मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

Germany. So when I explained to my political friends as well as to other prisoners the possible consequences of Germany's conquest of India, I made it clear to them that it was a mistake to suppose that Germany would not harass and persecute India, and that it would be no advantage to us to change one master for another.' It was up to us to be ready to play our cards well during the fluctuations of the war, and it would not do for us to be counting on the victory of Germany to win freedom for ourselves. This fact they found too unpalatable to digest. And then I would narrate to them the story of the potter and his donkey. One potter fell, and another mounted the seat. What was it to the miserable donkey, he remained a donkey all the same. So it was no good speculating on the victory of Germany. It was foolish to think that it would make any difference in our status. 1 then explained to them what must be done by us to reap the fullest advantage for India from this great world war, and what was the advantage that we were likely to reap from it. I convinced the prisoners that if Germany became the ruler of India she would ride rough-shod over us. But when I said that Turkey or Afghanisthan would mete out the same treatment to us, the Mussulman section would demur to that statement. For the Sultan of Turkey was a god to them. How many stories and legends had grown round his as the Kalipha in their sacred writings ! They were taught in their cradle to worship the name of that Sultan with feelings of sanctity and reverence. That personage was to invade India and I said that his rule will bring no good to India. What a blasphemy to say so. That the rule of the Sultan over India would be a foreign rule was a proposition beyond their understanding. If a moulvi prisoner in our jail who knew something of history were told of the invasion of the Arabs over Persia; of Persians over the Pathans; of Pathans over Pathans; and of all these together over the Mussulmans of India; and if one further enumerated to him the horrors they had perpetrated over their coreligionists in India, he would still maintain that the invasion of India by Turkey and the establishment of the Sultan's power in India could not but be a blessing to her. The fanaticism of the Mussulman disqualified him to think nationally and to be a patriot of India, and if this was helped by the ignorance of the world history, then he was bound to think fanatically. Every Mussulman knew the name of the King-Emperor of India. But the Kaiser was a strange name to him. He used to hear every day strange stories of him, and to convey them from mouth to mouth. They wondered how the Kaiser had become so mighty, and discussed the matter between themselves. At last they came to the conclusion that the fact was due to his alliance with Sultan of Turkey who was the anointed of the lord and sacred to them. The Sultan is to rule India, now Hindus, see to it, that you turn Mussulmans The war began after the Shuddhi movement. With the participation of Turkey in that war, the Mussulmans, disabled by the Shuddhi movement, got the name of the Sultan as a fresh weapon in their hands to make a renewed effort 'to convert Hindus to their faith. And they began to talk openly to the Hindu prisoners as follows: "Germany was sure to beat England and conquer India. The Sultan of Turkey would personally crown the German Kaiser as the Emperor of India, and the Muslims will be a power in India. As such Mussulmans would get high positions and big jobs in the Indian Empire. Those, who would not be Muslims then, were going to be severely punished."