Hitherto I have said hardly anything about the Rajkot struggle which has just ended as brilliantly as it began. My silence was not due to lack of interest. That was impossible owing to my intimate connections with the place. Apart from my father having been the Dewan of the State, the late Thakore Saheb looked up to me as to a father. My silence was due to the fact that Sardar Vallabhbhai was the soul of the movement. To praise him or his work would be like self-praise.
The struggle showed what non-violent non-co-operation could do, if there was adequate response from the people. I was wholly unprepared for the unity, grit and capacity for sacrifice that the people showed. They showed that they were greater than their ruler, and that even an English Dewan was powerless before a people united in non-violent action.
The Thakore Saheb deserves congratulations for taking the reins in his own hands and overruling the English Dewan's advice and the known wishes of the Resident.
From documents in my possession I know that Sir Patrick Cadell, supported by the Resident, cut a sorry figure as servant of the Thakore Saheb. He acted as if he was the master. He traded upon the fact that he belonged to the ruling race and his appointment was subject to the sanction of the central authority, and thought that he could do what he liked. At the time of writing I do not know whether he has wisely retired or what has happened. The correspondence in my possession shows that the ruling chiefs have seriously asked themselves whether it is wisdom to have Europeans as their Dewans. The central authority has to keep watch over Residents if
its declarations are to be carried out as well in the letter as in the spirit.
It is to be hoped that the ruling chiefs who stand in awe of Residents will know from the Rajkot example that if they are straight and if they have their people really at their back, they have nothing to fear from the Residents. Indeed they should realize that the Paramount Power resides not in Simla, not in Whitehall, but in their people. An awakened people who rely upon non-violent strength are independent in the face of any conceivable combination of armed powers. What Rajkot could do in three months every State can do if the people show the qualities that the people of Rajkot showed.
But I do not claim that the people of Rajkot had developed the rare type of non-violence that would stand true in the face of all odds. But Rajkot did show what even ordinary non-violence by a whole people in an organization could do for it.
But great as was the work done by the people of Rajkot, as civil resisters their real test is yet to come. Their victory, if it is not followed up by a sustained exhibition of the same qualities that secured it, may prove also their undoing. By a long course of training Congressmen all over India have shown their capacity for offering civil resistance, but they have yet to show capacity for constructive non-violence. Civil disobedience may well be adulterated with much incivility, i. e., violence, and yet pass current. But construction is very difficult. In it detection of violence is easy. And existence of violence may even turn victory into a trap and prove it to have been a delusion. Will the people exhibit the requisite selflessness and self-denial? Will they resist the temptation to serve themselves and their dependants? Any scramble for power will rob the people at large of what they should really get if there was wise and resolute leadership that would command ready and willing obedience. Kathiawar is noted for its intrigues. It contains a race of politicals whose one aim in life is self-advancement, if it is also known to contain stuff of which heroes are made. If the politicals gain the upper hand, there will be no Ramraj in Rajkot. Ramraj means renunciation all along the line. It means discipline imposed by the people on themselves. If constructive non-violence is displayed by the people, it is possible for Rajkot to radiate an influence that can easily make Rajkot an example to follow.
Let the victory, therefore, be a time for humility, heart-search and prayer instead of self-satisfaction and vain rejoicings. I shall watch, wait and pray.
