Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/311

 ability, Mr. Rajagopalachariar has after all shewn that he is so much of an official that he is very nominally an Indian. For, with his ability, if he had cherished a robust sense of patriotism, he would have been saved from the pitfalls of pur-blind officialism. Had he believed that people could be patriotic from high unselfish motives, and had he known his countrymen, he could not have made a mess in reading the opinions of men like Sir Subramaniem, Dewan Madhava Row, Salem Vijayaraghavachariar, M. O. Parthasarathy Aiyangar, not to mention thousands of the articulate section of the community many of whom in every way as capable as he of discharging any responsibility. Ot course, he wishes well of the country, but that kind of wishing well will do no doubt for a Nambudri landlord, but is totally inadequate in one occupying a position of national trust who must represent the self-respect, and the progressive instinct of the people whose trustee he is. When Lord Pentland asked us to put out of thought an early grant of Self-government, he must have said "No my Lord, it is a nation's right to aspire, and it is Great Britain's glory that my nation should. If however any aspirant