পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (প্রথম খণ্ড).pdf/৫৫

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ প্রথম খণ্ড
৩০

Moral Weakness

 Is this not a doctrine of defeatism and a confession of a terrible moral Weakness that the Hindus of Bengal should stand in need of protection from a loose centre?

 I ask them, is domination possible any more anywhere, and what have the Hindus to fear in Bengal of all places on earth? The idea of domination has to disappear and is disappearing. The British that have dominated India so long have had to confess that domination is outmoded and no one race or party can dominate over the other in the face of determination and a will to assert. Where the British have failed, is it possible that any other people in India can succeed?

 Once more I find that some Hindu leaders of Bengal are succumbing lo the pressure of the Hindus of India and are playing their game that the Hindu leaders, although they know fully well that a partition of Bengal means the doom of Hindus and Muslims alike, have subscribed to this partition under pressure from Hindu leaders of other parts of India who want to utilise Bengal as a pawn in their game and who do not care what happens to the people of Bengal.

 Indeed they know fully well that Bengal divided will mean Bengal a prey to the people of other parts of India, a Bengal waiting to be exploited for their benefit.

 After everything is said and done I am charged with having issued threats in the concluding paragraph of my statement where I have referred to Calcutta merely because I have pointed out the dangers. I have only been realistic. I have merely stressed what is well recognised that the cry for partition of Bengal was nothing but an attempt to get the rich prize of Calcutta and they deprive the Muslims of trade and commerce.

 But I have equally attempted to point out that a rich prize like this is not easily attained merely by brow-beating statements and if Calcutta becomes a bone of contention what will remain of it? In order that it should be the hub of the economic life of Bengal, it is necessary to have peace and security.

 Somewhere I have read it remarked that I have parried questions regarding adult franchise and joint electorate. I have never assumed the role of an autocrat with power enough to bind the people of Bengal. I have suggested that the future shape of Bengal will be a matter for negotiation between the Hindu and Muslim leaders to sit down together at a conference to give concrete form to their hopes and aims.

 I still extend that invitation to all. I beg of them not to destroy Bengal, not to be blinded by wrath and prejudice, or consumed by their hatred for their fellow Bengalees but to look ahead and grasp this wonderful opportunity to make Bengal free and independent, master of its own destiny and its own wealth, capable of a free will to form unions and treaties and alliances with whomsoever it will, respected amongst the nations of the world, rich, powerful and a heaven for the common man.