Nirodbaran
Talks with Sri Aurobindo
Volume 1
10 December 1938 – 14 January 1941
7 July 1940
Purani: Baudoin is furious with the British.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. He says that this aggressive action of the navy is a blot on English honour – people who are entitled to honour!
Have you heard that the banker and the Vice-Consul of Pondicherry are back?
Purani: No.
Sri Aurobindo: They are back and now the blockade will be withdrawn. Trains won’t be stopped; the currency will be all right.
Purani: They must have settled with the Madras Governor.
Sri Aurobindo: Maybe. But nothing is known on this side. I mean, what the Pondy Governor has decided.
Dr. Rao: Weygand, in a statement appearing in today’s paper, has laid the blame on the British. He says that he asked them to fight in the southwest, but instead of that they went to the north so that they could escape, and by sacrificing the majority of the French army their Expeditionary Force was able to get away.
Sri Aurobindo: To fight in the southwest would have been the maddest thing to do. They would have been completely destroyed – both the French and the English.
Purani: Yes, by this move at least the English Army has been saved.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, that was the only course open. The French also should have withdrawn.
Dr. Rao: They say that France is their own homeland; they can’t leave it and get away.
Sri Aurobindo: It is not a question of homeland. The question is one of military strategy and the only strategy was to withdraw as quickly as possible. If the French had done that, they could have come back to France again and fought. And it was not only the British who escaped. They rescued more than a lakh of French people too. The fact is that after the breakdown at Sedan and the Meuse, the French, British and Belgian forces were encircled, and then no other course was left but to withdraw. Weygand has done nothing and is now trying to justify himself.
Nirodbaran: There is a notion among our people that the British played tricks and were treacherous.
Dr. Rao: Yes.
Sri Aurobindo: These people know nothing about war. Why would the British do that? Don’t they know that if France falls England will be in the greatest danger? Besides, Churchill has proved that he sent more soldiers than he had promised to Reynaud.
Purani: The British lost fifty thousand lorries.
Sri Aurobindo: One thousand guns and other material.
Satyendra (After a while): Is there no news about the invasion of Portugal?
Sri Aurobindo: No. It must have been a false rumour. Franco doesn’t seem to intend to claim Gibraltar. He won’t as long as the English navy is supreme. The Spaniards are only taking a promenade with one aeroplane and leaving a few bombs as mementos.
Nirodbaran: The important news was vague today – about the Alexandrian fleet.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, they couldn’t catch the keyword.
Nirodbaran: The Italians can send their navy to help the French.
Sri Aurobindo: They will take good care not to.
Purani: Alexandria is too far away, they might say.
Sri Aurobindo: They have their fleet in the Dodecanese; they could have sent it from there.
Dr. Rao: The Italians are said to be bad fighters.
Sri Aurobindo: Till now they haven’t proven themselves very good. Of course there have only been raids and skirmishes till now. One can’t judge from that.
Purani: Malta is such a small place and so near. The Italians have not been able to do anything till now. (After a while) Savarkar is not enthusiastic over the Viceroy’s extension of the Executive Council, it seems.
Sri Aurobindo: Nobody would be enthusiastic. It is like the old reforms, giving one or two seats.
Purani: Since the Hindu Maha Sabha’s and the Liberals’ defence policy is the same as that of the Congress, it is asked why the Government should take the minorities instead of the Congress majority with them and win the confidence of the masses.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, but the minorities like the Maha Sabha and the Liberals merely advocate their policy and don’t insist on it like the Congress. The Liberals say that they should have this and that. If nothing is conceded, they say, “All right, we shall wait till the next time.” They are a peaceful lot like the Pétain Government. Gandhi ought to like them.
Evening
Due to the war there has been a Government rule that all arrivals and departures, even for only two hours, must be reported to the police. Dr. Rao had not been reported yet. As soon as Purani entered the room, Sri Aurobindo commented on it.
Sri Aurobindo: Purani, have you reported this dangerous character?
Purani (smiling): No, I will do it tomorrow. Under cover of Sunday I was taking rest. Tomorrow I will go. (After a while) Is there any proposal by the Committee? Sikander Hyat Khan, it seems, has met the Working Committee and Gandhi, and is trying to come to a settlement. Fazlul Huque also was there.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, but there is no proposal. They are still discussing. But Gandhi is making the Congress position as difficult as possible.
Purani: How?
Sri Aurobindo: Haven’t you read his article today?
Purani: No.
Satyendra: He is asking the Congress to keep aloof from the 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 port. The French Senate met with only 450 members out of 932, a bare majority. The socialists, communists and radicals must have kept aloof because they knew the price of opposition. De Gaulle has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and fined one hundred francs by Pétain.
Purani: For fighting against Germany.
Sri Aurobindo: Oh no, for that the punishment is penal servitude for life or death. I suppose it is for their lack of fidelity to their promise to Hitler. I have read about that statement of Baudoin. After Weygand took command in the southwest, the French, British and Belgian armies were encircled by the Germans. The Belgians were asked to take up a new position which they refused to do and then defected. As a result the British were exposed from the north, while the French were encircled. If the British Expeditionary Force had not retreated, all would have been encircled and escape would have been impossible.
After some had left, Nirodbaran brought up the topic of Gandhi again.
Nirodbaran: Gandhi seems to have been in a hurry to bring out his article before the report of the Working Committee.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, he would have been too late otherwise.
Nirodbaran: If Gandhi takes up this attitude there is no chance of a compromise.
Sri Aurobindo: It is impossible.
Nirodbaran: His hasty departure for Wardha, his short meeting with Sikander Hyat Khan and everything else show he is in no mood for any compromise.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes.
Nirodbaran: And yet it was such a fine opportunity when Hyat Khan, Fazlul Huque and the Liberals were on the point of coming to a settlement with the Congress!
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it was a unique opportunity thrown away. With Bose on one side and Gandhi on the other, future unity will be difficult. And if Hindus and Muslims had now made a united demand the Government would have had to submit.
Nirodbaran: C.R. and Azad are for a compromise.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes.
Nirodbaran: But I don’t think they will dare to make a break with Gandhi.
Sri Aurobindo: No. Gandhi would make a big row. Of course he is right in one respect. He says private armies will be of no use if you go in for defence. They will be like the Khaksars. Then you have to join with the British Government. I didn’t see any reference to the mysterious letter to Gandhi sent through Aney. I thought it was impossible.