Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/200

M. K. Gandhi we received training during the past 50 years in higher thought in our own vernaculars, we would be to-day within reach of our goal. I then referred to the self-government Resolution passed at the Congress and showed that whilst the All-India Congress Committee and the All-India Muslim League would be drawing up their paper about the future constitution their duty was to fit themselves by their own action for self-government. And in order to show how short we feel of our duty I drew attention to the dirty condition of the labyrinth of lanes surrounding the great temple of Kasi Visvanath and the recently erected palatial buildings without any conception as to the straightness or width of the streets. I then took the audience to the gorgeous scene that was enacted on the day of the foundation and suggested that if a stranger not knowing anything about Indian life had visited the scene he would have gone away under the false impression that India was one of the richest countries in the world,—such was the display of jewellery worn by our noblemen. And turning to the Maharajas and the Rajahs I humourously suggested that it was necessary for them to hold those treasurers in 82