‘The Triple Stream’

BY K. RAMAKOTISWARA RAU*

On the 15th of August

The Notes for the August ‘Triveni’ were written on the 20th of July. Independence was then in prospect, but had not yet been achieved. For the first time now, I am writing in an India “free as is her right”, in the expressive phrase of Dr. Besant. She used it in the Home Rule’ days of 1916, when “to be young”–and at college–“was very heaven.” But she was equally clear in her mind that Britain and India were to go forward “hand in hand”. Her dream is today a reality, for Nehru and Mountbatten, the representatives of India and Britain, are jointly planning for the future when East and West shall be one: they are the architects of the ‘One World’ which will emerge from the travail of the present. They are the heralds of what is definitely the ‘Gandhian Era’ in world-politics, the era of the final victory of non-violence over violence, of Truth over un-truth.

From the Home Rule movement of 1916 to the Non-co-operation movement of August 1920 was a great step. For twenty-seven years continuously, Gandhiji has been at the helm. To those of us who left our professions and donned the rough home-spun of 1920 resembling the valkala of the Ramayana, he has also been the guiding star of hope.

As the 15th of August approached, and India seemed to be at the journey’s end, a type of nostalgia for my home-town in Andhra overpowered me. I wondered why I was in Malleswaram, Bangalore, and not in the dear little square where my fellow-townsmen must be hoisting the new Flag of Freedom. It was a vague feeling that the stream of Life had passed by, and I was stranded. I had not striven for any reward, but while others had rewards in abundant measure, why was I in the cold? I was slightly rebellious. But even as the thought shaped itself, I was invited by the Mysore State Journalists’ Association to have tea with them in the afternoon of the 15th, to listen to a vina recital, and finally to unveil a portrait of Gandhiji. So, that was my reward. And it came to me in a form, which was exceedingly welcome, for, while I have done many odd jobs during the last thirty years–law, teaching, political propaganda, the legislature, and jail-going–I am a journalist at the core of my being. So, what greater joy could there be for a journalist like me than the enlivening company of brother-journalists, and the chance to pay a tribute of affection, on Independence Day, to the greatest member of our clan–the Editor of ‘Indian Opinion’, ‘Young India’ and ‘Harijan’? And, in unveiling the portrait, I deposited on the pedestal a copy of the new ‘Triveni’ Monthly published the day previous, and bowed in reverence to the Father of the Nation.

But the 5th of September is a day greater than even the 15th of August. In the words of Sri C. Rajagopalachariar, Governor of West Bengal, “there has been nothing, not even Independence, which is so truly wonderful as his victory over evil in Calcutta’. May his victory be equally resounding in distracted Punjab!

Redistribution of Provinces

While Swaraj has been won, the method of working it is as yet vague and undefined. Important problems bearing on the re-orientation of civic life are being quietly shelved. The people of the South–the Andhras and Kannadigas in particular–are agitated over the redistribution of Provinces on the basis of language and culture. Dr. Pattabhi and Sri R. R. Diwakar seem to be fighting a losing battle in the Constituent Assembly. Every technical device and every point of procedure is being requisitioned, in order, to put off indefinitely the carving of administrative Provinces which will so function as to enable the common citizen, ignorant of English or Hindustani, to follow intelligently–and participate actively in–the governance of the country. A Dominion Government is already in power–not in office merely –but the recommendation of the Pattabhi Committee has not even been discussed in the open session of the Constituent Assembly. Now that the Assembly has been adjourned to the middle of November next, a formal resolution of the Constitution-making body calling upon the Government of the Indian Union to appoint an Enquiry Committee and other ancillary bodies cannot be recorded for about three months from now. Meanwhile, precious time is being lost, and Sri Diwakar’s calculation of chances, as expressed in his valuable article in the present number of ‘Triveni’, that it may be possible to enumerate the new Provinces of Andhra, Karnataka, etc., in the Constitution of the Indian Republic, is indeed far too optimistic.

The impression is widespread that the last of the hurdles to be over come by the advocates of Linguistic Provinces is the obstinacy of the Home Minister, Sri Vallabhbhai Patel. He is believed to be greatly intrigued about the position of Bombay City, for, what is to happen to Gujarat if the Maharashtrians’ claim to that island city is ‘allowed’? And so, the entire question may have to be postponed. But, pray, is the Home Minister also the wielder of the destinies of the millions who are yearning for the formation of their own Home Provinces within the frame-work of the Indian Union? Even if Patel is adamant and Nehru wavering, even if Shankar Rao Deo is lukewarm and Kripalani powerless, the men who have been pleading the cause of a sensible re-adjustment of provincial boundaries must assert themselves, and commit the Constituent Assembly to achieving in practice what the Congress has not only accepted in principle but adopted as a working proposition in all its organizational activities since the beginning of 1921. It was at the Nagpur Congress of 1920, and on the night of the last day of that year, that three eminent journalists–Gandhiji of ‘Young India’, Dr. Pattabhi of ‘Janmabhumi’, and Sri A. Rangaswami Iyengar, then of the ‘Swadesamitran’–divided India into homogeneous linguistic units for purposes of Congress work. But today, in September 1947 when the tricolour is flying over the Red Fort at Delhi, the top-ranking leaders of the Congress are just fumbling, and seeking to postpone, what seems to some of them–Heaven knows why–the evil day when Linguistic Provinces become a reality in the administrative sphere. So, as Sri Diwakar urges, vigilance is needed.

Starving the Spirit

In the wake of Independence, the pursuit of culture as expressed through Art and Letters must be one of the main concerns of a citizen of India. Politics and economics, science and industry, are the builders of the physical body of a nation. The fine arts, which ultimately flower into a rich philosophy of life, minister to the mind and the spirit. A prolonged fight against adverse political conditions has inevitably resulted in the neglect of “the things that are more excellent”.

Turning over old numbers of ‘Triveni’, I chanced upon the following passage in ‘The Triple Stream’ for August 1934, which sums up the case for cultural pursuits: -

“For over a decade, the flower of the nation have given up wealth comfort, and careers. During a period of stress and misfortune, even intellectual nourishment has been eschewed as a luxury fit only for more peaceful times. A whole generation of young men and women has denied itself the culture that sustains and uplifts. While their emotions have been enriched, their intellect has been starved…..Art and literature, history and philosophy are the most prized possessions of a race, and continued neglect of them will lead to impoverishment of the spirit. Institutions like the Kashi Vidyapith, the Gujerat Vidyapith, and the Andhra Jatheeya Kalasala ought to address themselves to this supreme duty of giving the workers a chance to come into direct contact with the springs of national culture. After a period of study and meditation, they may go forth to re-organize the countless villages in the land as efficient units of a Swaraj India.”

This holds good, even after thirteen years.

* September 6.

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