The Life of Lokamanya Tilak/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI
THE HONOURABLE AND!
An Additional Membership is, as I view it,no sop or gag intended to stop honest and fair criticism. But if it is, I should certainly give it up rather than consent to draw the curtain over the gross negligence or the palpable errors of officials, however high they may be.
ON August 7th, 1895, Mr. Tilak, elected by an overwhelming majority by the District Local Boards of the Central Division, took, in the Legislative Council, the customary oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, the Queen-Empress. Two years later he was standing as an under-trial prisoner in the High Court of Judicature, to be punished of disaffection, in spite of his protests and in anticipation of a new interpretation of the term ! The first event did not ensnare him, nor was his life-work paralysed by the second.
During the course of these two years, the Council met for 8 'long' days and worked for less than 36 hours. As usual pertinent interpellations were asked to which pertinent or impertinent answers were returned. The discussion on the financial statement occupied much time. And the residue was devoted to the following questions:—
- I. The Bombay Civil Courts Act, 1869 Amendment Bill.
2. The Rules for conducting the business of the Council.
:3. A Bill to amend the Karachi Port Trust Act, 1886 (withdrawn).
:4. A Bill to amend the Bombay Boiler Inspection Act, 1891.
:5. A Bill to amend the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1886.
:6. A Bill to amend Act VIII of 1870 (an act for the prevention of the murder of female infants).
:7. A Bill to further amend the City of Bombay Municipal Act, 1888.
A barren epoch, to be sure! Under the regime of the Morley-Minto Reforms, members could at least spread, peacock-like, the glorious plumage of their knowledge and oratory. They could at least show off their grasp of economic problems and administrative details and could count upon moral effect of their work,—moral effect, not certainly upon the Bureaucracy but upon their countrymen. But in the Councils established under the Act of 1892, neither actual nor moral effect was possible. Amendments, here and there, of the Government Bills and a desultory discussion on the Budget, after "it had ceased to be a Budget" and "had been sanctioned by the Government of India"—that was all that could be done. Even the Bureaucracy confessed that the "examination of the contents of the Budget was little better than a post-mortem dissection"; and though Mr. Tilak retorted by pointing out that " we could as well dissect a living as a dead Budget," still he had to submit to the inevitable. Under the flow of smooth and courteous words, the representatives of the Bureaucracy hardly failed to be sarcastic and overbearing. Members like the Hon. Mr. Sayani, who read carefully prepared manuscript speeches were "respectfully" requested to save their "physical labour" of reading them, by submitting to the Council printed copies, which "might then be taken as read." The Hon. Messrs. Javerilal and Setalwad were blamed for turning the Council into a "Circus," in which annually they were "wont to trot out their hobby horses." With such limitation and environments, it was natural that the output of the work of the representatives of the people was dis-appointingly small. Equally with his University fellowship*[1] or the Municipal Councillorship, Mr. Tilak's membership of the Legislative Council failed to add one inch to his worth or one grain to his usefulness. It was simply a trifling accident of his life.
In several respects, Mr. Tilak possessed many of the qualities that go to make a great legislator. He had in him that unique combination of the idealist and the realist which is the sine qua non of a successful law-giver. His grasp of general principles, his mastery over petty and intricate details, his patience in investigation, his breadth of vision, his legal acumen, ready wit and resourceful intellect—all these qualities would have taken his name down to posterity as the maker of salutary laws. But like Sir Pherozeshah, he too was destined to play the role of a mere critic of the administration.
In spite of the limitations imposed upon his usefulness, Mr. Tilak worked in the Council with his usual ardour. Conscious though he was that all his criticism would very little affect the actual working of the administration, he wanted to put the whole Bureaucratic machine under his intellectual microscope. He was not content, therefore, with copies of the Financial Statement and of the Budget but called for the Advocate-General's Budget Notes. But the officials did not consider it worth their while to grant his request. Apparently they thought that the Budget which formed "a printed document of close upon 200 pages" and the financial statement which fitted "a pamphlet of fair dimensions and touched on every head, whether of revenue or expenditure," ought to satisfy Mr. Tilak.
The originality of his genius showed itself in the Council. Not satisfied like other speakers with merely comparing the year's (1895-96) Budget with the Revised Estimates of 1894-95 and the Actuals of 1893-94, he proceeded to consider it in a true scientific spirit by examining "how far the revenue has increased during the last 25 years and what portion of it has been devoted to the material development of the Province." This led to the conclusion that "the revenue of the Presidency has increased by about 5½ crores of rupees during the last 25 years. Land, Forest, Abkari have all been made yield as much as possible even to the inconvenience of the people i and yet out of the revenues so realised only a small portion has been devoted to the material improvements of the Province."
Mr. Tilak was not afraid to beard the Hon in his own den. Referring to the cess on Abkari revenue, recently commuted, he asked whether "Government by an Executive act can repeal an Act of the Legislature." It was impossible for the Government members to dislodge him from his positions, nor did they dare hurl at him their arrows of ridicule or banter. Unlike many members of the Council, he was extremely sparing of complements to the Official Members. He never gave praise, he never sought it. His speeches were severely impersonal and unrhetorical, studded with facts, masterly handled. What struck his hearers was the breadth and originality of his view-point and the facility with which he strode through the intricacies of statistics. The success of his speeches lay in the luminous way in which he used figures without quoting them frequently. This was the case with his writings also.
Mr. Tilak's short connection with the Legislative Council came to an end in 1897, when he resigned his seat, (after the criminal prosecution for sedition had been launched against him.) Among his colleagues in the Council, were the Hon. (Sir) Chimanlal H. Setalwad, the late Sir P. M. Mehta and the late Mr. Daji Abaji Khare.
The year 1896-97 deserves to be recorded in shining letters of gold in the life of Mr. Tilak, because it brings out in bold relief that quality of his heart, which, though it forms the basis of his character, is generally over-looked by superficial observers, dazzled by his militant personality—we mean his genuine philanthrophy. Great as was the intellect of Mr. Tilak, his heart was greater still. The terrible famine and distress of 1877 moved him as nothing else did and was, as we have seen mainly responsible for fixing the course of his life. The outbreak of famine and the irruption of the plague in this year (1896-97) shocked him and he knew no rest while labouring for the suffering thousands. Those who saw him at work during this eventful period recognised how his very soul was on fire.
In ordinary times and under normal circumstances popular aid and co-operation on occassions of famine or epidemics are welcome to Government. But in the peculiar circumstances of India, such cooperation is sometimes discouraged by the Bureaucrats who consider the masses as their own property and would keep them from the 'evil' influence of the educated classes. When terrible famine broke out in 1896, Mr. Tilak was the centre of all popular activities directed towards the mitigation of every kind of suffering. Lord Elgin, the then Viceroy was busy with his round of visits to Indian States, the lesser European Officials were indifferent and apathetic and the Indian Officers like the Mamlatdars were, as usual, more desirous of collecting the revenue anyhow and of being patted on the back by their superiors, than of doing their duty by the poor ryots. The Missionaries had their own axe to grind. The public opinion in England was in the beginning ignorant of the terrible state of things. Later on, it was roused enough and some help to the famine-stricken was offered. But the Indian Government was at first rather unwilling to accept it.
Mr. Tilak's programme included 4 items, (i) He sent round the presidency his lieutenants to collect information regarding famine conditions. His obect was to check the inacuracies of the reports submitted by Mamlatdars to their superiors. (2) These heutenants discussed measures of rehef with local leaders, with a view to formulate constructive suggestions to Government. The Government had no doubt the guidance of the Famine Relief Code; but evidently Mr. Tilak had greater faith in local bodies and leaders. The next two items concerned the people more directly. (3) It usually happened that most of the villagers, ignorant of the concessions promised by the Relief Code, sold away their lands or cattle to pay off the Government dues; Mr. Tilak's 'emissaries', therefore, acquainted the people with their rights, explained the relevant sections of the Relief Code and distributed leaflets or pamphlets containing abstracts of the important sections of the Relief Code. (4) Having thus educated the people in the knowledge of their rights, they asked them not to be cowards and not to pay the Government dues at the cost of their lives or property. It will be seen that the agitation imparted the necessary knowledge to the people and exhorted them to show manliness; and by constructive suggestions it compelled the Government to insist on accuracy of reports and strict enforcement of rules. Week after week, the Kesari devoted all its columns to the discussion of the situation; "Will you" Mr. Tilak passionately asked, "when the Queen desires that none should die, when the Governor declares that all should 1 ve and the Secretary of State is prepared to go in for debt, if necessary—will you kill yourself by timidity and starvation? If you have money to pay Government dues, pay them by all means. But if you have not, will you sell your things away only to avoid the supposed wrath of subordinate Government officers? Can you not be bold, even when in the grip of death?" This terrible unmanliness shocked him most. "We can stand any number of famines," he said "but what shall we do, with sheepish people?" "Had such a famine broken out in England and had the Prime Minister been as apathetic as is Lord Elgin, his Government would have, in less than a week, tumbled down like ninepins." He deplored and condemned food-riots. "Why loot the Bazars", he used to say "go to the Collector and tell him to give you work and food. That is his duty."
Really speaking the Government ought He have hailed the vigorous co-operation of Mr. Tilak. He was making useful and constructive suggestions to them, through the memorials of the Sarvajanik Sabha and the columns of the Kesari and the Mahratta. But it was evident that the heaven-born Bureaucrats disliked the splendid growth of organisation under Mr. Tilak 's inspiring guidance, because the 'new spirit' meant inconvenience to them. They found the plastic clay hardening into rock. The people were firm, not militant; law abiding, not aggressive, still the authorities deemed it necessary to put down the New Spirit.
The first attempt in this direction was made at a village Khattalwad (Dec. 13, 1896) where Prof. Sathe, of the Maharashtra College, Poona, specially sent by Mr. Tilak for propaganda work, had the unique honour and opportunity of delivering a lecture in the presence of the Assistant Collector and a posse of soldiers. This evidently was an attempt to reduce the morale of the people and to cow down the lecturer. But the attempt failed and Prof. Sathe made a spirited lecture in spite of the intimidation conveyed by the presence of an armed force. Prof. Sathe was tried at Alibag for abetting several Forest and Abkari offences. The prosecution failed. It was soon followed by another. This time the victims were three gentlemen of Thana, who had done public service by issuing a leaflet in which provisions of the Famine Code were explained. This prosecution too was a fiasco. In the next prosecution, a Mr. Apte was convicted and sentenced to simple imprisonment for one year; and soon after, the Sarvajanik Sabha which had led the agitation for the mitigation of the suffering caused by the famine was, on some flimsy pretext, declared to have forfeited its right to petition, the Government.
Of all the agitations led by Mr. Tilak, this one was the most systematic and organised. It was an agitation which all men understood, which allowed very little room for party squabbles, and which the Government was afraid to put down. Combining the strength of simplicity and unity and suffering from little opposition; it became irresistible. It opened a new vista before Mr. Tilak. He saw immense possibilities in such well-organised agitations; and he wanted the Congress to undertake an agitation, that would reach even the most distant hamlet. Upto this time, Mr. Tilak was satisfied with—or rather he acquiesced in—the methods of Congrss leaders. But now he wanted a radical change. Referring to the proceedings of the 12th Congress held at Calcutta he said : {Kesari, January 12th, 1896)
"For the last twelve years we have been shouting hoarse, desiring that the Government should hear us. But our shouting has no more affected the Government than the sound of a gnat. Our rulers disbelieve our statements or profess to do so. Let us now try to force our grievances into their ears by strong constitutional means. We must give the best political education possible to the ignorant villagers. We must meet them on terms of equality, teach them their rights and show how to fight constitutionally. Then only will the Government realise that to despise the Congress is to despise the Indian Nation. Then only will the efforts of the Congress leaders be crowned with success. Such a work will require a large body of able and single-minded workers, to whom Politics would not mean some holiday recreation but an every-day duty to be performed with strictest regularity and utmost capacity."
Closely in the heels of the Famine followed the Plague which has till now exacted the heavy toll of one crore of Indian lives. The fell nature of the disease and its sudden irruption created a consternation which was aggravated by the helplessness of the medical science in arresting its spread. The medical advisers of the Government failed, at first, to take any serious notice of the disease and when at last its looming shadow terrified the European nations and it became evident that not only had the plague become really virulent but also threatened to scare away European trade, strictest sanitary measures were devised to stem its tide. But trouble arose in the execution of these measures. Actuated, no doubt, by an earnest desire o stamp out this unwelcome guest in minimum time. the Government officers rigorously enforced measures for the safety of the people. They however failed to temper their rigour by enlisting popular sympathy. They neither sought public support and co-operation nor did they welcome it when spontaneously offered. Such benevolent execution of precautionary measures required a higher type of imagination than the Bureaucrants could command and while men like Lord Sandhurst sincerely wished the least interference witH the conveniences of the people, the plague measures actually created greater terror than the epidemic itself.
To save themselves from the epidemic, many so-called leaders of the people left Poona to a safer retreat. But Mr. Tilak did not do so. He stood by the suffering multitude, shared their misfortunes, helped them, started a Plague Hospital and did his best to interpret the difficulties of the people to the Government and the wishes of the Government to the people. The conduct of Mr. Tilak in thus cooperating with the Government was strongly criticised by many of the followers of Ranade and insinuations were recklessly made that the Lion of Poona was ensnared by the additional membership of the Legislative Council. The time soon came when the pseudo-lions of Poona humiliated themselves before the British Lion, while Mr. Tilak refused to be cowed down by the terrors of repression.
For an effective crusade against the Plague, the relief work was taken—without any semblance of law or justice—out of the hands of the Municipality and was continued by a special body, called the Plague Committee, a purely European association headed by the '* sullen and suspicious " Mr. Rand. With the name of this self-willed, unsympathetic and unlucky administrator is associated the segration-work, with its inevitable corollary of the house-to-house search-parties. Afraid and terror-stricken, the people were, it was thought, unwilling to communicate to the proper authorities plague-attacks of inmates in their houses or to allow their ailing relatives to be taken for treatment to the hospitals. But the administrators of the plague-policy never put themselves the question "Why." Mr. Tilak showed how "as soon as a patient is removed to the hospital, his relations are taken to the segregation camp, some of the infected property is destroyed and his house is kept" practically "open without anybody to take care of the property." He also pointed out that people were more ready to send patients to the hospital started by him and to pay for them than allow them to be taken to the Government Hospital, which was a charitable institution. The question resolved itself into "how to make the work popular" and with this end in view he made a number of constructive suggestions. But it was not in the nature of the officers appointed, to appreciate the popular view-point and accept suggestions, most of which they could have adopted without sacrificing the essentials of their policy. Even then trouble could have been avoided, had the British soldiers not been appointed to conduct the searches. Mr. Tilak held that "howsoever a British soldier may be useful on the battlefield, he is not suited for a work of this kind" and suggested that the work "can be equally, if not more efficiently, carried on by native agency working under Civil Officers than by British soldiers whose ignorance of native manners very often leads them to unnecessarily offend the susceptibilities of the people." But this advice was unheeded.
It is unnecessary to dwell here upon what was rightly or wrongly described as the "reign of terror" at Poona and its echoes in England, so sadly associated with the name of Prof. (aftewards Hon. Mr.) Gokhale whose statements regarding the outrages made by British soldiers exasperated the Government and who immediately on his return to India was induced to tender an "abject" apology and withdraw not only those charges which for want of evidence he could not substantiate, but all his criticism regarding the plague measures. For a time the Plague subsided but the discontent its administration had aroused, emboldened one fanatic to seek redress in the murder of Mr. Rand. The name of this fanatic was Damodar Chapekar, who after a number of unsuccessful attempts to track Mr. Rand at last got hold of him, on the night of June 22, 1897, when Mr. Rand was returning from the Government House where he had gone to attend the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. In the darkness of night, Chapekar shot Mr. Rand dead. His accomplice heard an exclamation from the carriage which Lieutenant Ayerst was riding and "thinking possibly that they were discovered" killed Lieutenant Ayerst also! These shocking murders created an atmosphere of panic and consternation which was cleverly exploited by Mr. Tilak's enemies to induce the Government to embark on a campaign of repression. The "panacea" to plague was soon discovered in the "innoculation." Mr. Tilak frankly disbelieved in the efficacy of a remedy which required the injection of a poison at every visitation of the plague. He complained of the low vitality of the people, due to poverty and starvation, and declared that unless that was remedied, such epidemics were bound to recur. Partly as a result of Mr. Tilak's opposition, the Government were wise enough not to resort to compulsion with respect to inoculation. They simply tried to make it "popular by various means."
- ↑ * In January 1894, Mr. Tilak was elected a fellow of the Bombay University. In May 1895, he headed the poll at the general elections to the Poona City Municipality. He resigned his membership of the City Municipality in 1897. After his conviction (1897) he was deprived of his University fellowship by the Government of Bombay