ice. The
Mussalmans say frankly openly and honourably to the whole world that if
the British Ministers and the British nation do not fulfil the pledges
given to them and do not wish to regard with respect the sentiments of
70 millions of the inhabitants of India who profess the faith of Islam,
it will be impossible for them to retain Islamic loyalty. It is a
question, then for the rest of the Indian population to consider whether
they want to perform a neighbourly duty by their Mussalman countrymen,
and if they do, they have an opportunity of a lifetime which will not
occur for another hundred years, to show their good-will, fellowship and
friendship and to prove what they have been saying for all these long
years that the Mussalman is the brother of the Hindu. If the Hindu
regards that before the connection with the British nation comes his
natural connection with his Moslem brother, then I say to you that if
you find that the Moslem claim is just, that it is based upon real
sentiment, and that at its back ground is this great religious feeling,
you cannot do otherwise than help the Mussalman through and through, so
long as their cause remains just, and the means for attaining the end
remains equally just, honourable and free from harm to India. These are
the plain conditions which the Indian Mussalmans have accepted; and it
was when they saw that they could accept the proferred aid of the
Hindus, that they could always justify the cause and the means before
the whole world, that they decided to accept the proferred hand of
fellowship. It is then for the Hindus and Mahomedans to offer a united
front to the whole of the Christian powers of Europe and tell them that
weak as India is, India has still got the capacity of preserving her
self-respect, she still knows how to die for her religion and for her
self-respect.

That is the Khilafat in a nut-shell; but you have also got the Punjab.
The Punjab has wounded the heart of India as no other question has for
the past century. I do not exclude from my calculation the Mutiny of
1857. Whatever hardships India had to suffer during the Mutiny, the
insult that was attempted to be offered to her during the passage of the
Rowlatt legislation and that which was offered after its passage were
unparalleled in Indian history. It is because you want justice from the
British nation in connection with the Punjab atrocities: you have to
devise, ways and means as to how you can get this ju