I thank you from the core of my heart for the great honour you have done me by electing me as the Mayor of this city at a time when I was behind prison bars. I am also thankful to you for the sentiments expressed regarding myself from every section of this House; sentiments also expressed by our Deputy Mayor. I am not so vain or so foolish as to think for one moment that I am in any way worthy of this great honour. I am conscious that if I possess any merit at all, it is that I have tried to be a loyal and ardent follower of our late leader, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. And I will confess that if I have any merit, it is this, that I have tried to follow the torch that he held aloft for the nation with all the reckless abandon of which a sentimental Bengali is capable.

Aldermen and Councillors, I do not think you expect from me a long speech. I am what Mahatma Gandhi was once pleased to describe as "civilly dead". I have been "civilly dead" for the last eight months. But I do believe that the problems which faced the Corporation in January of this year are about the, same as the problems which still face us today. And if we are to solve these problems we can do nothing better than refer to the first speech of the First Mayor of this premier city of the East. I hope you will bear with me while I quote a few extracts from that first speech, which, I believe, we all regard as our municipal testament. In that great speech Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das was pleased to say:

"The great work which I have undertaken for the last ten or fifteen years is the building up of a pan-Indian people consisting of diverse communities with diverse interests but united and federated as one nation. In this Corporation I find plenty of work possible in that direction. So far as it lies in me you will find that no communal interest goes against the well-being of the whole community, by which I mean the Indian people or the citizens of Calcutta in this particular respect."

Here I believe we have not only the philosophy of Indian Nationalism but also the true relation between Civics and Politics.

Then Deshbandhu proceeded to say:

"It is the great ideal of the Indian people that they regard the poor as ‘Daridra Narayan.’ To them God comes in the shape of the poor and the service of the poor is the service of God to the Indian mind. I shall, therefore, try to direct your activities to the service of the poor, and you will have seen that in the programme, which I have drawn up, most of the items deal with the poor - Housing of the poor, Free Primary Education and Free Medical Relief. These are all blessings for the poor, and if the Corporation succeeds, even to a very limited extent in this work, it will have justified itself."

I believe in this statement, which also gives expression to the essence of his philosophy, we have, what we might call, in modern terminology, the basis of socialism, and if you proceed to examine this programme you will be confirmed all the more in this suggestion of mine, that what he put in a spiritual garb was in essence what Modern Europe would regard as socialism. With regard to the practical programme before the New Corporation, Deshbandhu placed a few items before them:

"Free Primary Education; free Medical Relief for the poor; purer and cheaper food and milk supply, better sanitation in bustees and congested areas; housing of the poor, development of suburban areas; improved transport facilities, and lastly greater efficiency of administration at a cheaper cost."

Once again, if I may put his policy and programme in modern language, I would say that we have here in this policy and programme a synthesis of what Modern Europe calls Socialism and Fascism. We have here the justice, the equality, the love, which is the basis of Socialism, and combined with that we have the efficiency and the discipline of Fascism as it stands in Europe today.

Now gentlemen, you will bear with me while I give a brief summary of the work, which we have been able to do up till now with regard to some of the more important problems before the Corporation, namely Education, Housing, Roads, Medical Relief, Drainage and Lighting.

From a modest start of 19 schools in 1923-24, it has now grown to 218 schools on the 1st September, 1930. Of these 137 are boys' schools and 81 are girls' schools. The total number of pupils in Corporation schools was 2,468 in 1323-24; on the 1st April, 1930, the number was 26,560, of whom 15,562 were boys and 10,998 were girls. Of the total number of pupils 6,808 belong to the Mahomedan Community. The number of children of schoolgoing age is about a lakh, and a little more than one fourth is provided for in Corporation schools.

The expenditure on education in 1923-24 was only a lakh and a half. In 1929-30, it amounted to a little over 9 lakhs. The Corporation have started 5 model schools, 2 more are under construction.

A training College for teachers has been started since 1927 and a number of teachers have received training.

On the 2nd February, 1925, the Corporation appointed a special Committee to frame a scheme. The committee held 12 meetings, selected a site by the 60 ft. Sewer Road to the South of Bridge No. 4 at Tiljala, approved a model consisting of 8 blocks; each block consisting of 4 suites; at an estimated cost of Rs. 13,000 for each block including the cost of land. They recommended the construction of 4 such blocks at a cost of Rs. 52,000.

On the 15th February, 1928 the Corporation referred the matter back to the Committee for further consideration. The committee in their final report recommended the following sites:

As regards the site at Tiljala, the previous model was recommended with a suggestion that two such blocks should be constructed without delay.

As regards the site at Dalu Sircar Lane, a design prepared by the surveyor; consisting of blocks each having 4 living rooms, 4 kitchens, a covered verandah on either side and a separate privy was approved, and the committee recommended that immediate steps be taken for the construction of 4 such blocks at an estimated cost of Rs. 25,000 each. The Committee further recommended that a lakh of rupees should be spent every year for building dwelling houses for the working and poorer classes if this scheme proves a success.

This report was adopted by the Corporation on the 15th July, 1930 with a direction that the scheme be given effect to next year and that adequate provision be made in the next budget.

The Corporation have been extending facilities for medical relief. When the new Corporation started, there were only 7 Corporation dispensaries, and the expenditure on medical relief in 1923-24, including grants to Alms-houses and the cost of maternity and child welfare work, amounted to Rs. 3,60,000. The expenditure in 1928-29 amounted to Rs. 7,20,000 and the budget provision for the current year amounts to Rs. 8¾ lakhs. The Corporation have now 13 dispensaries of which one is a Unani dispensary and another is devoted exclusively to Homeopathic treatment. The grants to hospitals now amount to nearly Rs. 4 lakhs whereas in 1923-24 the figure was only Rs. 1,18,000.

The present drainage system has got out of balance, and, in view of the time that the deliberations and discussions over this matter have taken, it has become a matter of urgency to take the scheme in hand as soon as possible.

This will be the chief concern of the Corporation for the next few years.

It is a matter of considerable interest to find that the Corporation have adopted a scheme, also prepared by the special officer, for an electric generating plant for supplying current required at the central Municipal Office Buildings, the Hogg Street Building and the Hogg Market. I understand that this will mean an annual saving of about Rs. 70,000 in the electric bill.

It would, therefore, be to the advantage of the Corporation to see that the scheme is taken in hand as soon as possible.

Gentlemen, I hope that these few remarks will make it abundantly clear that the New Corporation, since 1924, has been fully alive to some of the most important problems that faced this great city. I do not for one moment maintain or suggest that we feel satisfied with what has been accomplished. On the other hand, I do believe that in the matter of roads, of education and housing, and particularly, with regard to the problem of the development of the Added Areas, much remains to be done. And the more and the more we realise the importance and the gravity of these problems, the greater will be the benefit for the whole city.

Gentlemen, fears have been expressed from time to time in this House that the interests of certain Communities or certain groups in this great city may suffer at the hands of the New Corporation. I do not think that there is any justification for this fear. I believe that on this question, the question of being fair and impartial to all communities in this great city, all sections in this House are agreed. I may tell the European members of this House that there is no apprehension that the interests of Chowringhee will suffer at our hands. We do realise the great difference between the conditions prevailing in the Chowringhee Quarter and those prevailing in the Aheeritola Quarter, but our ideal is not to bring down Chowringhee to the level of Aheeritola but to bring up Aheeritola to the level of Chowringhee.

Fears have also been entertained from time to time by our Mahomedan friends that the interests of their community may suffer at our hands. I am, thankful to some of my friends on this side of the House for the kind remarks they have made with regard to myself. I will remind my friends that on the 16th July, 1924, I made a statement embodying my views with regard to the claims of the Mahomedan community in the matter of appointments, etc. That statement was made deliberately and with a full sense of responsibility, and today, I am prepared to say from the Mayoral chair that I adhere to every word in that statement. How far I shall be able to give effect to the policy contained in that statement depends not merely on me but also on this House. So far as I am concerned, and I believe so far as the Congress party in the House is concerned, we mean sincerely to be fair and impartial to all communities who comprise the civic life of this city.

A remark has been made by a friend about my resignation as councillor in January last, and that friend was pleased to ascribe it to ‘Political petulance.’ I did not know that I ever suffered from that disease which he has been pleased to designate as 'Political petulance'. I do hold strong views on political questions, and I am sincere in my belief, but that is no reason why my friend in this House should ascribe that action of mine as 'Political petulance'. In reply to this charge I shall only say this that the fact that during the period of my resignation I have been away from this House and from your midst, is sufficient reason why I resigned in January last.

There is no doubt that India is passing through the throes of revolution. It may be a non-violent revolution, but it is a revolution all the same. We want radical change of the present form of administration, and, so far as I am concerned, I am prepared to confess that the dream that I have in my mind is that of a Free India with a social order and a body politic based on the Universal principles of justice, equality and love.

Friends, the whole nation today is addressing itself to the task of creating a New India. Can any one seriously maintain that the Corporate life of Calcutta can be cut off and separated from the life of the whole nation? If you want to reconstruct your national life on the basis of justice, equality, freedom and love, is it also not necessary that the corporate life of Calcutta should be reconstructed on these principles? I do not think we have any essential quarrel with the Britishers. The world is big enough to hold us both. We want to live as free men and as friends. I am sure they also recognise in their heart of hearts the sincerity of our wish. We long for the day when there will be freedom in India and peace throughout the world. Only this we say, that peace throughout the world is not possible till India is free.

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