GANDHI
133


WE ARE NOT AGGRESSORS.

I have said in my reply to Lord Ronaldshay’s speech that we have not taken the offensive. We are not the aggressors. We have not got to stop any single activity. It is the Government that is to stop its aggravatingly offensive activity aimed, not, at violence, but at the lawful, disciplined, stern, but absolutely non-violent, agitation. It is for the Government of India and, for it alone, to bring about a peaceful atmosphere, if it so desires. It has hurled a bombshell in the midst of material rendered inflammable by its own action and wonders that the material is still not inflammable enough to explode.


THE IMMEDIATE ISSUE.

The immediate issue is not now the redress of the three wrongs. The immediate issue is the right of holding public meetings and the right of forming associations for peace purposes, and, in vindicating this right, we are fighting the battle, not merely on behalf of Non-co-operators, but are fighting the battle for all India down from the peasant up to the prince and for all schools of politics. It is the one