Chitta Ranjan\'s Patriotism.

In course of one of his lectures Chitta Ranjan once remarked, "Work for my country is part and parcel of all the idealism of my life. I find in the conception of my country, the expression also of divinity." In fact the welfare of our country is very dear to his heart, for this he has given his all ungrudgingly and spent his valuable time selflessly whenever the occasion demanded it. Keenly has he felt the unhealthy condition of our villages and the illiteracy of the people, and long has he striven to convince our countrymen that our national regeneration lies in the sanitary and educational reform of our villages. Under his guidance and patronage there has been started several years back a private society for the improvement of the Bikrampur villages. It has for its main object the sanitation of the villages and the education of the people of Bikrampur and last not least it tries to make the poor villagers independent of others in earning their livelihood. Chitta Ranjan has now and then given large donations to its fund. About three or four years back he gave in the hands of the workers of the society a large sum for digging a tank to supply pure drinking water to the villagers. In the early part of the year 1919 when with the visitation of a great famine in East Bengal most people of the villages were in imminent danger of dying of starvation, this society under the patronage of Chitta Ranjan and his cousin Satish Ranjan started relief work in the villages. The distress was no doubt acute but it was to a great extent being[31] relieved. But just towards the close of the year a heavy cyclone passed over East Bengal and the ever-violent Padma as if to vie with the violence of the wind ran inundating both her banks; the whole of Bikrampur appeared desolate, and heaps of dead bodies were seen floating on the river for several days together. Most of the villagers were left houseless, their provision had also been swept away and they fell an easy prey to imminent starvation and contagious epidemic. Chitta Ranjan could no longer stay quiet at home. He himself appeared on the scene at a great personal sacrifice. Under his guidance was started a relief society called the "Bengal Relief Committee" of which Chitta Ranjan was the Treasurer. He himself gave a donation of Rs. 10,000 and persuaded many of the large-hearted Marwari Merchants of Bengal to contribute a large sum to the fund. On this occasion Chitta Ranjan visited almost all the villages of East Bengal in spite of all sorts of difficulties on the way; he went to the villages and started centres of relief work, each centre comprising three or four village unions. The centres were entrusted with proper funds to feed and clothe the distressed and homeless villagers. The relief committee tried a new innovation in social service which was very commendable as a means of removing poverty from the villages. It arranged to pay the poor villagers each a small amount of money with which they were to revive their home industries and thereby out of the sale-proceeds they would be able to make themselves independent of any external pecuniary help. For as regards the poor the great object should be to make them independent; the great danger is of making them more dependent. It is no doubt a good thing to make them comfortable, but in helping people if we know that we[32] love them and not pity them, we must try to form their character, otherwise our charity will be cruel. We read a short poem in our early years which throw some light on the nature of true charity.
"I gave a beggar from my little store Of well-earned gold. He spent the shining ore And came again, and yet again, still cold And hungry as before. I gave a thought, and through that thought of mine He finds himself a man, supreme, divine, Fed, clothed, and crowned with blessings manifold, And now he begs no more."

Such is the nature of Chitta Ranjan\'s charity which has aimed not merely at alleviating want, but at creating independence.

Patriotism is with Chitta Ranjan another name for socialism by which we mean his ardent love for the suffering humanity. He loves this country as it gives shelter to his poor brethren whom his religion has taught him to look upon as incarnations of Narayana.

When in April 1917 the political leaders of Bengal asked Chitta Ranjan to preside over the annual session of the Provincial Conference, he delivered a speech in Bengali which was unique in character and form and in which Chitta Ranjan stated that socialism and patriotism were almost identical so far as our country was concerned. He said in course of this speech:—

"Some people might say: \'This conference is for political discussion; what has talk about Bengal to do with it?\' Such a question would be symptomatic of our disease. To look upon life not as a comprehensive whole but as divided among many compartments was no part of our national culture and civilisation.... Must we not view our political discussions[33] from the stand-point of the whole of our countrymen? And how shall we find truth, unless we view life thus comprehensively and as a whole?... After all, what are the ultimate object and significance of this political thought and endeavour? If we wish to express it in one word, we shall have to say—what has been said so often—that the object of our politics will be to build up the Bengalees into a nation of men.... It is therefore that we shall have to ascertain what our present condition is, and in order to ascertain this we shall have to take first into consideration the material circumstances of our people. This again will require that we shall have to enquire into the condition of our peasantry—whether agricultural wealth is increasing or decreasing and whether agriculture is flourishing or otherwise. This in its turn will lead us to a further enquiry still, viz, as to why our people are leaving their villages in increasing numbers and are coming to settle within towns. Is it because the villages are insanitary or is there any other reason for that? Thus we find that an adequate discussion of politics will involve a consideration of agricultural questions as well as the questions of village-sanitation. At the same time we shall have to consider whether we can improve our material condition even by bringing under tillage all the available culturable land of the country. If we can\'t, then we shall have to consider the question of industry and trade as well."

But why do we fail to enquire into the condition of our country in this way? We never look to our country, never think of our countrymen, of our past national history, or our present material condition, for the vanity arising from false education has rendered us blind and callous. Chitta Ranjan has truly remarked in the same paper.[34]

"We boast of being educated; but how many are we? What room do we occupy in the country? What is our relation to the vast masses of our countrymen? Do they think our thoughts and speak our speech? I am bound to confess that our countrymen have little faith in us.

... Besides, we seem to look upon them with contempt. Do we invite them to our assemblies and our conferences? Perhaps we do when we want their signatures to some petition to be submitted before the Government; but do we associate with them heartily in any of our endeavours? Is the peasant a member in any of our committees or conferences?"

By the grace of God this mentality has now been changed. The masses and the classes of our country have associated themselves in the present national movement. The peasant delegates are now honoured members of even the Indian National Congress. The note of warning that Chitta Ranjan struck was very opportune. This set our leaders to feel the heart-throbbing of our mother country. But what led us astray? Chitta Ranjan has justly remarked:—

"Mimic Anglicism has become an obsession with us: we find its black foot-print in every walk and endeavour of life. We substitute meeting houses for temples; we perform stage-plays and sell pleasures in order to help charities. We hold lotteries in aid of our orphanages; we give up the national and healthful games of our country and introduce all sorts of foreign importations. We have become hybrid in dress, in thought, in sentiment, and culture and are making frantic attempts even to be hybrids in blood. What wonder, then, that in this new pursuit of western ideals we should forget that[35] money is only a means to an end and not an end in itself?"

What has made us shallow; why have we, the so-called educated, become strangers to our own countrymen? For like other ideals, our ideal of education also has become mean and impoverished; and so what was easy and natural—we have made it complex and difficult. We must even now beware and listen to the wise warning of Bankim—a warning all too unheeded when it was first uttered. But one thing is certain that unless we change the whole organism of our educational system and make it harmonise with our national ideals even our existence is threatened. For this education has created a wide gulf between the educated and the masses, which our national existence demands to bridge over. About our present system of education Chitta Ranjan has said:—

"It has imparted an element of unnecessary anglicism into our manners and modes of life—so that in outer seeming it might almost appear as if the educated Bengalee had little organic touch with the heart of his countrymen. Then, again this education has made us familiar not with things but with words; it has made us clever but not men.... We have acquired a despicable habit of looking down with contempt, upon those who have not received this English Education of ours; we call them "illiterate" and "uneducated" and sneer at their ignorance. But these uneducated countrymen have hearts and sympathies; they worship their gods, they are hospitable to guests, they feel for the suffering and distress of their neighbours.... To me it seems perfectly clear that if we want to lead our newly-awakened national consciousness in the [36]paths of true knowledge, education should be diffused through the medium of our own vernacular and not through the unwholesome medium of English."

The reason for this ghastly failure in our national life is palpable from other points of view also. We the educated few, never co-operated with the masses of our countrymen. We are not only proud of our education, but also proud of our wealth and proud of our caste: and this three-fold pride has so deadened and blinded our senses that, in all our endeavours we leave quite out of account those who are the flesh, blood and back-bone of the land. The gentry of our country are mostly ill educated and therefore their pride springs from emptiness. To speak the truth, the so-called educated have no right to mix with their countrymen. They are narrow, callous and anglicised. They fail even now to understand that in this crucial moment of Indian History, the whole country should stand as one in working out her future destiny. Here the Hindus and the Mohammedans should co-operate, the Brahmins, the Vaidyas and the Kayasthas should come out hand in hand with the peasants and the chandals. Chitta Ranjan harped upon the same theme in his presidential address at the Provincial Conference:—

"Those who constitute 40 out of 46 millions of our countrymen,—those who produce our bread by their labour—those who in their grinding poverty have kept alive the torch of their ancient culture and ancient polity—those whom our English civilization and English culture and English law-courts have yet been powerless entirely to corrupt—those whom the oppression of Zemindars and Mahajans have failed to crush—are we,—a corrupt and effete handful—are we their betters and superiors? We boast of our Hinduism; but with our[37] false pride of caste we are striking Hinduism at its very root. Even now while there is time, let us perceive our fearful and heedless blunder. In our oppressed and down-trodden fellow-brethren let us recognise the image of Narayana: before that sacred and awful image, let us abandon all false pride of birth and breed and let us bend our heads in reverence and true humility. These seething millions of your land—be they Christians or Mahomedans or Chandals—they are your brothers; embrace them as such, co-operate with them and only then will your labours be crowned with success."

In taking a survey of our present condition, we have to think of the poverty of the peasant-class, and closely connected with this question of poverty is the question of village depopulation. The village is the centre of our civilisation and culture; and hence the decay of village-life is bound to cripple and enfeeble our body-politic. Now the cause of this village depopulation is two-fold. In the first place, there is the ravage of malaria and in the second place, there is the temptation of city-life with its ease, luxury and commercial and money-making facilities. Thus modern cities like some huge reptiles are swallowing up the ancient village centres of our country; and one of our chief duties will be to re-establish the health, prosperity and welfare of the villages. In order to do this, we shall have to improve the water-supply of our villages, to remove jungles, to educate the common people in the laws of health and sanitation. Also in order that agriculture may flourish, we shall have to establis............