Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/310

of the Executive Council been in touch with the non-official community, and had he sought to discharge his duties regardless of his desire to stick to the office when the prestige of the Government was certain to be seriously affected, the course of events would have been different. Had Dewan Bahadur Rajagopalachariar simply said, "If you want, you may have my vote, but my advice is don't—by no means don't—don't for all that I may happen to be worth in your estimation—" if he had said this, very probably, things would have been different also. But, far from such a diagnosis, he actively associated himself with the repressive policy and in fact went so far as to bespeak Sir Subramanya Iyer himself on its behalf. Evidently Mr. Rajagopalachariar knew as little of Sir Subramaniem as he knew of the current of Indian politics. There are very few occasions for an official of to-day in India to exercise political sagacity. Give him an order he will try to execute it by hook or by crook, but ask him for a policy when a genuine political situation arises, he will unhappily continue to be an official or h# gets into he hands of other officials r With undoubted