Our Swadeshi Samaj

We must clearly understand that in the present age it is not Samaj alone that guides the destiny of people, it is the Sarkar, the government. And if we remain content only to worship the Samaj, if we are afraid to handle the Sarkar, then the outcome will be that others will handle our Sarkar for us, and in their use it will become an instrument of torture for the Samaj.

In the past age, Samaj was our all in all. In the present age the Sarkar is greater than the Samaj. The power which the Samaj possessed has now passed into the hands of the Sarkar.

In former days, when Samaj ruled the country, those who were satisfied by merely keeping the Samaj pleased found the path of their worldly welfare automatically smooth. But today if we do not please the Sarkar, it is not possible to have worldly welfare and happiness even if we succeed in keeping our Samaj happy. Those who can realize this, do not call me irreligious for directing their attention to the Sarkar.

We must understand that the present age is the age of the Sarkar. In the past the king was the servant of the Samaj; today in the democratic countries the Samaj is the master of the Sarkar. The king did not dare to disregard the customs and opinions of the Samaj; now in a democratic country the Sarkar cannot venture to go against the wishes of the Samaj.

But we have arrived at such a pass that we are neither able to establish the democracy of the past, nor achieve the democracy of the present. In the autocracy of the past, in spite of the king being above our heads, we had the strength of the Samaj; because the Samaj was then a free Samaj. At present the Samaj has become completely lifeless, and completely dead; and the Sarkar is not our Sarkar—it is an extraneous Sarkar.

At this juncture what ought we to do? We must resuscitate our Samaj, but at the same time we must be prepared to create our own Sarkar. If we only try to organize the Samaj and completely neglect the Sarkar, then our Samaj will have to live under the domination of a foreign Sarkar like a bird in a cage. We shall then live a completely artificial life, and thus such a Samaj will neither receive full nourishment, nor will it be able to perform full work.

Our Samaj has been suffering from this disease for a very long time past. Our Samaj was placed under the domination of a foreign Sarkar. As a result, in every matter we had to petition the Sarkar for our needs; we could not fulfill any desire by our own efforts. In such a condition the Samaj gradually forgets its own power and its own path of work; it goes on hoping that whatever we need would be somehow supplied by the grace of the Sarkar.

When this becomes a habit, then the Samaj does not think that it is possible to do anything at all by its own power. For its smallest needs it takes refuge in appealing to the Sarkar. It becomes as helpless as a child. Thus a free Samaj becomes converted into a subject Samaj.

It can be noticed in our country that the people who have had some connection with the Sarkar have utterly neglected the work of organizing the Samaj. They have become habituated to the idea that everything can be accomplished by wielding the power of the Sarkar—by means of appointment of officers, by means of legislation, by means of distributing rewards and punishments. From the building of a hospital to the establishment of a school, from the construction of a road to the digging of a well—for everything they call upon the Sarkar. Where the Sarkar can reach, work is accomplished there; where the Sarkar cannot reach, there the land remains fallow.

Once upon a time in our country we did our own work through our own Samaj—we built our own hospitals, we established our own schools, we constructed our own roads, we dug our own wells. Once upon a time the merchant community had their own judicial system, through which they would decide their own trade disputes. Once upon a time even in the remotest villages there used to be pathshalas where the entire population would become literate. The people of each profession had their own societies, through which they would maintain the standards of their own work, and would supervise the work of the members of their profession. But where are these now? They have all died out. They have disappeared because we have learnt to pass on all our responsibilities to the Sarkar.

Today we have awakened to the fact that the Sarkar is not ours. Today we have realized that we must wrest the Sarkar from alien hands and make it our own. This is a very necessary task—I have no objection to it. But I want to ask: after you have rescued the Sarkar from foreign hands, how are you going to make use of it? If you have become habituated to do everything by means of the Sarkar, if you do not know any other method of work, if your Samaj has completely lost its own power, then will it be able to make good use of the Sarkar when it comes into your hands? You will want to accomplish everything by means of the Sarkar alone; you will depend on the Sarkar for everything. And since Sarkar is entirely a machine, it cannot fulfil all the varied needs of the multifarious life of the Samaj. The result will be that the very Samaj which is winning the Sarkar with so much trouble, will be crushed under the wheels of its own Sarkar.

Therefore, along with achieving the Sarkar, we must also set ourselves to the task of organizing the Samaj. We cannot succeed in properly handling the Sarkar unless the Samaj is duly organized. And if the Samaj is duly organized, then it will not have to depend on the Sarkar for many of its wants—the Samaj will be able to fulfil many of its own requirements by its own efforts.

I have said before that the Samaj did its own work in the past. But the Samaj of the past and the Samaj of the present age cannot be of the same nature. The Samaj of the past was caste-based and fragmentary. In the present age we need a unified Samaj of the entire people. The Samaj of the past was stationary; in the present age we need a Samaj which is progressive. The Samaj of the past took no account of the individual; in the present age the Samaj must be so organized that every individual gets full scope for the development of his powers.

In the past age people of different castes had separate hospitals, separate schools, separate wells. That will not work in the present age. In the present age we cannot organize the Samaj by excluding people—we shall have to organize it by including all people. The power of the Samaj, the knowledge of the Samaj, and the wealth of the Samaj must all be combined; they can never be divided.

This is a completely new task for us; we have no previous experience in this matter. Therefore, we can succeed only by proceeding step by step with a great deal of thought and a great deal of patience.

The Western countries first fully organized their Samaj, and then they achieved their own Sarkar. We have not yet organized our Samaj properly, yet we want to win our Sarkar. We are trying to invert the natural process. I do not say that this is altogether impossible—but it is making the task difficult for us.

The reason why we are trying to invert the natural process is this: the foreign Sarkar is pinching us so hard that we have no time to think of anything else but how to get rid of this pinch. But we must never forget that merely to get relief from this pinch cannot be the final goal of our efforts. The real object is to organize a full life for our people.

To do this we must train the Samaj, step by step, in the work of the Sarkar. At present the Samaj is completely inexperienced in the work of the Sarkar. If we suddenly hand over a Sarkar to such a Samaj, the result will be disastrous. I have noticed that in our country, whenever some bit of Sarkar-work is handed over to the Samaj, the Samaj cannot manage it properly. I have seen this in the case of municipalities, in the case of local boards, in the case of university, in the case of the legislative councils. In all of these, the Samaj has failed to perform the work of the Sarkar satisfactorily.

What is the reason for this failure? The reason is that our Samaj does not understand the nature of public work. For hundreds of years, the Samaj has been looking only to its own narrow, sectarian interests; it does not know what the public interest is. Even today when I go to lecture about public welfare, I see that all the people who attend are thinking of the benefit of their own community. When the Marwari community invites me, they want to hear me speak for the benefit of Marwaris only. When the Kayastha community invites me, they think only of the interests of the Kayasthas. When the Baidya community invites me, they desire to listen to a discourse on the special interests of Baidyas. None of them wants to hear about the common interests of all the communities.

Our Samaj is not a consolidated one, it is a fragmented one. It does not have any broad public sense; it only has a narrow caste sense. Its intellectual power is frittered away in the petty interests of small groups; that is why it cannot grapple with any large problem.

When such a fragmented Samaj tries to do Sarkar-work, what happens? Each fragment of the Samaj looks only to its own petty interests. Each section tries to benefit only its own section. When the different sections cannot agree among themselves, the Sarkar-work comes to a standstill.

Therefore, if we want to make the Samaj fit to manage the Sarkar, we must first teach the Samaj to think in terms of the public interest instead of sectarian interest. We must develop in our Samaj a broad public sense. Without this, the Samaj will never be able to manage the Sarkar properly.

But how can we develop this public sense in the Samaj? We can do this only by giving the Samaj practice in public work. We must create opportunities for the Samaj to work together for common interests. We must engage the Samaj in joint enterprises which will be for the benefit of all.

When the Samaj learns, little by little, to work together for common interests, then gradually it will be able to take over the work of the Sarkar. The Samaj will then understand what public interest means; it will understand how to keep public interest above sectarian interest; it will understand how to harmonize different interests and different opinions; it will understand how to carry on public work in a peaceful and orderly manner.

This education cannot be imparted by means of books, it cannot be imparted by means of speeches. This education can be imparted only by means of doing actual work. Therefore, we must lose no time in engaging our Samaj in joint public work.

What kind of work can we begin with? We can start with social service. We can establish joint hospitals where all communities will be served alike. We can start joint schools where the children of all communities will be taught together. We can start cooperative societies for carrying on trade and commerce. We can establish libraries, reading rooms, debating clubs, where all can participate. We can organize associations for promoting literature, art and music. We can set up societies for helping the poor, for serving the sick, for educating the illiterate.

When the Samaj gets accustomed to working together in these ways, it will develop the habit of considering public interest, it will develop the ability to compromise and adjust different interests, it will develop the technique of carrying on public work smoothly. All these qualities are absolutely necessary for the proper management of the Sarkar.

There is another equally important reason why we must organize our Samaj through such joint work. At present our Samaj is entirely lacking in the spirit of cooperation. Every person thinks only of his own benefit. Every family thinks only of its own welfare. Every caste thinks only of its own interests. But Sarkar-work can never be successfully carried on without the spirit of cooperation.

When you try to run the Sarkar merely by means of individual selfishness, the result is corruption. Each person tries to use the power of the Sarkar for his own personal benefit. Each official tries to help his own relatives and friends. Each representative tries to help his own caste or community. Under such conditions the Sarkar becomes not an instrument of public welfare, but an instrument of private exploitation.

We have already seen this happen in those parts of the Sarkar-work which have been handed over to us. Our municipalities, our local boards, our cooperative societies—in all of these we see this same disease. Instead of working for the common good, people use these institutions for personal or sectarian advantage.

If we want to get rid of this disease, we must first cure our Samaj of the disease of excessive individualism and narrow sectarianism. We must teach our Samaj to work for the common good. We must develop in our Samaj the spirit of true cooperation.

This cannot be done by means of lectures or books. This can be done only by engaging the Samaj in actual cooperative work. When people work together for common interests, they learn to subordinate their personal interests to the common interest. They learn to trust one another. They learn to depend upon one another. They develop the habit of cooperation.

Therefore, the organization of the Samaj is not only necessary for taking over the Sarkar, it is also necessary for the moral purification of the Samaj itself. Unless the Samaj is morally purified, it cannot make proper use of any power that may come into its hands.

We often hear nowadays of Swadeshi Sarkar. I fully agree that we must have our own Sarkar. But if we want to have a Swadeshi Sarkar which will truly serve our interests, we must first prepare ourselves by organizing a Swadeshi Samaj. A Samaj which is not swadeshi, a Samaj which does not know how to serve its own interests in its own way, cannot be expected to create a Sarkar which will be truly swadeshi.

What do I mean by a Swadeshi Samaj? I mean a Samaj which has the power of self-help, which can fulfil its own needs by its own efforts, which does not have to depend upon others for every small requirement. I mean a Samaj which has its own way of life, its own ideals, its own methods of work. I mean a Samaj which can preserve what is valuable in its own culture and can also adapt itself to the needs of the changing times.

Our present Samaj is not swadeshi in this sense. For all its needs it looks to others. For medicine it depends upon others, for education it depends upon others, for trade and commerce it depends upon others, for administration it depends upon others. Even for entertainment it depends upon others. Such a dependent Samaj can never create an independent Sarkar.

If we want to have a truly Swadeshi Sarkar, we must first learn to help ourselves. We must organize our own schools, our own hospitals, our own trade and commerce, our own banks, our own newspapers, our own libraries, our own sources of entertainment. We must prove that we are capable of managing our own affairs before we claim the right to manage the affairs of the country.

This is a long and arduous task. It requires a great deal of patience, a great deal of cooperation, a great deal of self-sacrifice. But there is no other way. We cannot achieve independence by means of agitation alone. We cannot achieve independence by means of non-cooperation alone. We must achieve independence by means of constructive work—by building up our own institutions, by organizing our own life in our own way.

This is what I mean by the organization of a Swadeshi Samaj. When we have a truly Swadeshi Samaj, then we can think of having a truly Swadeshi Sarkar. But if we try to get the Sarkar first and the Samaj afterwards, we shall find that the Sarkar which we have won with so much trouble will slip out of our hands like water.

Therefore, let us not neglect the work of building up our Samaj in our enthusiasm for winning the Sarkar. Let us remember that the Sarkar is only a tool; the real thing is the life of the people. And the life of the people can be organized and developed only through the Samaj.

This is the lesson which the present age is teaching us. In the past we could afford to neglect the Sarkar because the Samaj was strong. In the present we cannot afford to neglect either the Samaj or the Sarkar. We must organize both. But we must begin with the Samaj, because without a strong Samaj no Sarkar can be truly beneficial to the people.