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dated January 8, 1955: Mavlankar replies to critics

Mr. G.V. Mavlankar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, said in Rajkot on January 7 that the task of running a Government which had to depend on the police for the maintenance of law and order could not go hand in hand with talk about "non-violence." Non-violence to be effective and practicable required a spiritual background. He was referring to the criticism against his "propagating the cult of the Rifle Club and using in the process the name of Mahatma Gandhi." Mr. Mavlankar, who is the President of the National Rifle Association, had stated recently that the membership of the Rifle Club was the first step towards compulsory military training. Mr. Mavlankar, who was speaking at a reception given by the Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, Rajpramukh of Saurashtra, to the presiding officers of the State legislatures at the conclusion of their three-day conference, said: "I will remain non-violent until I am attacked; but I cannot forgo my right to defend myself, my property, and my country's independence even if it involved the use of violent arms." Non-violence was an ideal but so long as it was not consistent with the present-day political life, he would advocate training for self-defence. It did not follow, however, that such training should be used for aggression. He said he did not claim he had understood fully the philosophy of ahimsa advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. Nor had he the strength to act up to that ideal fully.

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