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 GUJARAT POLITICAL CONFERENCE

��The following is an English translation of Mr. Gandhi* s Presidential Address to the First Gujarat Poli- tical Conference held at Godhra, on November 3, 1917.

Brothers and Sisters, 1 am thankful to you all for the exalted position to which you have called me. I am but a baby of two years and a half in Indian politics. I cannot trade, here, on my experience in South Africa. I know that acceptance of the position is to a certain extent an impertinence. And yet 1 have been unable to resist the pressure your over-whelming affection has exerted upon me.

I am conscious of my responsibility. This Confer- ence is the first of its kind in Gujarat. The time is most critical for the whole of India. The empire is labouring under a strain never before experience d. My views do not quite take the general courso. 1 feel that some of them run in the opposite direction. Under the circum- stances, I 'can hardly claim this privileged position. The president of a meeting is usually its spokesman. I cannot pretend to lay any such claim. It is your kind- ness that gives me such a unique opportunity of plrtymg my thoughts before the Gujarat pub lie. I do not see anything wrong in these views being subjected to criticism, dissent, and even emphatic protest. I would like them to be freely discussed. I will only say with regard to them that they were not formed to-day or yesterday. But they were formed years ago. I am enamoured of them, and my Indian experience of two years and a half has not altered them*

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