Preparation for Participation

Q. Although a college student I am a four anna member of the Congress. You say I may not take any active part in the coming struggle whilst I am studying. What part do you expect the student world to take in the freedom movement?

A. There is a confusion of thought in the question. The fight is going on now and it will continue till the nation has come to her birthright. Civil obedience is one of the many methods of fighting. So far as I can judge today, I have no intention of calling out students. Millions will not take part in civil disobedience. But millions will help in a variety of ways.

1. Students can, by learning the art of voluntary discipline, fit themselves for leadership in the various branches of the nation's work.
2. They can aim not at finding lucrative careers but at becoming national servants after completing their studies.
3. They can set apart for the national coffers a certain sum from their allowances.
4. They can promote intercommunal, inter provincial, and intercaste harmony among themselves and fraternize with Harijans by abolishing the least trace of untouchability from their lives.
5. They can spin regularly and use certified Khadi to the exclusion of all other cloth as well as hawk Khadi.
6. They can set apart a certain time every week, if not every day, for service in a village or villages nearest to their institutions and, during the vacation devote a certain time daily for national service.

Harijan, 17-2-'40