BOYCOTT OF BRITISH GOODS

ANGLO-INDIAN newspapers like the M Gazette and The Pioneer are up in arms against the Congress because of its temerity in passing a resolution advocating the boycott of British goods, or rather of goods made in Great Britain, her Colonies and Dominions. “It was typical of the recklessness which animates the present leaders of the Congress,” writes the Gazette, “that they should have chosen this particular juncture to abandon the restraints which Mr Gandhi’s more cautions spirit had imposed on them and should have voted for plunging the country into the turmoil of a wholesale boycott of British goods.” Similarly, The Pioneer thinks that by passing this resolution the Congress has abandoned any attempt to camouflage its sentiments and aims and has shown that violence is the basis of its creed, and actually calls upon the Government of India and the Provincial Governments to take all necessary measures to protect law-abiding citizens in the exercise of their legitimate rights. In both cases, the pretended ground for the opposition is that the movement is bound to lead to disorder and violence. We put it to the writers that if they really believed what they say they would, instead of condemning the resolution in the vehement and unrestrained terms they do, welcome it in their heart of hearts, for no one knows better than they that nothing is more calculated to give that setback to the cause of India’s constitutional advance which they so ardently desire than violence or anything approaching violence on the part of those who advocate it. It is just because they apprehend that this particular resolution like so many other resolutions of the Congress and allied bodies will be carried out in a spirit of complete non-violence that they feel so distinctly uneasy.

#Congress #England