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

organisation like ours. And yet he was anxious to know our opinion on the matter under
discussion. Hence the Officers discussed the question with me though in an indirect
manner. To them some of us gave very discouraging answers. They would say, "No, we
have nothing to do with politics; we do not desire freedom for India at this moment.
What we want is peace, to think of God and lead an undisturbed life. What we pray for is
our own release." Others, and the fire-eaters among them, repeated to the officers the
pledges they had taken for the independence of India. They had nothing else to say to
them. In these circumstances they welcomed my offer to write to Mr. Montagu a
balanced statement of our aims and objects, our methods, and our future attitude to the
proposed reforms. It would have pleased the authorities better if the political prisoners,
who had gone under their wings, had drafted the memorandum. But, somehow, none of
them would come forward to undertake the task. Again, they realised that the authorities
in India would prefer my signed letter to any memorandum on our behalf without an
authority behind it. The rules of the prison could not come in my way for I had not
joined the strike and was no obstructionist. So, at length, permission was granted to me
to forward my letter to Mr. Montagu through the Governor General of India, and I
despatched the letter accordingly.
It was necessary that the contents of the letter should be known in India in order
that the letter should produce its desired effect. It was not enough for that purpose that
Mr. Montagu alone or the Governor General along with him, should read it. For in that
case the hands of the Indian leaders would not be strengthened for demanding the
reforms that would bring back the revolutionaries to the paths of peace. I was anxious to
give as much help to them as it was possible for me to give them in my present condition
of life. And, therefore, in my annual letter to my brother, I outlined what I was going to
put in my communication to Mr. Montagu. As the letter also indicates the state of my
mind at that moment, I give its bare outline here for the information of my readers. It
will also convince him how much I was working in this jail for the release of my
colleagues and of political prisoners as a class. The original letter is printed in full in an
English book entitled, "Echo from the Andamans." The curious reader may get to read
the letter in full in the pages of that book. It embodies all the letters I had sent from the
Andamans to India. However, to proceed with the narrative, the gist of the letter was as
follows:
"I am glad that the Maharashtra Provincial Conference has passed a resolution
asking the government to grant amnesty to all political prisoners. It is important to note
that a similar resolution was adopted by that Conference in its session at Nasik. This
shows that the Bombay Provincial Conference is more keen, courageous and persistent
in its demand for our release than any other Provincial Conference in the whole of India.
And we, political prisoners, are grateful to the Conference for its efforts in our cause. So
far as I know a similar resolution was passed in our behalf by Conferences in the United
Provinces and the Andhra. The resolution passed at the Andhra Conferences was all-
inclusive and full of sincerity. It is clear from this expression of opinion that the heart of
the people of Andhra goes out in sympathy towards those who have served and
sacrificed for the freedom of the Motherland according to their honest convictions, even
though the convictions may not commend themselves to the Andhra people on grounds
of method of work, and the ways and means adopted by them to reach the goal. That