Mr President, Sir, let people read Bharati

A speech by R N Goenka, MLC

It was as the representative of a Calcutta textile trading company that Ramnath Goenka arrived in Madras in 1926. He was just 24. Evidently, he had talents that went beyond those of a textile trader. He made instant connections and became, in the very year of his arrival, a member of the Madras Legislative Council on a five-year term. One of his interventions was to oppose the Government’s ban on a book of Subramania Bharati’s songs. (He was a nominated member, but that never stopped him from speaking out against the Government). This was what the MLC, with no knowledge of Tamil, said about the Bharati book in October 1928:

Mr President, Sir, I am an occasional speaker and I have no desire to speak on every motion before the House. But this is a matter on which I have been actuated to speak by my real desire and from my heart of hearts. I am not a Tamil scholar; I do not know even the A, B, C of the Tamil language. From what I have already heard of Bharati’s songs and from what hon. Members have said on this occasion, I would say that the Tamilians of this Province have every right to sing these songs. As a Member of the Committee of the Hindi Prachar Sabha, I want to say that these books were published by that Sabha at their own cost, whose workers beg from door to door to educate the people of Madras in Hindustani. They stand to lose to the extent of not less than Rs 2,000.

Yesterday, the Government brought forward a motion for the sanction of a sum of Rs 4,000 for a book regarding South Indian birds. This sum of Rs 4,000 has been in my opinion thrown into the Bay of Bengal. It was the duty of the Government to publish the songs of Bharati and broadcast them; it was for them to distribute free copies to illiterate masses to read them. My hon. Friends on the opposite benches said yesterday that those books (on birds) would be useful to the agriculturists. I cannot really understand what agriculturists have got to do with those books. If the agriculturists have got to do with any songs they are Bharati’s songs and Bharati’s songs alone.

I request the hon. The Law Member, Dr Subbarayan and Mr Muthiah Mudaliar, the new Minister, to support us; and if they do not do so, we will have to form a different opinion of them. As was pointed out by my hon. friend, Mr Satyamurti, the hon. Dr Subbarayan, in answer to a question put by some hon. Member of this House, said that he would recommend these books to be taught in schools in the Madras Presidency. On the one hand the hon. The Education Minister says that he wants these books to be taught in the schools of Madras; on the other hand the hon. The Law Member says that he does not want these books and that they contain seditious matter. I find that not a single speech has been made in support of the action of the Government in prescribing and confiscating these books. The feeling in this House and outside it is unanimous that the action of the Government is wrong.

Mr President, I am pleased to see that by this motion and by this confiscation the prestige of Bharati’s songs has been increased. People who have not yet bought a copy will buy one now to see what it contains, and even I, who do not know Tamil, will ask some one of my friends to buy one for me in order to see what is in that book. Like that, there will be many more people who will buy a copy each. Therefore, I say, as a matter of fact, that the hon. The Law Member and the hon. The Home Member have done a great service to the country and to the Madras Presidency in confiscating these books and afterwards saying that these books do not contain seditious matter and that therefore they are open to the public. I wish that my friends in the House would rise to the occasion and support this motion, and I am also waiting to see if the Treasury bench would support this motion.’’

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