I have never known legislation of this nature being directed against free men in any part of the world… The giving of finger prints, required by the Ordinance, was quite a novelty. With a view to seeing some literature on the subject,
I read a volume on finger impressions by Mr. Henry, a police officer, from which I gathered that finger prints are required by law only from criminals. I was therefore shocked by this compulsory requirement regarding finger prints. Again,
the registration of women and children under sixteen was proposed for the first time by this Ordinance… Again, if we fully understand all the implications of this legislation, we shall find that India’s honour is in our keeping.
For the Ordinance seeks to humiliate not only ourselves but also the motherland. The humiliation consists in the degradation of innocent men. No one will take it upon himself to say that we have done anything to deserve such legislation.
We are innocent, and insult offered to a single innocent member of a nation is tantamount to insulting the nation as a whole. It will not, therefore, do to be hasty, impatient or angry. That cannot save us from this onslaught. But God will come to our help,
if we calmly think out and carry out in the time measures of resistance, presenting a united front and bearing the hardship, which such resistance brings in its train.
These are words of Gandhi. He was writing abt Transwal Act that required biometric profiling of Indians.
In 1906, in South Africa Gandhi organized his first Satyagraha to protest the Transvaal Asiatic Amendments Act — a law for mandatory registration and fingerprinting of all Indians living in the Transvaal.
He continued with his protest until 1911, when the law, known as the ‘Black Act’ was repealed.
He continues: “if we fully understand all the implications of this legislation, we shall find that India’s honour is in our keeping. For the Ordinance seeks to humiliate not only ourselves but also the motherland. The humiliation consists in the degradation of innocent men.
No one will take it upon himself to say that we have done anything to deserve such legislation. We are innocent, and insult offered to a single innocent member of a nation is tantamount to insulting the nation as a whole.”
Quotes are from “Satyagraha in South Africa, 1928, M K Gandhi”
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— source twitter.com/jijeeshpb