Mrs. C. R. Das
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
AN APPEAL TO THE COUNTRY
Awake: Arise: Hear ye not your mother's call? Oft, in days gone by, she came to you and spoke to you and you heard her not. She stands before you again to-day and speaks in accents clear and irresistible. And should she speak in vain? Would you still hide your face in fear or would you, a free being as you are, rise and respond to her stern and imperious call?
The national Congress sits on the 26th of December. Many of its trusted leaders and workers, young and old, will be absent from its deliberations for reasons which are known to you. These high-souled and selfless patriots, though absent, will be present there in spirit. Should you not be there to be cheered and inspired by their presence? The President's Chair will remain vacant. What then? His message to the Congress he has left with me and on the eve of his arrest he charged me, his wife, with the sacred duty of delivering it to you. Poor and unworthy as I am, I shall try to discharge that sacred duty. That is my husband’s wish, That is Mahatma Gandhi’s wish. Will you not come and stand by me in this my solemn hour of trial? Remember that for the last 40 years the Congress has been the only national institution and its pandal the chosen field of our action. Here it is that our fathers decided to give battle to the powers that be. Here it is that the Swaraj Flag was hoisted and kept flying by those who have gone before us. Shall we abandon the flag at this critical moment and allow it to be captured by our opponents to be trampled on to our eternal shame? I know you will not suffer it. Forget your differences, Come in your thousands. Rally round the Congress and keep the Swaraj Flag flying: sacrifice yourselves, if need be, on its sacred ramparts. The last call sounds: Hark—“Arise”: “Awake”
Men and women of Bengal: I am proud of what you have achieved during the course of a week. I glory in your sacrifices unstintedly and ungrudgingly made for the cause. Who can read the long roll of arrests and imprisonments but with a thrill of joy and hope? Who can witness the cheerful march of the pilgrims to the "Swaraj Ashram" but with tears of admiration in his eyes? The fight has just begun. The fight will be long and arduous. If soul-force counts for anything in the world, the victory is ours.
The Congress has decided that a Hartal should be observed in Calcutta on the 24th of December. In this no insult is intended to the Prince. I, as a mother should be the last person to hurt the feelings of one so young and tender, and also brave. But the nation has decided that it is unable to extend to the Prince any welcome as a nation. It is your solemn duty to observe the Hartal. But remember that the Hartal is an expression of our natural mourning. Observe it in a spirit of reverence and humility, above all, non-violence.
To you, my younger brothers and sisters, I say: you are your Mother's hope, her pride, her joy. March onward to victory and to glory. Dec. 16, 1921.