Thus, Muslims, the foreigners, came to dominate this country by our own help and not by the dint of their strength. We were suffering from an acute want of national feelings and hence we were divided and torn among ourselves. How then could we possibly present a united front to foreign aggression? Utter lack of this feeling of Hindu national solidarity caused and hastened our downfall. A mere glance at our history of over thousands of years in the past will again and again prove the truth of the contentions. If we have been throughout this period under one foreign domination or other, we have to thank none else but ourselves. Whenever an effort was made to throw this domination overboard, it was our own Hindu brethren that forestalled the effort. Again, I should like to quote from history instances in support of my contentions. East India Company, as you know, sent its agents here for the purpose of carrying on trade and commerce in the golden land. Its directors in England had a keen and covetous eye upon the incalculable wealth of the Hindus then. They were always clamouring for money, money and more money. It was, of course, an ordinary private trading company without anything to do with the government. It was none of its concerns to maintain large armies and conquer countries. But as the company wanted money it raised armies to loot people and exploit the financial resources of the country.

 

The company collected money from us and raised the armies and then turned the same weapon against us. How could it happen that an ordinary trading company could conquer this vast country and dominate over its great and ancient people? It could happen because we were blind and indifferent to the national danger that was steadily eating our vitals. Not only this, but there are examples that many of our rich Hindus financed the nefarious activities of the company for their personal gains without the thought of the fatal effect that their actions might produce upon the nation and its people. All that these selfish factors got in the end was their own destruction. We not only allowed the foreigners on this soil, but also helped them to dominate over us. We valued personal interest and honour more than that of our country and people. Even our leading men did not try to uphold the interest and honour of their country even at the cost of their own self and their honour. Herein lies the root cause of our slavery and consequent downfall during the last one thousand years. We, in fact, never lacked in armies and weapons of war that were always superior to enemy forces. But ideas were totally perverted. Our indifference was so much that we never bothered as to who ruled over us. We forgot to distinguish between a foreigner and a ruler of our own race and culture. To us any king was a divine personality whatever race or religion he may belong to. These false conceptions were ingrained in our blood and played havoc with our social and national life.