... her freedom during his lifetime. SRI AUROBINDO: That is quite possible. If by freedom is meant Dominion Status, India can get it tomorrow if Jinnah comes round. NIRODBARAN: It seems Gandhi is ready to accept Dominion Status. SRI AUROBINDO: Of course. That is common sense. If after Dominion Status you can secede from the British Government at any time and thus get without fighting what you want... Empire. Otherwise the British Government would have been willing to concede full Dominion Status to Ireland as one whole. In India, if Jinnah had had the good sense to come to an agreement with the Congress, the British Government would have granted Dominion Status. The real problem then would have been after Dominion Status, what? NIRODBARAN: Why? SRI AUROBINDO: There would have been a fight between... very easy! PURANI: He has plans of conquering India too after the British have left. SRI AUROBINDO: But he seems to have said that the native states wouldn't exist for long if India got Dominion Status. In any case their existence is now at an end. He is a man who has moods; so he may say different things in different moods. PURANI (showing a book) : Abhay has given this Vedic concordance ...
... did he go in for the I.C.S. to waste himself?... In that official routine work all the brilliant qualities are lost. There is no scope for them. February 5, 1940 (A disciple:) Dominion status Sub has Bose calls a compromise; he wants independence. It is a compromise on the surface, but it is practically independence; you get all you want without any unnecessary Page 223... also half-hearted against [the scheme of] Pakistan.... The Congress and other people are shouting old slogans in changed conditions. At one time the Independence cry was all right, but now Dominion status is almost equivalent to that and in time you can be virtually independent. Besides, it is the best chance under the present conditions in opposition to charkha and non-violence____ (A... Gandhi will declare we are all non-violent. Hitler will be delighted at it. _______________ * In 1942, Sri Aurobindo publicly supported the Cripps proposal to grant India Dominion status (see page 237). Page 224 Yes, he will sweep off everybody with machine guns. Gandhi believes he can be converted. It is a beautiful idea, but not credible. Does ...
... disclosure. What Amery has said is true—that if the internal differences were resolved then Dominion Status would be easily granted. NIRODBARAN: But what can Congress do? SRI AUROBINDO: Why? They can take the four Muslim Premiers together—what Azad is doing now—and come to a solution and settle the Dominion Status. Once you get that, it is practically independence, even if that independence is precarious... NIRODBARAN: He may do quite the opposite the next day. SATYENDRA: Yes, as the conditions change. SRI AUROBINDO: That is supramental. PURANI: Rajagopalachari will be willing to accept Dominion Status, I think. SRI AUROBINDO: He is a practical man. Now they are neither doing civil disobedience nor going to the Ministry. Gandhi knows only his Charkha. The Charkha is going to give Swaraj, ... wonderful "co-ordination" of ideas. NIRODBARAN: Won't it give realisation of God? SRI AUROBINDO: He has not come to that yet. But he has found the Charkha in the Gita. If India accepts Dominion Status, that will remove one of the difficulties of America's joining the war. NIRODBARAN: Is that really true? Some papers, of course, mention it. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite true. Even the British people ...
... happen but there is no sign of it at present. Most of the things will happen, it seems, in the first quarter of the year. NIRODBARAN: Congress will come to power again, it says. SATYENDRA: Dominion Status is near perhaps. The Viceroy has promised that it will be established in the minimum amount of time but we must come to an agreement with the minorities. Is he a Scotsman? PURANI: Yes, why?... truth there. SRI AUROBINDO: How? SATYENDRA: Because of the Viceroy's statement. Some people seem to take it as an advance upon his previous statement. NIRODBARAN: Because he has said that Dominion Status will be given as soon as possible? SRI AUROBINDO: Within the minimum time, though what the minimum time is nobody knows. SATYENDRA: Yes, that is something new though he has asked the leaders... leaders to come to an agreement with the minorities. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, he has moved a little. SATYENDRA: There is something else too. SRI AUROBINDO: Oh yes, that point about India's Dominion Status being equivalent to the Westminster Act? SATYENDRA: Yes, and then he has agreed to give a few seats to the leaders in his Assembly. SRI AUROBINDO: That is another concession, in place of his ...
... First of all, the Government doesn't want to concede the demand for independence. What it is willing to give is Dominion Status after the War, expecting that India will settle down into a common relationship with the Empire. But just now a national government will virtually mean Dominion Status with the Viceroy only as a constitutional head. Nobody knows what the Congress will do after it gets power. It... The trouble about India is that the British have not kept a single promise so far. Nobody trusts them. Sri Aurobindo: The fact is they don't believe that India will help them if she is given Dominion Status. Otherwise they would have given it. Rao: I don't think India will refuse to help. Sri Aurobindo: Don't you? What about the Left Wing, the Communists, Bose, for instance? And it is not true... of the whole discussion till the arrival of the Cripps' Mission can be put in a few words; the Congress made a big mistake by resigning from the Ministry. The Government was ready to offer us Dominion Status which we should have accepted, for it was virtually a step towards independence. We should have joined the war-effort. That would have created an opportunity to enter into all military departments ...
... hanging. NIRODBARAN: You said that if the British gave Dominion Status to India, a large part of their Karma would be wiped off SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. NIRODBARAN: Now they have offered it but if India doesn't accept, what will be the result to British Karma? SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know! PURANI: But where have they offered Dominion Status? SRI AUROBINDO: Why, it is the same thing. They have... have offered "free and equal partnership in the Commonwealth". That is the same as Dominion Status. They can't call it Dominion Status because Jinnah is opposed to it and the Congress too. Where it falls short is on the question of the minorities—if the minorities don't accept it, it can't be given. There is also the question of the expansion of the council, but that could be turned into a National ...
... and karma. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes. If she had declared Dominion Status to India, then a large part of her karma would have been wiped off. SATYENDRA: That was also what Gandhi's moral support meant. SRI AUROBINDO: No, moral support is quite different. PURANI: The Statesman, whose editor is Moore, has again written for Dominion Status, and in the Hindu also some Briton wrote of it yesterday... yesterday. SRI AUROBINDO: They are only individuals. If Amery were strong and firm against the Simla attitude, then he could do something. Till now he hasn't said anything against the granting of Dominion Status. PURANI: If English opinion also turned in our favour? SRI AUROBINDO: No, English opinion won't do. It is the opinion of the House of Commons and that of the Conservatives that matter. Some ...
... all, the British don't want to concede the demand for independence. What they are willing to give is Dominion Status after the war and they expect that after that India will settle down into a common relationship with the Empire. But just now a national government would virtually mean Dominion Status, with the Viceroy acting only as a constitutional head. Nobody knows what the Congress will do after... get or I don't know what is going to happen. Of course if we had the strength and power to make a revolution and get what we want, it would be a different matter. Amery and others did offer Dominion Status at one time. Now they have altered their stand because of the temper of the people. These politicians have some fixed ideas and they always go by them. Politicians and statesmen have to take account ...
... with politics; but I cannot believe without proof that this is the state of their mentality. 17 November 1932 Dominion Status The Mother has said that only a minor portion of the government will remain in British hands. That seems to be a description of "Dominion Status". In the Dominions the British Government have only a nominal power, not any real sovereignty. Page 205 ...
... to disappear by the formidable survival of a military Germany under the Führer. × Now called Dominion Status. Unfortunately, this recognition could not be put into force except after a violent struggle in Ireland and was marred by the partition of the country. After a vehement passive resistance in India... principle worked in the creation of a free Iraq, the creation of Arab kingdom and Syrian republic, the withdrawal of imperialistic influence from Persia and, above all, in the institution of Dominion Status substituting an internally free and equal position in a commonwealth of peoples for a dominating Empire. Yet these results, however imperfect, prepared the greater fulfilments which we now see ...
... to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation in the fight against the worldwide threat. In this proposal, Great Britain offered India Dominion status, as a first step towards an independent government. Sri Aurobindo at once came out of retirement to wire his adhesion to Cripps; he wired all of India's leaders, and even sent a personal messenger... solution urgent face grave peril. Appeal to you to save India formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." No one understood: "Why is he meddling?" Had it accepted Dominion status, India would have avoided the partition of the country in two, the artificial creation of Pakistan, as well as the three wars that were to follow (and which we haven't heard the last of), and the ...
... Government's war resolution yesterday has been noted by The Hindu too. The resolution calling for the immediate grant of Dominion Status says that no further political development should be made without the full consent of the minorities. SRI AUROBINDO: It means that the Dominion Status should make provision for the protection of the rights of the minorities, There is no inconsistency. They want to insert ...
... around Bombay they were badly defeated in the elections. If the Congress can get Dominion Status without any fighting or struggle, I don't see why it shouldn't accept it. It can then build up our defence and when that is ready, it can easily cut off the British connection. NIRODBARAN: Subhas calls Dominion Status a compromise. He wants independence. SRI AUROBINDO: It is a compromise on the surface ...
... history tantalisingly repeats itself. Twenty years later, the issue of Independence versus Dominion Status was to be fought at the Madras, Calcutta and Lahore Congresses (1927-9) respectively. Once again - this time Mahatma Gandhi - tried to hedge, by avoiding both Independence and Dominion Status but reviving the familiar Swaraj and further qualifying it as Puma Swaraj! Of the four ...
... personally the solution agreed upon by the Cabinet.’ What Cripps had to propose was dominion status, ‘free to remain in or to separate itself from the equal partnership of the British Commonwealth of nations.’ Sri Aurobindo perceived immediately the advantages and possibilities for India. ‘If the Congress can get Dominion Status without any fighting or struggle,’ said Sri Aurobindo, ‘I don’t see why it shouldn’t ...
... inevitability of India's future independence and partly under American pressure to secure her support during the war, sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India in March, 1942, with a proposal for dominion status after the war, as a first step towards full independence. Sri Aurobindo sent Cripps the following message.) As one who has been a nationalist leader and worker for India's independence... the inevitability of India's future independence and partly under American pressure to secure her support during the war, sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India in March, 1942, with a proposal for dominion status after the war, as a first step towards full independence. Sri Aurobindo sent Cripps the following message.) As one who has been a nationalist leader and worker for India's independence ...
... talk and phrase-making. It is not practical. The Congress is wrong in laying down such conditions. The Government is not going to submit to it. What they really intend to give is some form of Dominion Status as in Ireland, where India will be linked to Great Britain and not go over to any foreign power against her, as she can if she is independent. The British want to keep India with them and slowly... time we shall become accustomed to having a connection with them. The Congress and others are shouting old slogans in changed conditions. At one time the Independence cry was all right, but now Dominion Status is almost equivalent to that and in time you will be virtually independent. Besides, it is the best option under the present conditions in contrast to charkha and non-violence. Hitler won't give ...
... weight into the efforts for the effective organisation of the defence of the country". In response to this, the Viceroy made an offer known as the August Offer. While reiterating the offer of Dominion Status, he agreed that the writing of an Indian constitution was the primary responsibility of Indians themselves. He, therefore, offered to set up a constitution making body after the war. As for the... future independence and partly under American pressure to secure her support during the war, sent Sir Stafford Cripps to Page 51 India in March 1942, with a proposal for Dominion Status after the war, as a first step towards full independence. The Cripps Mission The proposals that Sir Stafford Cripps brought with him may be summarised as follows: In order ...
... weight into the efforts for the effective organisation of the defence of the country'. In response to this, the Viceroy made an offer known as the August Offer. While reiterating the offer of Dominion Status, he agreed that the writing of an Indian constitution was the primary responsibility of Indians themselves. He, therefore, offered to set up a constitution-making body after the War. As for the... realising the inevitability of India's future independence and partly under American pressure to secure her support during the war, sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India in March 1942, with a proposal for Dominion Status after the war, as a first step towards full independence. The Cripps Mission The proposals that Sir Stafford Cripps brought with him may be summarised as follows: ...
... 69·70, 15 I, 152, 182 in ancient times, 165 , 177 basis of democracy, 39 India's, 49, 158 see also Sanatana dharma dictatorship, 214 diplomacy, 37 , 45 divide-and-rule, 17, 18 -19,230 Dominion status (for India), 223-224, 231, 237 Dravidian languages, 97, 98(/11), 108-109 races, 49(11), 96 , 98 , 107 -109, 114, 115 ,116 see also Aryan invasion Duraiswamy Iyer, 237(fn) Durga, 124, 222-223 ...
... continuation of large wars might either according to its fortunes dissolve the still loose or compel a more coherent system. At present, however, this possibility is held back by the arrival of true Dominion Status and the Westminster Statute which make federation unnecessary for any practical purpose and even perhaps undesirable for the sentiment in favour of a practical independence. ...
... highly-placed friends in legal and medical professions. In 1942, Sri Aurobindo was to send him to Delhi with a message to the Congress high command exhorting them to accept the Cripps proposal of dominion status for India. × Rajangam settled here in mid-1923. See his article “Long Back” in Breath of Grace ...
... would most probably never have happened. In March of that year Sir Stafford Cripps, the British Lord Privy Seal and as such a member of Churchill’s war cabinet, came to India to offer the country ‘dominion status’ in what is known as ‘the Cripps-offer’. This meant ‘the creation of a new Indian union which shall constitute a dominion, associated with the United Kingdom and other dominions by a common allegiance ...
... the Congress and Muslim leaders so that a responsible Central Government could be formed to mobilise Indian resources for fighting the Japanese. He also offered to create a new Indian Union with Dominion Status and with a constitution to be framed by India's own representatives after the War. When Sir Stafford Cripps came to India to work out the details, Sri Aurobindo welcomed the mission and on March ...
... know what is behind the play of things. For others it is only faith. And faith is sometimes very ignorant. NIRODBARAN: Have you read Arthur Moore's article? He has pleaded very strongly for Dominion Status. SATYENDRA: Many Europeans are now supporting it. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, it is only the bureaucracy, tied up in its old tradition and routine, that doesn't see things that way. ...
... the Government made some gesture, then everybody would willingly help. Sarojini Naidu has said that nobody in India wants Hitler's victory. If the British gave some self-government—for instance, Dominion Status—all would help the Allies." SRI AUROBINDO: Is what she says true? I thought that India was anti-British. Mitran has told the Mother that Madras is pro-Hitler. SATYENDRA: That must be the ...
... India is that the British Government has not kept a single promise so far. So nobody trusts it. SRI AUROBINDO: The fact is that the British don't trust India [to] help them if she is given Dominion Status. Otherwise they would have given it. DR. RAO: I don't think India will refuse to help if we get something in return. SRI AUROBINDO: You think so? I am not sure. What do you think of the ...
... SATYENDRA: Jinnah has realised that the Viceroy doesn't want to part with power. SRI AUROBINDO (laughing): To the Muslim League? No! The Government is in an impossible position. Congress wants Dominion Status now and, declaration of independence after the war; at the same time it refuses to say that it will support Britain in the war and speaks only of the defence of India. The Muslims want Pakistan ...
... these days. PURANI: Hyderabad wants to be an independent sovereign state after the war and has asked the British to withdraw their forces and treat it as an equal. It says that if India gets Dominion Status, Hyderabad should become an independent sovereign state. SRI AUROBINDO: An independent dominion within a dominion? PURANI: No, an independent state altogether. SRI AUROBINDO: Why does ...
... as to intimidate the British Government. SRI AUROBINDO: A small number of revolutionaries won't intimidate the Government. Even if they succeed, the Government will not give independence but Dominion Status, which they are willing even now to give after some time. England will give up India only when she finds it impossible to retain her, either because of the threat of defeat or because the whole ...
... NIRODBARAN: Has Gandhi himself proclaimed independence for India or has the Working Committee forced it on him? SRI AUROBINDO: It must behis own move. He is warning the Congress against accepting Dominion Status. NIRODBARAN: Our fate seems to be changing. Before we were under the French and now perhaps we will be under the British. SATYENDRA: Can't say; everything is in a flux. SRI AUROBINDO: ...
... walk out of it. They are afraid of that happening if they leave India now. It would certainly mean civil war and any other power can walk into India. They have proclaimed that they would grant Dominion Status which amounts to Independence except one or two matters like defense and foreign affairs. Page 297 They don't care for world opinion or India because the opinion they consider ...
... advocate by profession, he was Sri Aurobindo's emissary who carried his message to the Congress Working Committee when, in 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps's proposal to create a new Indian Union with a Dominion Status was being discussed in New Delhi. Unfortunately Sri Aurobindo's recommendation to accept the proposal was rejected. "integral manifestation." She was sure that A new ...
... Government, with a proposal for India’s self-determination immediately after the war in exchange for her loyal support during the war. Sri Aurobindo saw at once that this would be equivalent to dominion status, which in turn would quasi automatically lead to complete self-determination and independence. He therefore sent the following message to Stafford Cripps: “… As one who has been a nationalist leader ...
... disappointed at his not doing so.”’ 12 This lack of understanding was one of the reasons why, in 1942, Mohandas K. Gandhi refused to listen when Sri Aurobindo insisted that the Cripps offer of dominion status for India be accepted; had it been, the division of the country into India and Pakistan might have been prevented. In her he found a vastness like his own … In her he met his own eternity ...
... fact and Ireland has become the independent Republic of Ireland. × Home Rule now replaced by Dominion Status which means a confederation in fact though not yet in form. ...
... certain respects. An Indian will be in charge of foreign affairs and India will have her own representative in foreign countries. This and other circumstances are an approach practically towards Dominion Status. Of course, there are a few features which personally Sri Aurobindo would not advocate, e.g. the apparent foundation of the Ministry on a communal Page 471 basis instead of a coalition ...
... × Sri Aurobindo sent a special messenger to Delhi advising Indian leaders to accept, as a first step towards independence, Sir Stafford Cripps' proposal of Dominion status for India. Sri Aurobindo held that this proposal conferred essential independence on India by putting her on a par with the various Dominions already associated with the United Kingdom. Had his ...
... Arabs from Tripoli and replaced them by Italians. India must get into the habit of freedom for about twenty or thirty years and then prepare for independence. To my mind the best thing is to have Dominion Status at present and then later on get ready for complete independence. India is a poor country, has no army, can't afford to have modern armaments. So long as she has no defence, she has to rely on ...
... England over Germany, that you can deal with England, while with Germany—( Sri Aurobindo began to shake his head.) NIRODBARAN: I suppose Britain has a fear that we may not help her in the war if Dominion Status is given. SRI AUROBINDO: There can be an understanding. I hope the Viceroy will come to an agreement with Gandhi. If the Government does not want to make any advancement on previous terms why ...
... irresistible temptation of going back to office, to stick to non-violence and to declare independence as the immediate goal. SRI AUROBINDO: And yet it was he who asked the Congress to accept Dominion Status and even made a proclamation about it. PURANI: Yes. The French fleet has been demolished in Alexandria. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, and the British and French sailors are drinking together in the ...
... disobedience as the country is not prepared. SRI AUROBINDO: And the country will never be prepared according to the conditions laid down by him. NIRODBARAN: How to explain this shift in him from Dominion Status to independence? SRI AUROBINDO: Don't know. He doesn't know himself, probably. Caught by forces. SATYENDRA: Or is it his principle of non-violence that is the difficulty with him? SRI ...
... with invasion would be serious. Besides, talk of independence is absurd. England won't concede that, especially if after that you declare yourself neutral. When the British Government offered Dominion Status of the Westminster variety— NIRODBARAN: That was as good as independence and, as in the case of Ireland, the British Government could not force India to join the war. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, ...
... sympathy of the British public. SRI AUROBINDO: He is right. What sympathy the British have at present will cool down if India persists in this attitude. They will say, "We have promised them Dominion Status after the war, what more do they want?" They can't understand fine distinctions. ...
... Viceroy has conceded our right to frame our own constitution, it is quite reasonable. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, only people don't listen to reason nowadays. SATYENDRA: And it is a greater step than Dominion Status. SRI AUROBINDO: Certainly. SATYENDRA: And the expansion of the Council, that is also quite reasonable. NIRODBARAN: But one must know what part they would play. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite ...
... 'England's difficulty is India's opportunity', became a catchphrase in the national armoury. The educated middle class all over the country was touched by her powerful oratory and bold demand of Dominion Status on the basis of equality and rallied to the League. Besant started the Home Rule League as an independent organisation. The first meeting of the League was held on 3 September 1916. Besant was ...
... he is going to feed them. It is the Asura spreading his influence like that. He promises that he will bring peace and world-order etc. The new order would be that the British should declare dominion status and pass some parts to Germany. When Sri Aurobindo was told about the efficiency of air-raid shelter supplied by Anderson in England and after knowing how it worked Sri Aurobindo said ...
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