The British found that the average man here adores his motherland. The people here were blended together as an organic whole, though for the time being their unity was disrupted. A supreme sense of self-respect, love of freedom and devotion to their culture and traditions were ingrained in their blood. Knowing that such an indomitable spirit of nationalism would spell disaster to their empire, they planned systematically to undermine the faith of the people in their motherland, in their dharma and in their heritage.
There is an incident narrated by Lala Hardayal, one of our great revolutionaries. In the South, there was an English officer. His assistant was a local person, probably a Naidu. The orderly of that Englishman was a Brahmin. One day, when this Englishman was walking in a street, followed by his orderly, the assistant came form the opposite side. The two officers greeted each other and shook hands. But when the assistant officer saw the orderly, he took off his turban and touched his feet. The Englishman was amazed. He queried, "I am your senior officer, but you stand erect and just shake hands wih me, whereas he is only my peon and you prostrate before him on this busy road. What is the matter?" The Assistant officer replied, "You may be my officer, but you are a mlechha. He may be a peon, but he belongs to that class of my people which is held in great respect all down the centuries, before whom it is my duty to bow down." Letters are available, written by that Englishman to the India Office in England, relating all this and saying that unless the Englishman ousted the Brahmin from that position and occupied it himself, i.e., became as respectable or even more, his empire could not last long.
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