अमर शहीद अशफ़ाक़उल्ला ख़ाँ: व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व (काकोरी के अमर शहीद का जीवन व रचनाएँ)

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amply prove its impossibility and dangerousness. If the hostility
against the British Imperialism is made a religious issue, the
hostility thus aroused can at any moment turn into antagonism
among the two great Indian Communities as they do not profess
the same religion. It is precisely what has happened now. The
propaganda on religious lines could perhaps be safely and success-
fully carried on, if India were inhabited by people of the same
religion. India embodies in its vast dimensions people of different
creeds and races. It is under the yoke of the most advanced capi-
10 talist system, which holds India not to please God in heaven, but to
make huge profits by exploiting the labour of starving millions in
India and other countries.”
“The Indian Mussalmans should take lesson from the decision
of the Grand National Assembly of Angora which declared the
separation of the Khilafat from the Sultanate, i. e., separation of
religion from politics. No protests from the Ulema of India
will induce the progressive elements of the Turkish nation to dis-
charge their decision. Turkey has entered a new era of progress O. P. 67
by separating religion and politics. The example of Nationalist
20 Turkey should help the Indian Moslems to decide in which direc-
tion their politics should go. Let them liberate themselves from
the yoke of the British, before they think of liberating other Mus-
salmans of the world. This cannot be done until and unless they
unite heart and soul with their countrymen Hindus and other
communities of India.”
The author proceeds to urge that the religious character of
the movement should be replaced by one of a predominating poli-
tical character. He asked how the union of Hindus and Muham-
medans is to be brought about, and remarks that so long as the
30 political movement in India is conducted partially or wholly on reli-
gious lines, unity will not be realised. He proceeds, “ Have the
Hindus and Mussalman masses nothing in common in India? Are
both of them not suffering equally under the ruthless exploitation
of the foreign bureaucracy? Are they not economically ruined by
the foreign and Indian capitalists and landlords? The union can
only be realised when they are told of their common grievances so
that they should be conscious of their common miserable plight.
It may be difficult for bourgeois political philosophy to find a com-
mon ground to stand upon. The masses—the common workers and
40 peasants—are, however, as a matter of fact already united by vir-
tue of their common economic interests, only the consciousness of
this union is interfered with by large doses of conflicting religious
dogmas administered by interested parties.”
“The problem of national freedom cannot be solved unless a
new programme is adopted and new tactics employed. The battle
of national freedom is to be fought by the masses, so let it be
fought for their interests. Let us take a lesson from the failure of