< Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu
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it is a mistake to go through the election farce and the expense of it, when we clearly do not intend to take part in the proceedings of these Legislative Councils. Moreover, a great deal of educative work has to be done among the people, and if I could I would not have the best attention of the country frittered away in electioneering. The populace will not understand the beauty of Non-Co-operation, if we seek election and then resign; but it would be a fine education for them if electors are taught not to elect anybody and unanimously to tell whosoever may be seeking their suffrage that he would not represent them if he sought election so long as the Punjab and Khilafat questions were not satisfactorily settled. I hope, however, that Lala Lajpat Rai does not mean to end with the boycott of the Reformed Councils. We must take, if necessary, every one of the four stages of Non-Co-operation if we are to be regarded as a self-respecting nation. The issue is clear. Both the Khilafat terms and the Punjab affairs show that Indian opinion counts for little in the Councils of the Empire. It is a humiliating position. We shall make nothing of the Reforms if we quietly swallow the humiliation. In my humble

opinion, therefore, the first condition of real progress is the removal of these two difficulties in our path, and unless some better course of action is devised, Non-Co-operation must hold the field.


THE KHILAFAT QUESTION

We have referred more than once to Mr. Gandhi's connection with the Khilafat question. The country was in the throes of a tremendous agitation—an agitation which gained enormously in its intensity and popular appeal by the mere fact of Mr. Gandhi’s participation in it. It would take us far afield to discuss the whole question of the history of the Khilafat movement. Briefly put, it resolves itself into two primary factors. The first was the Premier’s pledge and promise, that after the war nothing would be done to disturb the integrity of the Ottoman Empire both as a concession to Muslim loyalty and in accordance with the principles of self-determination. The second was that the violation of imperial obligation was thoroughly immoral and should at all costs be resisted by all self-respecting Mahomedans. In this gigantic enterprise Hindus must help Mahomedans and join hands with them as a token of neighbourly regard. This at any rate was the interpretation put upon the Khilafat question by Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Gandhi would not stoop to consider

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