Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/463

 I congratulate the originators of the proposal to hold this Conference as also those friends who have reduced it to practice. It is a most important event for Gujarat. It is possible for us to make it yield most important resylts. This conference is in the nature of a foundation, and if it is well and truely laid, we need have no anxiety as to the superstructure. Being the first progenitor, its responsibility is great. I pray that God will bless us with wisdom and that our deliberations will benefit the people.

This is a political conference. Let us pause a moment over the word 'political.' It is, as a rule, used in a restricted sense, but I believe it is better ro give it a wider meaning. If the work of such a conference were to be confined to a consideration of the relations between the rulers and the ruled, it would not only be incomplete, but we should even fail to have an adequate conception of those relations. For instance the question of Mhowra flowers is of great importance for a part of Gujarat. If it is considered merely as a question between the Government and the people, it might lead to an unto- ward end, or even to one n ever desired by u^. If we considered the genesis of the law on Mhowra flowers and also appreciated our duty in the matter, we would, very probably, succeed sooner in our fight "with Govern- ment than otherwise, and we would easily discover the key to successful agitation. You will more clearly perceive my interpretation of the word ' political ' in the light of the views now being laid before you.

Conferences do not, as a rule, after the end of their deliberations, appear to leave behind them an executive body, and even when such a body is appointed, it is, to use the language of the late Mr. Gokhale, composed of

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