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| The primary school where Mahatma Gandhi studied. |
Commenting on the arrangement come to by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with the Thakore of Rajkot, we observed that it did not advance by a single inch the cause of constitutional reform in Indian States including Rajkot itself. Little prescience was needed to reach that conclusion. The game of Power is an ancient one. Under different names it has been and is going on around us every day. A revolution is followed by a counter revolution as surely as the night the day. And this was a wonderful evolution! The Thakore was converted overnight from a believer in his right to rule autocratically to a seemingly fervent devotee of responsible government with his powers strictly limited. It would have been nothing short of a miracle if this had endured. It has not. As the public clamour against the Thakore's administration grew, the Indian Dewan Viravala, was dismissed and an English retired officer appointed in his place. The new Dewan's advice, however, was not palatable to the Thakore. He dismissed the English Dewan and the Sardar, if we remember, expressed himself disapprovingly of his action in trying to get rid of so experienced an administrator. Mr. Viravala had to leave Rajkot at short notice. The Thakore then agreed to Sardar's terms and got his help in clearing the English Dewan out and in getting back the man whom he had to dismissed in compliance with popular pressure. Now, the Thakore has resumed his authority and upset the arrangement with Sardar Patel who is an amateur in the game as compared with the Thakore Sahib. The Sardar has threatened to revive satyagraha but Mr. Viravala is not Cadell and the Government of India is not likely to supersede him now by an English Dewan. The local leaders are not plussed, they have sought the advice of the Sardar who himself seems to be taken a back by the sudden turn events have taken in Rajkot, which he thought he had finally and permanently placed on constitutional footing.
Source : Indian Social Reformer : 28 January 1939
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