Benito Z Swu
Ireland was partitioned not just geographically but even more unfortunately and tragically on the denominational line of the Christian faith - the Protestants and the Catholics by an act of the British Parliament in 1920. The consent of the Irish people were never sought nor given. The tried and trusted colonial strategy of divide and rule of the British was again in full display as Ireland was devided into the Unionist Irish Protestants (Northern Ireland) and the Nationalist Irish Catholics.
Wherever and whenever Ireland is discussed for any of its merits or dismerits and especially more when it is about her struggle to free itself from the British yoke is concerned, a man going by the name of Daniel O’Connell sticks out. Love him or hate him, he is one Irish political leader during the early half of the nineteenth century who is very often referred to as ‘the liberator’ or ‘the emancipator’. He was the star campaigner for the emancipation of the catholic faith who in his own cowboy style fought and achieved the right for the Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament of Great Britain - the privilege which had been denied to the Catholics for more than a century. He also was the Chief Architect of the movement to fight for the repeal of the ‘Act of Union’ which had combined Great Britain and Ireland.
In the year 1798 a movement going by the nomenclature ‘United Irishmen’ of Catholic Ireland staged a rebellion against the Protestant England which was forcefully crushed down with an iron fist by the British. Daniel O’Connell did not support this rebellion. He was clear in his belief that the Irish will have to assert themselves politically rather than by force and as such he also did not support but infact condemned Robert Emmet’s rebellion of 1803. Here we need to know the fact that Robert Emmet was a protestant from the protestant dominated Northern Ireland favourable to Britain and vice-versa. By convention or by logic, Daniel O’Connell could and should have easily supported Robert Emmet if not for anything then atleast to drill and drive a wedge between the minority Irish Protestants (15%) but majority in Northern Ireland and the mainland Protestant British. Such was his opposition to the use of violence. He however as a lawyer willingly and wholeheartedly defended those accused of political crime, all the more of those falsely accused and had a very reputation of being fearless in court. Daniel O’Connell always was in the forefront in the struggle for catholic emancipation which would enable people professing the catholic faith - in this case, the Irish catholics - to become Member of Parliament. To meet this end he set up the ‘Catholic Association’ which also acted as a pressure group and fought for electoral reforms, reform of the Church of Ireland, tenant’s right and economic development.
In the year 1828, Daniel O’Connell stood in a by-election to the British House of Commons and won the electoral battle. However he was unable to take his seat as a Member of Parliament because it was mandatory for an MP to take the ‘Oath of Supermacy’ which was incompatible with Catholicism. The Oath of Supermacy required any person taking public or church office in England to swear allegiance to the British monarch as ‘Supreme Governor’ of the Church of England. Even as the monarchy in England along with the Prime Minister strongly opposed the participation of the Catholics in parliament, denying Daniel O’Connell his seat would have definitely been outrageous leading to another uprising and rebellion in Catholic (85%) dominated Ireland. This paved the way for Catholic emancipation and in default the same right to the Presbyterians and members of all other Christian faiths including the British Jews later in 1858, to sit in Parliament which became law in 1829.
With Catholic emancipation in his bag, Daniel O’Connell set out on the mission to repeal the “Act of Union’ which in 1801 had merged the Parliaments of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to form the “Uniked Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”. To achieve this end he set up the ‘Repeal Association’ which strongly propogated for the recreation of an independent Kingdom of Ireland to govern itself but with Great Britain’s queen Victoria as the Queen of Ireland. Many meetings attended by hundreds of thousands of people (therefore called Monster meetings) were organised greatly alarming Britain to ban one such proposed meeting just outside Dublin city. Despite passionate appeals by supporters to defy the ban and proceed ahead with the meeting, Daniel O’Connell refused to defy the authorities and called off the meeting as he was very unwilling to risk bloodshed.
During O’Connell’s time, his idea of an independent kingdom of Ireland governing itself but keeping the British Monarchy as its ‘Head of State’ proved to be too radical for Great Britain to even think about, and as such Daniel O’Connell too suffered persecution and suppression. In today’s time Daniel O’Connell’s idea would never have been labelled and looked at as being too radical but instead appreciated as being infact very practical. No wonder Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian Nation himself being a lawyer just as Daniel O’Connell was, was very influenced by the life, time, work and the very idea of O’Connell’s non-violence as he embarked on his own mission of winning back India from the British.
With the uncanny similarities between Ireland and our Homeland I feel proud and confident that we have our own Daniel O’Connell in the form of Neiphiu Rio who if elected is all set to begin a new inning in the Indian Parliament. We pray that the guiding Spirit which helped Daniel O’Connell to many path-breaking developments in the British Parliament also be the same Spirit which will guide our brand new MP in the Indian Parliament.
