Road To Freedom

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• For God and Country
• The Empire Builders
• Tribal Uprisings
• Sepoys on the Move
• British Authority Collapses
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Roll of Honour
• The Trial of the Last Emperor
• English Education
• The Blue Mutiny
• Perishing in Peace
• ‘Rani Ka Hookum’
• Barbarous Britannia
• Return to Swadeshi
• The Delhi Durbar
• Hunger Deaths
• The One-Man Army
• Mamool Raj
• The British Raj in Black and White
• Europeans Take To The Street!
• Pressing On !
• The Battle For A Free Press
• The Battle Lines are Drawn
• Women : Crossing the Threshold
• An Old Man's Dream
• Father of Indian Unrest
• The Monk Who Shook The Nation
• The Battle is Taken to the Legislature!
• Partition of Bengal
• The Great Divide
• The New Spirit of India
• Swadeshi Enterprise
• From Swadeshi to Swaraj
• Gandhi in South Africa
• Heroes and Martyrs
• Revolutionaries Outside India
• Carrot and Stick
• Gandhi in Champaran
• The Gentle Satyagrahi
• Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh
• Jallianwala — The Aftermath
• A People Reject Their Rulers
• The Himalayan Blunder
• Gandhiji Withdraws from Political Activities
• Bardoli
• Saga of Indian Revolutionaries
• A Pinch of Salt!
• Gandhi and Ambedkar
• Leave India to God… or to Anarchy
• Quit India
• The Last War of Independence
• Apostle of Peace
• India Wins Freedom
• The Light Has Gone Out
• Under One Flag

The Battle is Taken to the Legislature!

The Battle is Taken to the Legislature!

The Indian Council Act of 1892 allowed indirect election of members to a few seats in the Imperial and Provincial Legislative Councils, through municipal committees and district boards. These members were allowed to discuss the annual budget but they could not move amendments or vote on the bill. They were little more than spectators. Some members, however, refused to be content with this passive role. They began to assert themselves and much to the shock and dismay of the government, began to speak out against the shortcomings of the administration. Their speeches in the legislative assemblies were widely reported in the newspapers. In 1895 the government proposed to empower local authorities in disturbed areas, to keep a punitive police force. The cost of maintaining the police force was proposed to be recovered from the inhabitants of the area. Reacting sharply to the proposed legislation, Pherozeshah Mehta argued: "I cannot conceive of legislation more empirical, more retrograde, more open to abuse, or more demoralizing... it is a piece of legislation... which will not and cannot recognise the scientific fact that the punishment and suppression of crime without injuring and oppressing innocents must be controlled by judicial procedure." Mehta made it clear that he had his doubts about impartiality of the officials. "It would be idle to believe that they can be free from the biases, prejudices, and defects of their class and position." These remarks of Mehta drew protests from the treasury benches. James Westland, the Finance Minister, objected to the 'new spirit' which Mehta had introduced into the council. But Mehta's countrymen applauded. The Tribune of Lahore observed: "The voice of the people has been admitted through the open door of election... Mr. Mehta speaks as the representative of the people..." The Tribune described Sir James' protest as "the outcry of the bureaucrat rapped over the knuckles in his own stronghold." On another occasion, while criticizing the government's disinclination to promote higher education in the country, Mehta said: "It is very well to talk of raising the subject to the pedestal of the ruler, but when the subject begins to press close at your heels, human nature is after all weak... the temptation to kick back is almost irresistible." Mehta maintained that every English bureaucrat looked upon every Indian college as a nursery for hatching breeds of vipers, the less therefore, the better."

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Gopal Krishna Gokhale who took over as the 'Leader of the Opposition' when Mehta decided not to contest in 1902, became famous for his incisive budget speeches.
In 1902, reacting to the surplus budget presented by Edward Law, Gokhale held that the surplus shown in times of famine and suffering constituted 'a wrong to the community'. Quoting at length from the government's own facts and figures, Gokhale showed how Indian interests were subordinated to foreign interests and linked poverty of the people to British rule. Overnight the humble teacher from Pune who was only 36 years at that time, became the darling of the nation. The Amrita Bazar Patrika wrote: "We had ever entertained the ambition of seeing some Indian member openly and fearlessly criticizing the Financial Statement of the Government. But this ambition was never satisfied. When members had ability, they had not the requisite courage. When they had the requisite courage, they had not the ability. For the first time in the annals of British Rule in India, a native of India has not only succeeded in exposing the fallacies which underlie these government statements, but has ventured to do it in an uncompromising manner."
The government feared Gokhale's criticism so much that when a new revenue member had to be appointed in 1910, Viceroy Minto insisted that the person appointed should be one who could stand up to Gokhale.
Paying handsome compliments to Gokhale, Lord Curzon observed:
"In fact he was the Leader of the Opposition and in that capacity I had often to suffer from the weight of Mr. Gokhale's blows... I have never met a man of any nationality more gifted with Parliamentary capacities. Mr. Gokhale would have obtained a position of distinction in any Parliament in the world, even in the British House of Commons. Widely as we differed, I never failed to recognize either his ability or character."
Other eminent Indian members of councils included Surendranath Banerji, Kali Charan Banerji, Anand Mohan Bose, W.C. Banerji and others from Bengal; Diwan Ananda Charlu, C. Sankaran Nair and Vijayaraghavachariar from the South; Madan Mohan Malaviya, Ayodhyanath and Bishambhar Nath from the United Provinces, and Tilak, R.M. Sayani, Chimanlal Setalvad, N.G. Chandravarkar and others from Maharashtra.
These outstanding parliamentarians proved beyond doubt that Indians had the ability to shoulder the responsibility of conducting their own affairs.