and if they
are not so fortunate as to secure the blessings of the National Assembly
without meaning any disrespect to that assembly, it is their bounden
duty to go on with their programme, and so it is the duty of every Hindu
who considers his Mussalman brother as a brother who has a just cause
which he wishes to vindicate, to throw in his lot with his Mussalman
brother. Our leader does not quarrel with the principle of
non-co-operation by itself, but he objects to the three principal
details of non-co-operation.

COUNCIL ELECTIONS

He considers that it is our duty to seek election to the Councils and
fight our battle on the floor of the Council hall. I do not deny the
possibility of a fight and a royal fight on the Council floor. We have
done it for the last 35 years, but I venture to suggest to you and to
him, with all due respect, that it is not non-co-operation and it is not
half as successful as non-co-operation can be. You cannot go to a class
of people with a view to convince them by any fight--call it even
obstruction--who have got a settled conviction and a settled policy to
follow. It is in medical language an incompatible mixture out of which
you can gain nothing, but if you totally boycott the Council, you create
a public opinion in the country with reference to the Khilafat wrong and
the Punjab wrong which will become totally irresistible. The first
advantage of going to the Councils must be good-will on the part of the
rulers. It is absolutely lacking. In the place of good-will you have got
nothing but injustice but I must move on.

LAWYERS' PRACTICE

I come now to the second objection of Mr. Kasturiranga Iyengar with
reference to the suspension by lawyers of their practice. Milk is good
in itself but it comes absolutely poisonous immediately a little bit of
arsenic is added to it. Law courts are similarly good when justice is
distilled through them on behalf of a Sovereign power which wants to do
justice to its people. Law courts are one of the greatest symbols of
power and in the battle of non-co-operation, you may not leave law
courts untouched and claim to offer non-co-operation, but if you will
read that objection carefully, you will find in that objection the great
fear that the lawyers will not respond to the call that the country
makes upon them, and it is just there that the beauty of
non-co-operation comes in. If one lawyer alone suspends practice, it is
so much to the good of the country a