Swaraj Through Swadeshi

We do not realize that Swaraj is almost wholly obtainable through Swadeshi. If we have no regard for our respective vernaculars, if we dislike our clothes, if our dress repels us, if we are ashamed to wear the sacred shikha, if our food is distasteful to us, our climate is not good enough, our people uncouth and unfit for our company, our civilization faulty and the foreign attractive, in short, if everything native is bad and everything foreign pleasing to us, I should not know what Swaraj can mean for us. If everything foreign is to be adopted, surely it will be necessary for us to continue long under foreign tutelage, because foreign civilization has not permeated the masses. It seems to me that, before we can appreciate Swaraj, we should have not only love but passion for Swadeshi. Every one of our acts should bear the Swadeshi stamp. Swaraj can only be built upon the assumption that most of what is national is, on the whole, sound.

If the view here put forth be correct, the Swadeshi movement ought to be carried on vigorously. Every country that has carried on the Swaraj movement has fully appreciated the Swadeshi spirit. The Scot Highlanders hold on to their kilts even at the risk of their lives. We humorously call the Highlanders the "Petticoat Brigade". But the whole world testifies to the strength that lies behind that petticoat, and the Highlanders of Scotland will not abandon it even though it is an inconvenient dress and an easy target for the enemy.

The object in developing the foregoing argument is not that we should treasure our faults, but that what is national, even though comparatively less agreeable, should be adhered to; and that what is foreign should be avoided, though it may be more agreeable than our own. That which is wanting in our civilization can be supplied by proper effort on our part. I do hope that the Swadeshi spirit will possess every one of us, and that we would carry out the Swadeshi vow in spite of great difficulties and inconvenience. Then Swarajwill be easy of attainment.

(From Presidential Address to the First Gujarat Political Conference, Godhra, on Nov. 3, 1917.)

- Speeches & Writings of M. Gandhi: P.414.