मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

them harshly 'enough. Worse they could not do. And to put an end to that harsh and
inhuman treatment the first step was to expose it to the daylight of public criticism. It
would mean, for the time being, relentless suffering but the price had to be paid for the
object all had in view. And this was no question of any single individual. It concerned
and affected the future of political prisoners as a class.
Political Prisoners as a Class
After the first batch of political prisoners had been transported to the Andamans,
and in the conditions obtaining then in India, the political prisoners had almost become
an institution in the country, and they were sure to arrive in the Andamans no longer in
batches of ten and twenty but in a growing volume of a hundred and a thousand
prisoners. The fact was obvious and resistance by the early batches was necessary to
relieve the yoke on those who would follow them there. Either they bear the yoke
themselves or shall have to resist more fiercely and on a tremendous scale to put an end
to the evil. Why not then begin now and face the consequences? Why not make the path
of our successors easier? Why not strive and fight to raise the status of political prisoners
as a class? I would go further and say to them, while I was there, that the task which had
fallen to our lot was much nobler and wider; and that was to improve the condition of
prison-life in India as common to all its inmates and to see that we did not merely work to
ameliorate it for a class known as political prisoners.
Raise the Status of all
It was to improve prison-conditions as a whole that we were striving, and,
therefore, we must agitate and rouse public opinion by every means at our disposal,—
letters, strikes, petitions and stiff resistance, in scorn of consequence to ourselves. Even if
we were to fail and reap greater trouble than relief, doing the work as a duty, we must be
ever prepared for it. This reasoning produced a desirable effect on the mind of the
political prisoners and they openly supported Hotilal's action, that he had done the right
thing in sending that letter to Calcutta. All felt within their hearts that he was right, but
now by far a large number came out in the open to defend him. The stir and excitement
over the letter lasted for two weeks. After the first reaction had passed, Mr. Barrie began
to worm out the secret by flattering those who had despatched it. "What can we do?
Everything happens here as directed by the Indian Government", so he began excusing
himself to me. Once he said, "Look here, that Hotilal of yours has killed the newspaper
Bengali; it was for that letter that Government has confiscated its press." I answered, "I
do not really understand why it should be so. I am afraid the news is entirely false."
"Taking for granted that it is true," I added, "the action of Government should not deter
any publicist from printing in his newspaper what he is convinced to be right and fair.
Not only one but ten presses, the Government may confiscate, but the price is worth
paying if it helps the cause of the political prisoners and relieves them from the kind of
harsh and humiliating treatment that is meted out to them in this prison. That was the