द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

140 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
strengthened as a result of the conduct of Mr. (now Sir)
Mian Fazli Hussain, who by accepting the office of Minister
in the Punjab, was able to promote Moslem interests in that
province to the exclusion of Hindu and Sikh interests. The
position of the Hindu Mahasabha and of the Responsivist
Party received further support from the Hindu community
through the reactionary and communal attitude adopted by the
Moslem League at its sitting at Aligarh in December, 1925, in
which prominent leaders like Moulana Mohammed Ali, Mr.
M. A. Jinnah, Sir Abdur Rahim and Sir Ali Imam participated.
The next elections to the Legislatures being due in 1926,
the 1925 session of the Congress held at Cawnpore had to
decide the attitude to be adopted by the Congress on the
occasion. It was considered desirable that the Indian National
Congress should itself take up the task of running the elec-
tions, instead of leaving it to the Swaraj Party. The Cawnpore
Congress, presided over by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu,¹ arrived
at this decision without much controversy, because by then
the opposition of the Mahatma and his orthodox followers
had been disarmed, but the question that raised a storm was
as to the policy to be followed in the Legislatures. Should
it be a policy of unmitigated opposition, or non-co-operation,
as originally advocated by the Swaraj Party, or should it be a
policy of discriminate opposition—or responsive co-operation
—as urged by the newly-formed Responsivist Party? In sup-
port of the Swarajist policy, there stood Pandit Motilal Nehru
and Lala Lajpat Rai, whereas opposed to them were Pandit
M. M. Malaviya, Mr. Jayakar and Mr. Kelkar. The former
won the day but before a year passed, Lala Lajpat Rai left
the Swarajist fold and together with Pandit Malaviya² formed.
¹ Mrs. Naidu was the second woman to be elected President of the Con-
gress, the first being Mrs. Besant who presided over the Calcutta Congress
in 1917. A distinguished poetess, she had been closely associated with
the Mahatma in the non-co-operation movement since 1920. She con-
tinues till to-day as one of his closest adherents and has been a member
of the Congress Working Committee with hardly any break.
² Pandit Malaviya, though a veteran Congressman and an ex-President
of the Congress, did not accept the Swarajist policy. During the period
1923-26, he was a member of the Assembly but did not belong to the
Swaraj Party. After the general election of 1926 he continued as an
Independent. The change in the politics of Lala Lajpat Rai was due to
the Hindu-Moslem tension in the Punjab and the influence of the Hindu
Mahasabha.

THE SLUMP 141
the Independent Party which played the same rôle in Northern
India as the Responsivist Party did in Central and Western
India. By the time Lala Lajpat Rai left the Swaraj Party,
another prominent personality joined that Party. He was Mr.
Srinivasa Iyengar, former Advocate-General¹ of Madras and
the leader of the Madras Bar. Mr. Iyengar on being returned
to the Assembly in 1926 was at once elected Deputy-Leader
of the Party and soon after, was elected President of the 1926
session of the Congress held at Gauhati in Assam.
The general attitude of the Government after the death
of Deshbandhu Das was on the whole reactionary. The only
exception was in the matter of the abolition of the Excise
Duty, which welcome event took place in December 1925..
The Excise Duty was first imposed as a tax on Indian mill-
made cloth in 1894. The ostensible object of this duty was
to obtain revenue for the Government but the real object was
to help the British textile industry, which did not view with
equanimity the growth of an indigenous textile industry in
India. Though since 1916 the duty on textile imports had
been kept at a higher level than the Excise Duty on Indian
mill products, the latter was keenly resented by Indian
Nationalists and especially by the Indian business community.
The abolition of the duty was therefore meant as a sop to the
Indian textile interests. Beyond this Act, no other friendly
gesture was made by the Government in India or in England.
The Labour Party, however, made a friendly move by adopting
the Commonwealth of India Bill drafted by Mrs. Besant for
conferring Home Rule on India and authorised Mr. George
Lansbury to introduce it as a Private Bill in the House of
Commons. The Bill received its first reading in December
1925, but it proved to be still-born. Nevertheless, it had
some value as a gesture.
The history of 1926 is largely a history of Hindu-Moslem
strife. As happens everywhere, the slackening of the Nationalist
movement diverted the energies of the people to internal
questions and disputes. The abolition of the Khalifate by the
Turks in 1924 led many of the Nationalist Moslems in India
¹ The position of the Advocate-General of Madras would correspond to
the position of the Solicitor-General in England.

142 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
to give up the Khilafat movement and to divert their whole
attention to the Nationalist cause. But some of the Nationalists
as well as the more reactionary Moslems continued to keep up
the Khilafat Committees, as Moulana Shaukat Ali did in
Bombay, and where that was not possible, they started other
organisations of a sectarian and reactionary character, under
different names. This reactionary movement among the
Moslems called forth a similar reactionary movement among
the Hindus and branches of the Hindu Mahasabha began to
grow up all over the country. The Hindu Mahasabha, like
its Moslem counterpart, consisted not only of erstwhile
Nationalists, but also of a large number of men who were
afraid of participating in a political movement and wanted a
safer platform for themselves. The growth of sectarian
movements among both Hindus and Moslems accentuated
intercommunal tension. The opportunity was availed of
by interested third parties who wanted to see the two com-
munities fight, so that the Nationalist forces could be
weakened. The causes which generally led to intercommunal
rioting were the slaughter of cows which outraged Hindu
feelings and the playing of music before mosques at prayer-
time, which gave offence to Moslem feelings. Friction would
also be caused if a Moslem mosque or a Hindu temple was
defiled in any way. Once there was a mental tension between
the two communities in a particular locality, such incidents
could easily throw the spark to light the flame of communal
passion and it was not difficult for third parties to employ
agents to do this dirty work.
The worst episode in the events of 1926 was the Hindu-
Moslem riots in Calcutta which broke out in May and again
in July. The trouble arose through an Arya Samajist¹ proces-
sion playing music while passing before a mosque. The Arya
Samajists claimed that they had been having the procession for
many years without any trouble. The Moslems declared on
the contrary that the music was interfering with their worship
inside the mosque. Fighting went on for many days and
many were killed on both sides. Ultimately when both parties
¹ As explained in Section III of the Introduction, the Arya Samaj is
a reformist sect of the Hindus with a large following in Upper India.

THE SLUMP 143
were exhausted, they made peace. Though matters did not
reach a crisis elsewhere as it did in Calcutta, there was con-
siderable tension all over the country. For the Congress
Party the hour was dark. The elections to the Legislatures
were due in November and they were going to be held
under the shadow of Hindu-Moslem riots. The field would
not be as open to Congressmen as it had been in 1923. New
organisations representing reactionary Hindus and reactionary
Moslems had come into existence and they would put up their
own candidates. During the elections of 1926 a strong
propaganda was carried on by a section of the Moslems to the
effect that if the Hindus were going to carry on their non-
co-operation with the Government, the Moslems should have
nothing to do with them, but should endeavour to work the
Constitution. On the other side the Hindu Mahasabha raised
the cry that if the Hindus non-co-operated while the Moslems
secured the help of the Government, they would be placing
themselves at a serious disadvantage as compared with the
Moslems. The Hindu Mahasabha therefore urged the modi-
fication of the Swarajist policy of non-co-operation. Never-
theless, among the Hindu electorate the influence of the
Congress was much greater than that of the Hindusabha,
though among the Moslem electorate, the influence of
reactionary and sectarian organisations proved to be stronger
than that of the Congress at the General Election of 1926.
The General Election of November 1926, being contested
by Nationalists in the name of the Congress, there was a great
improvement in their strength in many of the Provincial
Legislatures, e.g., in Madras and Bihar. The whole-hearted
co-operation of all sections of Congressmen, which was not
forthcoming in 1923 when the Swaraj Party ran the elections,
was responsible for the improvement. But in one respect the
election results were worse than in 1923. In 1923 a large
number of Nationalist Moslems had been elected as Swarajists
but in 1926 their places were generally taken by their reac-
tionary co-religionists. In provinces like Bengal and Punjab
with a large Moslem population, the situation inside the
Legislatures was not favourable for the Congress Party. In
the Central Provinces which had been the stronghold of

144 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Swarajism and in a portion of the Bombay Presidency, the
Nationalist strength was divided, because of the formation
of the Responsivist Party. With the formation of a Respon-
sivist Party in the Central Provinces Legislative Council and
of a Moslem bloc in the Bengal Legislative Council, it became
possible for the Government to appoint Ministers in these
two provinces, where none had existed for three years. In
the Indian Legislative Assembly also, the Nationalist strength
being somewhat weakened by the formation of a Responsivist
bloc on the one side and by a Moslem bloc on the other, the
Government had a comparatively easier time than they had
in the previous Assembly. Apart from the Legislatures, a
certain amount of disintegration was also visible in the rank
and file of the Congress. In provinces like Punjab, Bombay
Presidency and the Central Provinces, this was due to the
activities of the Responsivist Party. In provinces like Bengal
where the Responsivists had little influence, the disintegration
was caused by warring factions within the Congress Party.
In Bengal after the death of Deshbandhu Das, through the
influence and support of the Mahatma, the late Mr. J. M.
Sengupta had succeeded to the leadership. He had not been
in office for a year before opposition to his leadership appeared.
The opposition ultimately crystallised under the leadership
of Mr. B. N. Sasmal, at one time a most popular figure in
Bengal Congress circles. The fight went on till 1927. For
some time there were two rival Provincial Congress Commit-
tees in Bengal and in the elections to the Calcutta Municipal
Corporation, held in March 1927, two sets of Congress
candidates were set up. Mr. Sasmal’s party was defeated in
this fight and that led to his temporary retirement.
In the face of dissensions outside and inside the Congress,
the leaders had a trying time in 1926. For a time it looked
as if nothing could stem the rot that had set in. The brunt
of the responsibility had to be borne by Pandit Motilal Nehru
who was deprived of the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi,
who had retired from active politics, and of Deshbandhu Das
who had died the year before. The National Demand put
forward by him in the Assembly in September 1925, had been
turned down by the Government. In the circumstances what

THE SLUMP 145
could he do? He was not in a position to start a campaign
of civil disobedience in the country. Therefore he decided
to withdraw from the Assembly as a protest against the attitude
of the Government. Much adverse criticism was made of this
decision at the time—nevertheless, there is hardly any doubt
that there was no alternative to this step except one of abject
acquiescence in the policy of the Government. In March
1926, after a speech exceedingly dignified but somewhat
defeatist in its tone, Pandit Motilal Nehru walked out of the
Assembly followed by all the Swarajist members. Following
this move in the Assembly, the Swaraj Party also withdrew
from the Provincial Legislatures.
But the dark clouds of 1926 had a silver lining. In spite of
inter-communal dissensions and disturbances, the production
of Khadi was going up by leaps and bounds. Freed from
other distractions, the Mahatma was able to concentrate on
this work. Under his leadership the All-India Spinners'
Association was extending its branches all over the country.
Through this organisation, the Mahatma was once again
building up his own party which was to be of invaluable
service to him when he desired to recapture the Congress
machinery once again. To make up partly for the many
defections in the Congress Party, Mr. Srinivasa Iyengar
joined the party wholeheartedly about this time. He had
great reputation and prestige in the Madras Presidency and
this he placed at the disposal of the Congress. Through his
help the movement in the Madras Presidency was greatly
strengthened and a strong Congress Party was set up in the
Madras Legislative Council. In the Assembly he performed
with great ability the duties of the Deputy-Leader of the
Congress Party. After presiding over the Gauhati Congress
in December 1926, he spent a very busy time in going round
the country for restoring inter-communal unity. In this
task he was assisted by the Ali brothers who were actively
associated with the Congress till 1928, though their estrange-
ment with the Mahatma began in 1926.¹
¹ It is generally believed that the estrangement between the Ali brothers
and the Mahatma took place over the Hindu-Moslem riots at Kohat in
Beluchistan. In this dispute the Ali brothers took the side of the Moslems
and complained that the Mahatma had taken the side of the Hindus.
K

146 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
The most encouraging sign of the year was the awakening
among the youth all over the country. They were disgusted
with the narrow sectarianism of the older generation and
wanted to chasten public life with the pure breath of
nationalism. The youth movement appeared under different
names in different provinces, but the impulse behind it was
the same everywhere. There was a feeling of impatience and
revolt at the rotten state of affairs—a sense of self-confidence
and a consciousness of the responsibility which they had
towards their country. In Punjab the movement appeared
under the name of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and was to
play an important rôle in the years to come. In Nagpur, the
capital of the Central Provinces, the youths started on their
own responsibility, a movement called the Arms Act Satya-
graha.. The object of this campaign was to defy the Arms Act
which prohibited Indians from possessing or bearing arms,
and it was started by a popular local Congress leader, Mr.
Awari, who was given the title of ‘General’ by his followers.
It was announced at the commencement of the campaign,
that the Satyagraha movement was being started as a protest
against the conduct of the Government who had imprisoned
without trial a large number of public workers in Bengal.
Taking advantage of the weakness of the Congress in 1926,
the Government continued its reactionary policy in 1927,
though since April 1926, India had a new Viceroy in Lord
Irwin, who was of a totally different stamp from his pre-
decessor Lord Reading. The report of the Skeen Committee
was published in April 1927 and it provided that one-half of
the cadre of the Indian Army would be completely Indianised
in twenty-five years. The report of the Committee was
disappointing and it was not signed by Pandit Motilal Nehru
who had resigned his membership of the Committee before
the report was drafted. But even the meagre recommendations
of the Committee, which by the way was presided over by the
Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, were not given effect to,
at the instance of the Secretary of State for India, Lord
Birkenhead. The mala fides of the Government will be all
the more evident from the fact that during Sir Tej Bahadur
Sapru's tenure of office as member of the Viceroy’s Executive

THE SLUMP 147
Council, the Army Staff had prepared a plan whereby the
whole army could be Indianised within thirty years.
Another unwelcome move of the Government in 1927 was the
stabilisation of the rupee at 1s. 6d. The traditional exchange
ratio was 1s. 4d. and this was favourable to India. In the
teeth of popular opposition, the Government fixed the
exchange ratio at 1s. 6d. By artificially increasing the value
of the rupee by 12½ per cent., the Finance Member, Sir
Basil Blackett, automatically put a premium on imports into
India. But that was not the only disadvantage which India
was subjected to. As a result of the new ratio, the Indian
peasant producing raw material for the world market received
so much less money than before and his purchasing power in
relation to Indian goods was thereby considerably reduced.
There is no doubt that the new ratio was responsible to a
large extent in accentuating the economic crisis in India.
Along with the new ratio, Sir Basil Blackett wanted to have
an Indian Reserve Bank as a part of his' plan for controlling
the currency—but this Bill¹ was fortunately thrown out by the
Assembly and the Viceroy did not make it law through
'certification.'
The only event of a somewhat satisfactory nature during
the earlier half of 1927 was the Capetown Pact between
India and South Africa. The Government of South Africa
headed by General Hertzog, an ardent nationalist, wanted to
adopt a dual policy of segregation and repatriation with regard
to the Indian settlers. A delegation was sent from India,
composed of Sir Mohammed Habibullah, the Right Hon.
V. S. Sastri and Sir George Paddison to plead the cause of
the Indians. As a result of their persuasion, the following
agreement was arrived at. The Areas Reservation Bill for
segregating Indians was altogether abandoned by the South
African Government. Emigration of Indians was, however,
to be encouraged, though a higher bonus would be given
than before. Indians born in South Africa who wanted to
¹ The Bill was first ruled out of order by the Assembly President, Mr.
V. J. Patel, whereafter it was introduced again in an altered form. The
Congress Party succeeded in throwing out the section relating to the
management of the Bank, whereupon the Bill was withdrawn by Sir
Basil Blackett.

148 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
make that country their home, were to be assisted by the
Government to attain the 'White' standard of life. Though
the Pact was only partially satisfactory, it was better than
nothing and the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, fully supported the
Indian case in this matter. The Pact provided for an 'Agent'
of the Indian Government who would reside in South Africa
and Mr. Sastri was sent out from India as the first 'Agent.'
In the international sphere the step taken by England in
breaking off relations with Russia in 1927, was to have
repercussions in India. Since then the activities of the
Communist Party in India increased considerably. This was
helped by the weakening of the Nationalist forces in the
country and the growth of labour unrest in 1927 and 1928.

CHAPTER VII
IN BURMESE PRISONS¹ (1925-27)
IN the early hours of the morning of October 25th, 1924, I
was roused from my sleep as I was wanted by some police-
officers. The Deputy-Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, on
meeting me, said: 'Mr. Bose, I have a very unpleasant duty
to perform. I have a warrant for your arrest under Regulation
III of 1818." He then produced another warrant authorising
him to search my house for arms, explosives, ammunition,
etc. Since no arms, etc., were forthcoming, he had to content
himself with taking a pile of papers and correspondence. To
avoid public attention, he drove me to prison in his own car
-but so utterly unexpected was my arrest that known faces,
whom I met on my way, never thought that my destination
was His Majesty's Prison at Alipore. At the Alipore New
Central Jail I was surprised to find that there were others in
the same boat with me. The prison authorities did not seem
to be happy to receive us. Special arrangements had to be made
for segregating us from the rest of the prison population and
they had hardly any surplus accommodation. As the day
advanced, our numbers began to swell and to our great
delight (there is nothing so welcome in prison as companion-
ship) when the time for evening lock-up came, we found
that we were eighteen in number.
As I was the Chief Executive Officer of the Calcutta
Municipal Corporation at the time, my sudden arrest dis-
located the work of the Municipality. The Government
therefore gave special orders that till the beginning of Decem-
ber I could attend to my office work in prison and that my
Secretary could see me from time to time with office files
and documents. In all these interviews a police-officer would
¹ The writer has been in custody eight times but he has tried to chronicle
the events of only one such experience, since it is more interesting than
the others.
149

150 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
be present besides a jail-officer and usually some of the worst
police-officers would be detailed to conduct these interviews.
I had frequent trouble with them and had to put up with a
great deal of unpleasantness and on some occasions I had to
rebuke some of them for their impertinence. As a punish-
ment I was given orders of transfer to another prison (Ber-
hampore Jail) in the interior of the province where it would
be difficult for people to interview me. Neither at Alipore
nor at Berhampore did I have much trouble with the prison-
staff. Some of the Government orders were of course
humiliating, but for that we did not blame the prison-staff.
My trouble with the police-officers, however, continued at
Berhampore. Most of my time was spent in study and many
were the plans we discussed about the work that we would
do when we left prison once again. As the arrests continued
from day to day, the prison population began to increase to
our great delight. My stay at Berhampore did not last more
than two months. On January 25th, 1925, I suddenly
received orders of transfer to Calcutta. On my way I learnt
to my great surprise that my real destination was Mandalay
Prison in Upper Burma. At midnight I reached Calcutta and
was taken to the Lalbazar Police-Station to spend the night
there. The room in the police-station was a dirty hole and
thanks to mosquitoes and bugs, it was impossible to have a
wink of sleep. The sanitary arrangements were horribly
bad and there was no privacy at all. I then realised the truth
of what others had said before, namely, that if there is a hell
on earth, it is the Lalbazar Police-Station. As I lay down,
counting the number of beams in the ceiling to while away
the time, I heard familiar voices in an adjoining room. So
the good Government had sent me companions even there!
In the early hours of the morning when it was still dark, a
police-officer appeared on the scene. This was Mr. Lowman,
Assistant-Inspector General of Police, who, we learned later,
was to escort us to Mandalay. The doors of the cells were
opened and out came seven familiar faces, all bound for the
same destination. A surprise indeed!
Under cover of darkness, surrounded by armed guards, we
came out of the police-station. Two prison vans were standing

IN BURMESE PRISONS 151
in front with their doors invitingly open. In one, our worldly
belongings were placed; in the other the living luggage was
deposited. With terrific speed, the prison vans moved out
of the yard and merged in the darkness that still hung over
the landscape. After a while both the vans drew up and as
we alighted, we realised that we were on the river bank.
There was a ship standing near the bank, but we were all
put into a small motor-boat. For three hours we cruised
about on the river and when it was time for the ship to sail,
we were quietly taken up into the ship from the farther side.
By nine o'clock in the morning, we were sailing down the
river towards the sea. In front of our cabins, heavily-armed
guards were stationed and great was the curiosity of the
other passengers to know who we were and why these elaborate
arrangements had been made. When we reached the high
seas, the armed guards in front of our cabins were withdrawn
and only plain-clothes officers were left to look after us.
Our four days' voyage was rather interesting. Mr. Lowman
was jovial and communicative and we discussed all possible
subjects, including our estimate of Governors, Executive
Councillors, public leaders, etc. I even raised the question
of the torture of political prisoners by the police. Mr. Low-
man at first denied the charge, but at the end he admitted
that on some occasions such misdeeds had been committed.
On the whole, though I began with a strong prejudice against
him, I came to hold a favourable opinion of him and this
opinion was confirmed as a result of my subsequent meetings
and talks with him. The night before we reached Rangoon,
Mr. Lowman had almost a nightmare. He complained in
the morning that he could not sleep well as he dreamt that
some of the state prisoners had escaped through the port-hole
in the evening. From Rangoon to Mandalay it was a long
journey of twenty hours. We had a very large police escort
and at every stop on our way, they would line up on both
sides of the train. From the fuss they made, one would think
that we were either high state-officials or wild animals.
Till then Mandalay was but a name to us. I had a hazy
idea that it was the capital of the last independent kingdom
of Burma and the scene of the second Burmese war. But I

152 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
remembered distinctly that it was the place where Lokamanya
Tilak had been imprisoned for nearly six years and later on
Lala Lajpat Rai for about a year. It gave us therefore some
consolation and pride to feel that we were following in their
footsteps. From the station we drove inside the fort to the
prison and we passed on our way the houses in which Lalaji
and Sardar Ajit Singh had lived during their internment.
Outlined against the morning sky we saw beautiful structures
which, we were told, were the palace and state-buildings of the
old kingdom. The memory of the good old days that were
no more, produced a pang in our hearts and we began
to wonder when Burma would once more be able to fly her
flag of independence. As our carriages drew up in front
of the grey walls of Mandalay Prison, our day-dreaming
came to an end. The massive gates of the prison-house
yawned and we were soon swallowed up. The interior of a
Burmese prison is somewhat different from that of an Indian
prison and the first few minutes were spent in examining
our new surroundings. The first thing we realised was that
the jail-buildings were built not of stone nor of brick, but of
wooden palisading. The buildings looked exactly like cages
in a zoo or in a circus. From the outside and especially at
night, the inmates of these buildings appeared almost like
animals prowling about behind the bars. Within these
structures we were at the mercy of the elements. There was
nothing to protect us from the biting cold of winter or the
intense heat of summer or the tropical rains in Mandalay.
We all began to wonder how we were going to live our life
there. But there was no help and we had to make the best
of a bad situation. In the yard adjoining ours, so we were
told, Lokamanya Tilak had spent about six years of his life.
Among the prison-staff we found many men who had been
there when Lokamanya Tilak was a prisoner. From them
and later on from the Inspector-General of Prisons himself,
we heard interesting anecdotes of him and how he spent his
days in prison. Not less interesting for us than the anecdotes
were the lemon-trees which he had planted with his own
hands. From one of the state prisoners, Mr. Jibon Lal
Chatterji, who had preceded us, we took our first lessons in

IN BURMESE PRISONS 153
the Burmese language. I was not there long before I devel-
oped a strong liking for the Burmese people. There is some-
thing in them which one cannot help liking. They are
exceedingly warm-hearted, frank and jovial in their tem-
perament. They are of course quick-tempered and are
sometimes liable to lose their self-control when under the
influence of temper. But that did not appear to me as a very
serious shortcoming. What struck me greatly was the innate
artistic sense which every Burman has. If they have any
faults, it is their extreme naïveté and absence of all feeling
against foreigners. In fact I was told later that for a Burmese
woman, a foreigner has greater attraction than a member of
her own community.
Our Superintendent, Captain (later on, Major) Smith,
was exceedingly nice in his dealings with us and there was
never any misunderstanding between us. Even when we had
to fight the Government or go on hunger-strike, our friendly
relations were not disturbed. With the Chief Jailor we had
frequent trouble and we would receive constant pin-pricks
from him. He would justify himself by saying that he had
to act under orders, but till the end I was not able to find
out who was really responsible for these pin-pricks. However,
after some time, when the subordinate staff realised that if
we were given trouble we could also make trouble, they settled
down to a friendly alliance with us. The head of the Prison
Department was Lieut.-Col. Tarapore, a Parsi gentleman,
a very tactful, intelligent and well-meaning official. Though
state-prisoners in Mandalay or in other prisons of Burma had
occasional misunderstandings with him, I must admit and
that with great pleasure, that on the whole he endeavoured
to treat us well. His difficulty was that in the first place, the
Bengal Government who were ultimately responsible for us,
were exceedingly vindictive. Secondly, the Government of
India, the highest authority in the land, were too far away
and too indifferent. Thirdly, the Burma Government,
though not vindictive towards us, did not want to do any-
thing on their own responsibility. Lieut.-Col. Tarapore was a
great enthusiast of prison-reform and at his instance the
Burma Government invited Mr. Patterson, one of His

154 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Majesty's Prison Commissioners in England, to visit Burma
and advise them on prison-reform there. But with all
his enthusiasm Lieut.-Col. Tarapore could not achieve much
because of his reactionary environment. I remember that a
very important piece of reform which he had once attempted
had to be given up because of opposition in other quarters.
To the ordinary Burman, accustomed to smoking tobacco
from a very early age, tobacco is more important than food.
As tobacco was banned in Burmese prisons, the prisoners
'would commit innumerable jail-offences in trying to smuggle
it from outside. The Inspector-General of Prisons rightly
thought that if tobacco were given to the prisoners in a legal
way, there would be a drop in the number of prison-offences
and the illegal traffic would also be stopped to a large extent.
He, therefore, introduced a rule that as a reward for good
behaviour prisoners would be given a certain quantity of
tobacco every day. Though 'the reform was not sufficiently
far-reaching, it was an improvement on the existing state of
things. The experiment was tried for a year but at the end
of that period, most of the Prison Superintendents reported
against the experiment and the Finance Department also
raised difficulty about funds. The reform had consequently
to be dropped. Towards the end of our stay in Burma,
another important reform was attempted by him. Prisoners
were taken out of prison and employed for road-making.
They were accommodated in camps, were allowed more
freedom than in prison and were also given a certain allowance
in addition to their food. I do not know what the ultimate
result of the experiment was, but about the time that I left
Burma, difficulty was being experienced in finding suitable
officers for running these camps. In our talks with him, the
Inspector-General used to complain that he did not have
officials possessing the necessary education and character
who could forget their prison-environment and treat the
prisoners as human beings.
During my stay in Burma I was able to make a study of
criminal psychology and of the problems of prison-reform.
In supplying us with necessary literature, the Inspector-
General was of great assistance. The prison population in the

IN BURMESE PRISONS 155
different jails in Burma also afforded a valuable subject-
matter for study. It is neither possible nor necessary to give
here some of the results of my study and observation, but I
shall content myself with making one observation. It is
generally thought that those who are convicted for murder,
are the worst specimens of humanity and are past redemption.
On the contrary, my experience is that among the prisoners,
murderers are generally a better type. This is so at least in
those cases in which murder has been committed in a fit of
temper or temporary insanity. Professional thieves and pick-
pockets, on the other hand, represent the worst type. In the
condemned cells (where prisoners are locked before they are
hanged) I would see from time to time fine specimens of
humanity, sometimes boys in their 'teens, who were going to
be hanged simply because they had lost their self-control for
a moment and killed someone in a fit of temper. The ease
with which the High Court in Burma would confirm death
sentences appeared amazing to me. The conduct of the
High Court was all the more monstrous in view of the fact
that in Burma people had for centuries been accustomed to
take the law into their own hands and Upper Burma and
Mandalay had come under British rule as late as 1885.
From time to time we would receive visits from many
interesting people including officials. From the Home
Member down to the petty magistrate no one would ignore
us, since Indian state prisoners were to them interesting
specimens of humanity. Among the visitors was Mr. Patter-
son, a Prison Commissioner from England, who greeted us
as 'eight of the most dangerous men in India.' A regular
visitor was Mr. Brown, the Deputy-Commissioner (i.e.,
'District Officer) of Mandalay. Whatever may have been his
attitude towards the people of Mandalay, with the state
prisoners his dealings were those of a straightforward
gentleman. He was a cultured man and we enjoyed our
discussions with him. He was, moreover, helpful to us in
supplying literature and in mediating, whenever we fell out
with the prison officials. Our relations with the prison
officials suddenly became strained, when Captain Smith
went on leave. He was succeeded by Major Findlay. While

156 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Captain Smith had a genial temperament, Major Findlay
had a rough exterior and a rather saturnine temperament.
We soon fell out with Major Findlay over trifling matters
and this led to hunger-strike. Through Mr. Brown's med-
iation, the misunderstanding was however cleared up. There-
after, when we came to know one another more intimately,
I discovered that he was an exceedingly nice and straight-
forward man. Another official who acted as Superintendent
for a time, was Major Sheppard, with whom there was
constant friction, but since he did not stay long, matters did
not reach a crisis.
Ours was not the first batch of state prisoners to be deported
to Burma. About a year before we arrived, another batch
had been sent across there. When the first batch came they
were not confined in the same prison, but were transferred in
twos to different prisons in Burma. They had a very hard
time and as they were separated, they could not put up a joint
fight for improving their conditions. During this period
two of the state prisoners, Mr. Jibon Lal Chatterji and Mr.
Bhupendra Kumar Dutt, sent a representation to the then
Secretary of State for India, Lord Olivier, severely criticising
the conduct of the Political Branch of the Bengal Police, called
in India, the Intelligence Branch. The main thesis was that
agent-provocateurs were employed by the police for entrap-
ping innocent but over-enthusiastic young men and that the
bogey of a revolutionary conspiracy was deliberately raised
by the Intelligence Branch because they could thereby draw
extra allowances, like 'danger allowance,' and could also have
at their disposal, large sums of money for employing informers.
Certain facts and figures were given by way of substantiating
this charge. This letter somehow found its way to the Indian
Press and after its publication, it was quoted by the Swarajist
leader, Pandit Motilal Nehru, in a speech in the Assembly,
attacking the policy of imprisoning people without trial.
The publication of the letter so annoyed the Government
that severe restrictions were imposed on the state prisoners
in Burma. After some time the temper of the Government
cooled down and the state prisoners were allowed then to
come together in one prison. An exception was however

IN BURMESE PRISONS 157
made in the case of Mr. Bhupendra Kumar Dutt, whom the
Government wanted to punish for the publication of the
letter.
In prison we were able to meet from time to time Burman
political prisoners from whom we learned a lot about the
intricacies of Burma politics. Among those whom we met
there were some priests (called in Burma 'hpongyis'). These
priests, or hpongyis, whom I met in the prisons of Burma,
are some of the finest specimens of humanity I have ever met.
Burma is a land where there is no caste and no class. It is
probably the most classless country outside Russia. Buddhism
there is a living religion and the priests who live that religion
are held in high esteem. For centuries, they have been
imparting free elementary education to men and women,
with the result that in the matter of literacy, Burma to-day is
far ahead of India. Since the British annexation, the hpongyis
alone have kept up the flame of dying nationalism, since they
were never reconciled to British domination or to British
culture. Under their leadership for many a year, guerilla
warfare was carried on. Owing to their consistent opposition
to the foreign Government, they are intensely hated by all
Britishers, official and non-official. Strangely enough, though
they are anti-British, they are nevertheless pro-Indian and
they are strongly opposed to separation from India. Apart
from the cultural affinity they have with India, they feel that
when they are separated from India, it will be more difficult
for them to fight Great Britain for their political freedom.
Among the mass of the Burmese people the influence of the
priests is very strong. The English-educated Burmans are
politically a divided community. The majority are politically
opposed to the priests and are anti-Indian and pro-British.¹
A minority among them is however allied politically with the
priests. The English-educated Burmans generally think that
separation from India will improve their lot, though the fact
remains that it is the Britishers who have the best of every-
thing in the country and not the Indians. The 'anglicised'
¹ The New Constitution, outlined by the Joint Parliamentary Committee
on the basis of separation from India, is likely to prove disappointing to
English-educated Burmans and may bring about a change in their general
attitude.

158 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Burmans generally have no idea or intention of fighting for
their freedom and they think that once the Indians are
eliminated from Burma, everything will be all right for them.
The hpongyis or priests on the contrary, are politically-
minded and they follow the policy and tactics of the Indian
National Congress. When I was in Burma, the uncrowned
king of the Burmans was Rev. U. Ottama, a priest.¹ The
impression that I had during my stay there was that the
priests had the largest following in the country. They had
boycotted the Burma Legislature since 1920 and they did
not have their representatives there. That led the Govern-
ment to think that the Burmans really wanted separation from
India, as the English-educated Burmans generally were
saying. The recent elections have shown, however, that the
people are against separation. The significance of the last
elections will be understood better when it is remembered
that they were fought on the basis of the old electoral roll and
that the request of the anti-separationist party for a revision
of the electoral roll prior to the elections, was turned down.
Among the separationists (the English-educated Burmans) as
also among the anti-separationists, it is very difficult to have
a united party, because personal considerations play an
important rôle in Burma. The priests who are anti-separa-
tionists are on the whole a compact party. Among the
English-educated Burmans, when I was in Burma, there
were several parties, the most important of them being the
Twenty-One Party²—so called because twenty-one persons
joined together and formed the party. The Nationalist Party
in Burma is called the G.C.B.A.—that is, the General Council
¹ Rev. U. Ottama is now an exile living in Calcutta and is not allowed
to return to Burma. His health is completely shattered as a result of
repeated incarceration. When I was in Burma an interesting incident
took place. Rev. U. Ottama was in prison and a rumour got afloat that
he had been secretly transported to a prison in India. In the Burma
Legislative Council, questions were put on this point. The Home Member,
himself a Burman, felt annoyed at the questions and replied that U.
Ottama was one of the ten thousand criminals in his jails and he could
not be expected to know where he was confined at the time. At this in-
sulting reference to U. Ottama, all the non-official members of the Legis-
lative Council walked out as a protest. They resolved to dissolve their
separate parties and start a united party—called the People's Party.
² The policy of the Twenty-One Party was to work the Constitution,
while that of the G.C.B.A. was to boycott it.

IN BURMESE PRISONS 159
of Burmese Association and there are as many G.C.B.A.'s
as there are parties. Many people wonder to-day, why
Britain is so keen on separating Burma from India—but if
one knew Burma, there would be no reason to wonder.
Many Britishers think that even if India be a lost Dominion,
it is still desirable to try and keep Burma. Burma is so
thinly populated, is so rich in minerals and in certain parts
has such a pleasing climate that it would be fit for colonisation
by Britishers. Besides, Burma is the gateway of the Far
East and has an important strategic position.
Interesting as Burmese politics was to me, the country
and the people were even more so. I spent a great deal of
my time in studying the ancient history of Burma and in
discovering the old cultural contacts between the two coun-
tries. There is no doubt that many Kshatriya tribes migrated
to Burma from India. They, as well as the people from
Ceylon and South India, brought to Burma, Buddhism and
the Pali Literature. The culture and philosophy of Burma
have been largely influenced by India. The alphabets have
been taken from Sanskrit and even the script is much like
some of the Indian scripts. The pagodas (temples) of Burma
which have a unique charm of their own, are not devoid of
Indian influence. In Pagan and in other old centres of
Burmese culture, one can still see structures which form the
transition between the typical Hindu temple and the typical
Burmese pagoda. I have already said that the artistic sense
of the ordinary Burman is of a very high order. One had
only to see the exquisite handiwork of the prisoners in
Mandalay and other prisons to believe this. In Mandalay, on
two or three jail holidays in the year, the Superintendent
would give the prisoners permission to sing and dance. On
these days they would organise a variety performance. They
would play dramas and sing songs specially composed for the
occasion, would dance their exquisite national dance and
would even improvise a jail orchestra to supply the necessary
music. All this was possible only among a people with a
highly-developed artistic sense.
In October 1925, our national religious festival—the Durga
Pujah—falling due, we applied to the Superintendent for