SPITTING AT THE SUN
Assassination of Gandhi: Facts VS. Falsehood
Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood, walked upon this earth.
- Albert Einstein
Chunibhai Vaidya
Translation
Ramesh Dave
Spitting At the Sun
Assassination of Gandhi: Facts vs Falsehood
(Translated from Gujarati - "Sooraj Saame Dhool" : Gandhinun Balidan Ane Sachun Shun Khotun Shun)
First Edition: November 1998 Copies 5000
Second Edition: March 1999 Copies 2000
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About the Author:
Shri Chunibhai Vaidya is a committed sarvodaya worker. Even at 80 plus, Shri Vaidya, as an able leader of Gujarat Lok Samiti continues to make significant contribution to the fields of water management, Gandhian thought and action, secularism and equitable development.
Inspired by Gandhi's struggle for freedom, Shri Vaidya left formal education to get experience in the wider school of life. Remaining underground, he worked against the British Raj during the Quit India Movement. He then joined Shri Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Movement. Along with Narayan Desai and Prabodh Choksi, he was one of the founders of Yajnya Prakashan Samiti, and later on he edited 'Bhoomiputra'.
Twice, he had lived in Kashi to look after the publications of Sarva Seva Sangh. During Shri Vinobaji's Assam Yatra, he went to
Shri Vaidya then took up the leadership of Gujarat Lok Samiti and led many a successful battle on issues like pension of Gujarat MLAs, and closure of the liquor shop at Ratanpur. As an active member of the peace committee of the Nagarika Sangathan, he contributed to restoring peace and bringing about the amicable settlement of the dispute around reservation issue during the turbulent agitation of 1985 in
Shri Vaidya's perseverance is reflected in his half a decade long successful struggle to attain the riparian rights of communities living in the downstream region of the river Banas. He initiated the modified concept of the hidden dam in the Sipu-Banas areas. Such dams have become symbols of grass-root development for water conservation. More than 10,000 Bighas of land have benefited by irrigated agriculture.
On behalf of the Sarva Seva Sangh, and Gujarat Sarvoday Mandai, he successfully carried out the movement against the multinational Cargill Corporation. The
His sensitivity developed while undertaking relief work in the arid regions of
Recently the virus of communalism is systematically sought to be spread by the champions of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. This has led Shri Vaidya to write a booklet in Gujarati as an ideational counterpoint, which, by now, has been translated and published in ten languages.
Shri Vaidya has succeeded in reviving our faith in Gandhi at a time when we need to follow him the most.
-Dr. Pravin Sheth
Light Beyond Darkness
All of us, especially the rising and pulsating generation, will remain grateful to Chunikaka for setting forth, in the dialogue form, some of the fundamental ideas in a climate in which the cult of killing appears to be the order of the day as it were.
Our struggle for freedom and its leadership of Gandhi constitute an epic of our times, spanning over the earlier half of the twentieth century, the way 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' present the living images of our cultural transitions and tensions involved in the social change long ago.
Of late, there has been going on a sort of continual symposium at the rate of three sessions a day on misinformation and disinformation about Gandhi, who attained the bliss of death while leading an epic life as Socrates and Jesus did, rather more so as Lincoln did. And there seems to have been generated an environment in which the elements and forces indulging in the inhuman politics of the cult of killing masquerade as the authorities on our national life. In this context; the controversy centering round the play, "Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy" furnishes an opportunity for the crystallisation of ideas in the new era. Chunikaka has drawn very well its constructive quintessence which throws light on the personality and action of one with whose help and support we have to move into the twenty-first century as well as understand what to give up for going forward.
- Prakash N. Shah
A Word or Two
I am sorry, there might be some insinuations against RSS in this small work, and that too in spite of the organisation's publicly disowning of the perpetrator of crime. But its anti-Muslim and antiGandhi mindsets are two handicaps - one born and the other acquired. These are also denied, but its followers and their deeds tell a different story altogether. I wish I were wrong. .
I am thankful to Shri Bang Saheb of Sarva Seva Sangh who expressed his readiness to send its Hindi version round the Hindi speaking world while at the same time assuring me to endeavour to render it in all the other Indian languages as far as possible. Gandhi did not belong to Gujarat alone, nor to
I can't help acknowledging the contribution of Dr Pravin Sheth, Shri C.N. Patel and his daughter Dina Patel, and my young colleague Sagar Rabari who shared my concern for improving the book as far as possible.
The encouraging response of so many readers who have read this little book has overwhelmed me. This is the real source of support to my endeavors.
I shall feel gratified if this little booklet enables me to serve a bit the cause of truth.
- Chunibhai Vaidya
Some points dealt with in this booklet
2. The chronology of attempts to kill Gandhi.
3. So far as the question of crime and punishment is concerned, the state alone has the authority to punish, none else.
4. The excuses put forward for assassination are fabricated - patent lies. Long before even there was anywhere a brainwave of partition, there were attempts on Gandhi's life. Why?
5. The efforts to bring the Muslims into the mainstream of the nation were there prior even to Gandhi's return home: separate electorates; the part played by the other leaders in securing greater measure of representation for Muslims exceeding their legitimate share etc. Gandhi never took any partisan stand.
6. The concept of
7. The ambivalent process of accepting as well as alienating the Muslims.
8. A sense of futility and helplessness of the so-called Hindu protagonists in the face of Gandhi's faith in God, religion, humanity, and unity.
9. Gandhi's pursuit of integral oneness vs. the reactionary process of the separatist Hinduists.
10. A Gobellsian move to defame Gandhi and the Indian National Congress - "Repeat a lie a hundred times and it will be turned into truth."
11. The nationalist Mahomedans and the Indian National Congress.
12. Mountbatten's ultimatum - a puzzle for the Congress.
13. The sense of betrayal - helpless reconciliation with the inevitable.
14. An incomprehensible demand of the Hinduists. Why did Gandhi not join hands with the others who were opposed to partition?
15. The problem of fifty-five crores of rupees - the rejection of tit for tat policy - the universal moral principle.
16. The reason why Gandhi pervaded all over.
17. Why was the conspiracy to kill Gandhi hatched? Who was responsible?
18. Gandhi's harsh words not merely to the misguided Hindus but also to the Muslims.
Dialogue
Q.: Is not the ban on the play, "Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy", a violation of the fundamental freedom of expression of thought? Godse firmly believed that his act was a ritual, and there was at bottom a religious thought. This play delineates that 'Gandhivadh' like 'Sisupalvadh' was an act prompted by religion. An idea should be refuted only by an idea, not by the ban that strangles expression.
A.: Let us start off with the last argument first. When you argue that an idea should only be answered by an idea and not a ban, could one put a simple question: What did Godse do? Did he answer an idea with an idea? One is intrigued by the logic that upholds Godse's right to assassinate Gandhi, just to gag for ever his freedom of expression, and all the same condemn the ban on the play, based on utter falsehood and calculated to justify the inhuman killing and cause grave and widespread provocation, as the violation of a fundamental freedom. The crime that Godse perpetrated cannot be undone. It puts us in the mind of the saying, "Even Satan can cite scriptures", particularly when the heretical deed of taking the life of a universally revered great man is described as an act of religion, a sacrificial ritual.
Next, the freedom of expression is indeed a fundamental freedom but not a charter of licence. If there is in the Constitution section 19 (1) regarding the fundamental freedom of expression as a basic right, there is section 19(2) also to curb its abuse. The constitution has legally accepted dissent. That is precisely the reason why the leader of the opposition enjoys the same privileges and status as a cabinet minister. None the less, it is not limitless; it is liable to certain restraints. What happens when one, while exercising his autonomy of expression, lets himself lose all sense of veracity and discretion and acts in a way detrimental to the society? Then there is no way; the state ought to intervene. The society cannot do so lest it should be tantamount to taking law in their hands. It might perhaps sometimes seem to be proper, but often inappropriate, even disastrous.
Q.: Godse's statement in self-defence in the court seems to be a very well organized and cogent argument, doesn't it?
A.: Godse had got ample time to draft his defence after the assassination. As such, he was fairly educated. He used his time to gloss over the heinous sin. But none else than the state alone has a right to punish. Murder is murder, call it what you will. It admits of no defence or justification. May be, Godse's argument might seem to be so cogent as to leave one tongue-tied and even dazzled. So what? Don't even judges, at times, get misled by deceptive words or eloquence? Don't we sometimes see right mispresented as wrong and wrong as right? Granting that Godse could do so, he does not cease to be guilty. He did commit a crime against humanity. All he did was to fabricate falsehood to cover it.
(1) Gandhi partitioned the country by conceding the demand of
(2) He compelled the Government to pay to
A.: This was certainly not the first attempt on his life; there were about ten attempts in all, of which six I have been able to verify as recorded.
1. Way back in 1934, while Gandhi was on his way to attend the reception held in his honour by
2. Another attempt on his life was at Panchgani in 1944. A man with a dagger in his hand rushed toward him. According to Manishankar Purohit, the proprietor of Poona Surati Lodge, the assailant was none else but Nathuram Godse. It has been a recorded evidence that B.D. Bhisare Guruji, the ex-Congress MLA from Mahabaleshwar and Chief of Satara District Central Bank had snatched away the dagger from Godse. Gandhiji soon sent for Godse, but he did not turn up! Those who insist on an idea being answered by an idea shall only do well to take a serious note of this. Gandhi was for ever accessible to all. But Godse not even once cared to meet him, at least for exchanging ideas. Why? Surely, in 1944 also neither the issue of paying fifty-five crores nor partition was anywhere there. And still, however, there was this attempt on Gandhi's life!
3. The third attempt dates back to September 1944. Gandhi was scheduled to go from Wardha to
4. The fourth attempt took place in June 1946. Gandhi was traveling to
5-6. On January 20,'48 one fanatic, Madanlal Pahwa, had hurled a bomb at Gandhi at the prayer meeting. It missed him, and Gandhi continued his prayers unperturbed. At last, on January 30, ten days later, Godse assassinated Gandhi on the prayer ground. Let us not forget that the problem of fifty-five crores etc. had cropped up only after January 12 and not earlier. But over a long span of years attempts by the Hindu fundamentalists to eliminate Gandhi were afoot. All they were looking for was a chance to do so; any excuse was good enough to assassinate Gandhi, and they spared no pain to find or fabricate it.
Q.: Don't you subscribe to the view that had Gandhi not pampered the Muslims so much,
A.: There are three stages of the process that divides man and man. It starts off with a sense of discrimination between "ours" and "others" as we call it. That is exactly where you have the seed of separation. There stems from it verbal conflict eventually leading to isolation or separation. So far as the maintenance of the country's integral unity was concerned, Gandhi and the other nationalists were as much concerned or even more than the Hindu fundamentalists. They had all stood up against the partition of the country. But the ways of the two were different, diametrically opposite. The Hindu fundamentalists considered the Muslims 'mlechchha' -aliens and saw no way to live with them in harmony. They contended that the land was theirs alone. They seemed to be saying: "This land is Bharatvarsh. You are aliens, but you don't have to part. We are the masters of the land, and you have got to live here the way we want" Gandhiji and the other nation list leaders warned them against continually dubbing the Mahomedans as aliens or outsiders, for that was apt to intensify their sense of alienation or not belonging. Nor would it suffice to call them "ours" only superficially. Only if they were accepted wholeheartedly that their sense of alienation would go and they would imbibe a sense of belonging. Working unitedly and thus living together, our sense of oneness will be reinforced genuinely. In the passage of time, wounds could be healed or festered. What do we really want to do? To heal it or add salt to the sore? The fundamentalists kept on adding salt to the sore whereas Gandhi and his associates endeavoured to heal it.
Casteism, discrimination between the ‘high' and the 'low' prevalent in the Hindu society also played a part. How come, there is such a large Muslim population in
There is Hindu blood in their veins. But the Hindus, with their professed non-dualism versus dualism in practice, fostered in them a sense of separation. The Hindu society could not take them back because of their intense discrimination and sense of untouchability. It has been a recorded history that the Kashmiri Muslims expressed once their willingness to be reconverted to Hinduism. But after a prolonged discussion the pundits of Kashi at last turned them down. As a result Kashmir remained predominantly Islamic, the situation that
Q.: What do you think of the charge that Gandhi put in efforts, out of all proportion, to appease the Muslims?
A.: Gandhi is accused of appeasing the Muslims, and they say, the partition was only the result of this attitude. But it is far from truth. Much prior to Gandhi's return home from
Justifying the pact, Tilak observed:
“Some eminent people accuse us of attaching far greater importance to the Mahomedans. I would go to the extent of saying that personally I would have no objection if self-rule were granted to the Muslims alone. If the Rajputs also got a similar right I won't mind. Nor would I object to this right being given to the most backward classes among the Hindus. This statement of mine reflects the national spirit of all
This courageous affirmation of Lokmanya silenced all those who had opposed the pact.
Even Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherji, after quitting the first Cabinet of Ministers of the Independent Indian Government, did not return to the Hindu Mahasabha, for he thought it improper on the part of any political party not to accommodate the Muslims and the other communities. Subhash Chandra Bose, too, complained against the inadequate representation of the Muslims in the Indian National Congress. It is quite clear that it was not Gandhi alone who persevered in his efforts to take the Muslims along. The other leaders also including the Hinduists were working toward it. How could then Gandhi be accused of appeasement or partisan stand?
Q.: It was the Indian National Congress and Gandhi who had accepted the proposal for
A.: Although the proposal for
I wish that the Punjab, North-West Frontier, Sindh and
This argument of Iqbal was stoutly supported in 1937.
Please read:
“
Don't they sound to be Mahomed Ali Jlnnah's words, as it were? Isn't it a pronounced acceptance of the two-nation theory? Do you guess, who affirmed thus and when? Would you know? It was none else than Veer Savarkar, who as the President of the Hindu Mahasabha, had proclaimed this at their Ahmedabad convention as back as in 1937. One more excerpt from Savarkar's statement on August 15, 1943:
"I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnah's two-nation theory. We, the Hindus, are a nation by ourselves; and It !S a historical fact that the Hindus and the Muslims are two nations.” 3
Iqbal demands for the Muslims a separate state at a Muslim League convention as the only solution of the crisis, whereas Veer Savarkar proclaims from the dais of the Hindu Mahasabha that the Hindus and the Mahomedans are two distinct and separate nations. Naturally, the division was inevitable. Who reinforced the idea of
We have a point-counterpoint political scenario. On one hand the separatist forces were steadily advancing, on the other the Indian National Congress and Gandhi were striving for the Hindu-Muslim unity. Even while he was in
Q.: How about the charge that it was the Congress and Gandhi who supported the making of
A.: Remember Gobells of the Hitler gang? He believed that if you repeated a lie a hundred times it would be turned into 'truth'. Those fundamentalist politicians, who were out to grind their axe and win elections by hook or by crook, propagated false charges all over the country in a systematic way. The people were hoodwinked, and these politicians reaped the benefit. This is the fact above all questioning. Else, how would those whose contribution to the freedom struggle was nil came to power? Mainly the misinformation calculatedly given to the people.
So far as Gandhi and the Indian National Congress are concerned, we have the open pages of history. Lord Wavell invited Jinnah and Gandhi for negotiations, one to represent the Mahomedans, the other the Hindus. Gandhi could at once see through the game, 'divide and rule'. He replied saying that Jinnah represented only the Muslim League and not the total Muslim community; and deputed Abul Kalam Azad to represent the Indian National Congress. The net result was, on both the sides of the Viceroy there were Muslims, one fundamentalist, the other nationalist. The Congress had not at all subscribed to the two-nation or two-community theory. The question of Gandhi ever conceding it does not arise. He had gone to the extent of saying that partition could take place only on his dead body. But Jinnah had succeeded in poisoning the minds of the Muslims in
In the 1946 elections to the Central Assembly the Muslim League won all the 30 seats i.e. cent percent whereas in the Provincial Assemblies it secured 425 seats out of 492 which means more than 86 per cent. The tide had certainly turned in favour of the Muslim League and what it stood for. This too had a bearing on the minds of all concerned including the British Government. A number of nationalist Muslim leaders - Zakir Hussian, Maulana Azad, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Prof Abdul Bari of
There was a patent hazard. If the political parties failed to arrive at an agreement at the national level, the British would exploit the situation and evade independence of
Gandhi felt betrayed and let down. But once he came out of the trauma, he started wondering as to who he really was! What was the value or power of his solitary wish and views? In utter frustration he started to speak in an anguished idiom: "O God, please take me away!" He was completely frustrated and broken down. He carried on his mission of peace though. When a lady returning to Sevagram, asked for a message, he replied: " No; people must now be guided by what they have assimilated from my teaching It is not good for them always to look for guidance from me. In fact, my prayer to God is to take me away from the bed of torture that life has become to me." To a friend he wrote: "There is no prospect of my ever returning to Sevagram." What an intuition!
Gandhi was let down, deserted, left alone. Even Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel apprised him of partition as a fait accompli after the decision was already taken! But there was no way out really. For, if the Congress were weakened it would be an incalculable harm to the country. There was no other viable force or credible leadership which could handle the Himalyan task of governance of the post-partition
Q.: Why did Gandhi not resort to fast unto death against the partition the way he did with reference to his insistence on giving away fifty-five crores of rupees to
A: Gandhi himself has answered the question. While talking about a letter he had received stated to this effect:
Who am I? As an individual I have no value. The people, whom I represented and spoke for, have deserted me. They do not share my views. They have accepted the partition. It might be their helplessness. I have an unswerving faith in my ways even today. But for whom shall I struggle when those whom I represented and fought for so far find the partition acceptable and have lost faith in me? The whole country has been staging the dance of death and violence. They are not happy with my plea for friendship, fraternity, peace, and love. The Hindus want to drive the Mahomedans out of this country. When the entire situation has changed, with whose support shall I fight for the integral and undivided nation? The negation of partition is no small job!
The country was at last physically divided, but hearts could certainly be united. Gandhi had often expressed his desire to go to
There was another aspect also. Some people had offered to rally round Gandhi if he chose to fight against the partition. But who were they really? They were only those who were opposed to Gandhi's way of love, peace, and nonviolence all along. They wanted to maintain the geographic or physical integrity of the country but at the same time intensify and aggravate the communal dichotomy and reinforce the two-nation theory. They thought that the Muslims could live here merely as the second class citizens. The essential Hinduism inheres the concept of non-duality, the whole world as a family. But here were the people who wanted to divide hearts; they were bent on settling scores. It is a fact universally acknowledged that once there is heart burning or split in a family, it would certainly be divided. The Hinduists had failed to recognize this fact; they refuse to face it even today. They might be loving the country. Who does not? But they are out and out for discrimination. They wanted to divide the children of the land as the privileged and the unprivileged. They had been fumbling for excuses to clash. If the Hindus and the Muslims were not divided, what should happen to their leadership, to their vocation and avocation? How could Gandhi join hands with such as they?
What is most intriguing, and calls for an explanation is this. Why did the Hinduists alone demand that Gandhi should have fasted aginst the partition? All along, they looked down upon him as a traitor, anti - Hindu, and deserving to be sacrificed. How come, they looked forward to Gandhi's championing their cause, hands in gloves so to say? Where were then their own leaders - Savarkar, Hedgewar, Mookerji, Bhopatkar, Munje, Khare and others? They knew too well that barring one or two of them, fast, if at all undertaken by them, would have no moral effect on the masses, for they had not suffered or sacrificed anything for the cause of freedom. The masses had hardly heard anything about them. Gandhi alone commanded that strength and stature. Gandhi had returned home during Tilak era. Savarkar then was a budding youth, ten years Gandhi's junior. There were some other leaders also. But how come they all failed to do anything akin to what Gandhi did? It was so simply because their words sounded hollow; they had no moral appeal. They had only one agenda – to poison the people's mind and sow therein the seeds of enmity and hatred and thus to provoke violence.
Q.: You haven't yet referred to the giving away of fifty-five crores of rupees to
A.: It would be inappropriate to describe this as his "pro-Muslim" attitude. Gandhi could foresee things; his vision was very wide, cosmic. Like the partition of the country, the division of the movable and immovable property of the country was done under the mediation of the British. Normally, therefore, Mountbatten would insist on our keeping the promise. He also talked to Gandhiji in that context on January 6 and January 12. But Gandhi did not decide to undertake his fast on this issue. Gandhi himself has observed that when he arrived from
There was no reference whatsoever to fifty five crores of rupees here. None the less, even in that climate of momentary and deep anguish the mention of the fifty five crores did not come out of her mouth which shows that the issue was not at all there. Maybe, some such words might have perhaps been missed by her, but there is not even a trace of anything of the sort in the statements of Gandhi made in a cool light of reason.
It would be untrue, hence, to say that he undertook the fast for this purpose. In case it was really so, Gandhi should have definitely mentioned it as a condition before going on fast. In fact there was not a single syllable about this in his statements. Secondly, acetone was traced in his urine on the third day of his fast, and although immediately there was no serious risk, there was a hazard of some permanent handicap and therefore he should have given up the fast. Moreover, on the very day, the Government of India had announced the decision to payoff the sum. In spite of there being these two sound reasons of giving up the fast, he did not do so. He broke his fast only when the committee headed by Rajendrababu assured him to take four steps towards the restoration of peace. (vide: Appendix -v). Nowhere was there any reference to the payment of fifty-five crores then.
(ii) Nor is there any reference in the declaration of the Government of India to suggest that the decision to pay off was ever in response to Gandhi's demand. (vide Appendix- iv )
(iii) In reply to a query, Gandhi clearly stated that his fast was not undertaken to condemn any action of the Home Ministry of the Indian government; the fast was undertaken in protest against the Hindus and the Sikhs of India and the Muslims in
Above all, he could perhaps perceive the effect of
There is no greater friend of Musalmans than you, whether in
The appalling degradation of morals which has manifested itself in both
“No country in the world has produced a greater man, religious founders apart, than Mahatma Gandhi." 10
deep admiration and sincere appreciation with great feeling of concern for Mahatma Gandhi's great gesture for furtherence of a noble cause, no efforts will be spared in this province to help in saving his precious life. 12
Today the people of
At about the same time, a deputation of four U P Muslims that had gone to
During the last days of his life Gandhi endeavoured ceaselessly to bring together the two countries to be united, at least to imbibe the harmony of the mind and heart eventually to see the undivided and united
Q.: Will you please elucidate your statement that some citizens of
A.: Now that I am confronted with the question, I will speak hesitatntly though. We had better not compare. Nor will anyone ever question their courage and patriotism. The other leaders, too, had their share in the march of
The new age of non-violence and truth was around, on the wings of science. It called for the new approaches. For instance, Tilak Maharaj and Veer Savarkar were arrested on the charges of treason for whatever they had done, prompted by love and concern for the country. They denied the charges and unsuccessfully tried to defend themselves. The Government had also put similar charges on Gandhi but he faced them squarely and denied nothing in the court of law. On the contrary he went as far as to say that if whatever he had done for the freedom of the country was, according to them, treason he did commit it and added that he would do so again once he was released. The British Judge, mightily impressed, called him a saint, although reluctantly sentencing him to six-year imprisonment. He was really sad to do so! Why?
The reason is apparent, as it seems to me. The new age had its own characteristic problems. The old, hackneyed methods would not work. The tit for tat policy was obsolete, irrelevant. The days were over when one could indulge in crooked ways and yet run away from the consequences. Moreover, science had struck at the very root of some sectarian and religious beliefs. A host of pertinent questions vis-a-vis myths and mythology arose in the social consciousness. In this larger context Hinduism per se appeared to be rather narrow as a mere creed. And Gandhiji entered the scene. He was second to none in his faith in God and Hinduism. He had gone even to the length of describing himself as a 'Sanatani'. The Hindu mind with its cosmic consciousness responded very well to his balanced and equanimous attitude to all religion-s alike and reverence for the deities thereof. He always commenced all his work with a prayer, the prayer including all major religions. The common man understood well and admired his love of God and his resignation to His will. In
Gandhi also advocated social change. He persevered to remove untouchability and the distinctions of castes and creeds, of the high and the low – the evils that had disturbed him right from his childhood. When his own sister offered to quit the ashram in protest against the rehabilitation of a 'Harijan' family down there, he let her go away. The donors at once withheld donations; the ashram was on the verge of collapse. But Gandhi did not swerve; he stood up firm sticking to his principles. His journals were entitled, 'Harijan'. He undertook Harijan pilgrimages countrywide and set up centers in the service of the tribals and Harijans. He brought the women out of the four walls of their homes and entrusted public service to them. The women in the country came up to the mark in public life, working shoulder to shoulder with men. All this did not please or suit the conservative Hinduist leaders, particularly from
The country was aware of Gandhi's work in
This was an extension and accentuation of his work in
Soon afterwards he, along with his associates like Sardar Patel, had a number of achievements. Kheda Satyagraha, Bardoli Satyagraha, Nagpur Zanda Satyagraha etc., all in quick succession.
His stout protest, countrywide, against the Jalianwala Baug genocide, the resolution for total freedom adopted by the Indian National Congress, and on top of it all the Salt March to Dandi, like an earthquake, shook the foundations of the
The Hindu protagonists did not find all this congenial. So far as the 'religious' protagonists of
This is the complex background of what they call the
A.: Gandhi was a Hindu and called himself 'Sanatani'. When he spoke to the Hindus he did feel, he was also one of them. Ordinarily he did not speak in harsh language to any one, although firmly. None the less, at times, in a mood of unrest and frustration, he did have a recourse to strong terms. Please read the excerpts from "Mpl1atma Gandhi: The Last Phase”:
Some
Their hyperbolical and evasive replies hurt Gandhiji "Do not deceive yourselves," he sternly warned them. "...My stay here will avail the Muslims nothing if they do not thoroughly cleanse their hearts."15
I would, therefore, urge the Muslim minority to rise superior to the poisonous atmosphere and lay down the thoughtless prejudice by proving by their exemplary conduct that the only honourable way of living in the
He was painfully conscious of the atrocities against the Hindus in
The talk with Shaheed was still in progress when a group of local Muslims came. Gandhiji repeated to them this advice. They must set forth their views in a public statement if they felt that the minorities in
You call yourselves nationalist Muslims and speak like this? Referring to this during the evening prayer he said, "In
That destruction is certain if Pakistan ensures no equality of status and security of life and property for all professing the various faiths of the world, and if India copies her only then Islam dies in the two Indias, not in the world.
How long can the
There is abundant material in the book that is apt to satisfy not only one's intellectual curiosity, but also unfold hard facts against the widespread falsehood that is being woven around Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest men of all time. Whenever one tries to measure a man of Gandhi's stature, it is sure to end up in measuring oneself! How could we presume to sit in judgement over Gandhi? Nevertheless if we do, let us not turn our back on truth, truth for which, Gandhi lived and died.
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Epilogue
The play on Godse does not at all merit any attention. It deserves to be ignored and discarded. Truth alone prevails, not falsehood, no matter how cunningly concocted. But a moment like this has one advantage: an opportunity to speak out the truth and save the innocent and uncritical audiences from being trapped into untruth. The wholesale distortion of facts does hardly any damage to Gandhi. He is far above all petty squabbling. But if all this goes unchallenged, the silent response affords an immense, hushed scope for the lies to thrive; and the mist of misunderstanding might blur our own view, leaving us all the poorer in human worth. The play is mere perversity, not art.
It is our moral responsibility, hence, to acquaint ourselves and the world with truth and nothing but the truth. Why did we not awake earlier in the face of such a nefarious propaganda of lies? Half a century has rolled away across falsehood. Should we not discharge our debt to both truth and Gandhi by taking facts to the doorsteps of the people?
In Gandhi's vision there was no place for communalism. The people of
The game to kill Gandhi had started off while
Mankind had to wait for nearly two thousand years since Jesus. But when Gandhi came to 'lead kindly light,' he, too, was crucified. It is hard not to re-echo Saint Joan's words: "O God that made this beautiful earth, when will it be fit to receive thy saints? How long, O Lord, how long ?"
- Ramesh Dav
Gandhiji's Speech at the Prayer Meeting
January 12, 1948
One fasts for health's sake under laws governing health or fasts as a penance for a wrong done and felt as such. In these fasts, the fasting one need not believe in Ahimsa. There is, however, a fast which a votary of non-violence sometimes feels impelled to undertake by way of protest against some wrong done by society and this he does when he, as a votary of Ahimsa, has no other remedy left.
Such an occassion has come my way. When on September 9, I returned to
The cause of it I did not know. He was on the platform to receive me. He lost no time in giving me the sad news of the disturbances that had taken place in the metropolis of the
There is apparent calm brought about by prompt military and police action. But there is storm within the breast. It may burst forth any day. This I count as no fulfillment of the vow to "do" which alone can keep me from death, the incomparable friend. I yearn for hearty friendship between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. It subsisted between them the other day. Today it is non-existent. It is a state that no Indian patriot worthy of the name can contemplate with equanimity.
Though the voice within has been beckoning for a long time, I have been shutting my ears to it lest it might be the voice of Satan, otherwise called my weakness. I never like to feel resourceless; a satyagrahi never should. Fasting is his last resort in the place of the sword – his or others.
I have no answer to return to the Muslim friends who see me from day to day as to what they should do. My impotence has been gnawing at me of late. It will go immediately the fast is undertaken. I have been brooding over it for the last three days. The final conclusion has flashed upon me and it makes me happy. No man if he is pure, has anything more precious to give than his life. I hope and pray that I have that purity in me to justify the step. I ask you all to bless the effort and to pray for me and with me.
The fast begins from the first meal tomorrow (Tuesday). The period is indefinite and I may drink water with or without salts and sour limes. It will end when and if I am satisfied that there is a reunion of hearts of all communities brought about without any outside pressure but from an awakened sense of duty.
The reward will be the regaining of
With God as my supreme and sole counsellor, I felt that I must take the decision without any other adviser. If I have made a mistake and discover it, I shall have no hesitation in proclaiming it from the house-top and retracing my faulty step. There is little chance of my making such a discovery. If there is a clear indication, as I claim there is, of the Inner Voice, it will not be gainsaid. I plead for all absence of argument and inevitable endorsement of the step. If the whole of
But whether it ends soon or late or never, let there be no softness in dealing with what may be termed as a crisis. Critics have regarded some of my previous fasts as coercive and held that on merits the verdict would have gone against my stand but for the pressure exercised by the fasts.
What value can an adverse verdict have when the purpose is demonstrably sound? A pure fast, like duty, is its own reward. I do not embark upon it for the sake of the result it may bring. I do so because I must. Hence I urge everybody dispassionately to examine the purpose and let me die, if I must, in peace which I hope is ensured. Death for me would be a glorious deliverance rather than that I should be a helpless witness of the destruction of
Just contemplate the rot that has set in in beloved
I would beg of all friends not to rush to Birla House nor try to dissuade me or be anxious for me. I am in God's hands. Rather they should turn the searchlight inwards, for this is essentially a testing-time for all of us. Those who remain at their posts of duty and perform it diligently and well, now more so than hitherto, will help me and the cause in every way. The fast is a process of self-purification.
(Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 90 Page 408)
Gandhiji's Speech at the Prayer Meeting
BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Today I may not finish my speech in 15 minutes as usual, as I have much to say.
Today I have come to the prayer meeting because for the first twenty-four hours after beginning a fast, the body does not feel it or should not feel it. I began eating at half past nine this morning. People kept coming and talking to me. I finished eating a little before eleven. So I have been able to come to the meeting and this is not surprising. Today I can walk about and sit up and I have also done some work. From tomorrow there will be some change. Rather than coming here and not speaking, I might as well sit in my room and think. If I have to utter the name of God, I can do it there. I therefore feel that I shall not be coming to the prayer meeting from tomorrow. But if you do wish to join in the prayer you may come if you feel like it. The girls will come and sing the prayer. At least one of them will come. I have told you my programme in case you should feel disappointed at my not coming.
I had written down yesterday's speech and it has been published in the newspapers. Now that I have started my fast many people cannot understand what I am doing. Who are the offenders- Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims? How long will the fast last? I say I do not blame anyone. Who am I to accuse others? I have said that we have all sinned. That does not mean that anyone particular man has sinned. Hindus in trying to drive out the Muslims are not following Hinduism. And today it is both Hindus and Sikhs who are trying to do so. But I do not accuse all the Hindus and Sikhs because not all of them are doing it. People should understand this. If they do not, my purpose will not be realized and the fast too will not be terminated. If I do not survive the fast, no one is to be blamed. If I am proved unworthy, God will take me away. People ask me if my fast is intended for the cause of the Muslims. I admit that that is so. Why? Because Muslims here today have lost everything in the world. Formerly they could depend on the Government. There was also the Muslim League. Today the Muslim League is no longer there. The League got the country partitioned and even after the partition there are large numbers of Muslims here. I have always held that those who have been left behind in
Mine is a fast of self-purification. Everyone should purify himself. If not, the situation cannot be saved. If everyone is to purify himself, Muslims will also purify themselves. Everyone should cleanse his heart. No one should find fault with the Muslims whatever they may do. If I confess before someone that I have done wrong, then it is a kind of atonement.
I do not say this in order to appease the Muslims or anyone else. I want to appease myself which means that I want to appease God. I do not want to be a sinner against God. Muslims also must become pure and live peacefully in
Since I have undertaken the fast for the cause of the Muslims, a great responsibility has come to devolve on them. They must understand that if they are to live with the Hindus as brothers they must be loyal to the Indian Union, not to
Then the name of the Sardar is being mentioned. The Muslims say that I am good, but the Sardar is not and he must be removed. They say that Jawaharlal too is good. They say if I join the Government it will be a good thing. They object only to the Sardar. I must tell the Muslims that their argument serves no purpose, because the Government is the whole Cabinet, neither the Sardar nor Jawahar by himself. They are your servants. You can remove them. Yes, Muslims alone cannot remove them. But at least they can bring to the Sardar's notice any mistakes which in their opinion he commits. It will not do merely to criticize him by quoting some statement or other he might have made. You must say what he has done. You must tell me. I meet him often and I shall bring it to his notice. Jawaharlal can dismiss him and if he does not, there must be some reason. He praises the Sardar. Then the Government IS responsible for whatever the Sardar does. You too are responsible for he is your representative. That is how things go in a democracy. Therefore I shall say that the Muslims must become brave and fearless. They should also become God-fearing. They must think that for them there is no League, no Congress, no Gandhi, no Jawaharlal but only God; that they are here in the name of God. Let them not take offence at whatever Hindus and Sikhs may do. I am with them, I want to live and die with them. If I cannot keep you united, my life is worthless. The Muslims thus carry a great responsibility. They must not forget this.
The Sardar is blunt of speech. What he says sometimes sounds bitter. The fault is in his tongue. I can testify that his heart is not like his tongue. He has said in
The song these girls sang was composed by Gurudev. We sang it during our tours in Noakhali. A man walking alone calls others to come and join him. But if no one comes and it is dark, the Poet says, the man should walk alone because God is already with him. I asked the girls especially to sing this song which is in Bengali. Otherwise they would have sung only Hindustani songs. The Hindus and Sikhs should cultivate this attitude if they are true to their religions. They should not generate an atmosphere in which the Muslims should be compelled to flee to
I shall terminate the fast only when peace has returned to
So my wish is that Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, and Muslims who are in
(Speech at the Prayer Meeting, New Delhi, January 13, 1948, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol-90, P. 413.)
... My fast, as I have stated in plain language, is undoubtedly on behalf of the Muslim minority in the Union and, therefore, it is necessarily against the Hindus and Sikhs of the
It is also on behalf of the minorities in
(Excerpt from the Speech at Prayer Meeting, New Delhi, January 15, 1948, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol-90, P. 428-429)
On the third day of Gandhiji's fast, the Government of India in a communique announced that it had decided to pay
The Government have shared the world-wide anxiety over the fast undertaken by... the Father of the Nation. In common with him they have anxiously searched for ways and means to bury the hatchet of ill-will, prejudice and suspicion, which has poisoned the relations of
(Mahatma Gandhi' The Last Phase by Pyarelal. Vol-II, p718)
The peace Committee again met on the morning of the 18th January. The absentees of the previous night were present. The representatives of all the important groups and organisations in the city were there, including representatives of the refugees from Karol Bagh, Sabzimandi and Paharganj, the three worst-affected parts of the city. They all accepted the conditions laid down by Gandhiji and gave their signatures to the following pledge:
We wish to announce that it is our heartfelt desire that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and members of other communities should once again live in
1. We want to assure Gandhiji that the annuai fair at Khwaja Qutabuddin's mausoleum will be held this year as in previous years.
2. The Muslims will be able to move about in Sabzimandi, Karol Bagh, Paharganj and other localities just as they could in the past.
3. The mosques which have been left by the Muslims and which are now in the possession of Hindus and Sikhs will be returned. The areas which have been set apart for the Muslims will not be forcibly occupied.
4. We shall not object to the return to
We request Mahatmaji to believe us and give up his fast and continue to lead us as he has done hitherto.
While the signatures were being collected, news came over the phone from Birla House that Gandhiji's condition had suddenly worsened. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, with some members of the Committee, thereupon hurried to Birla House to explain to Gandhiji in advance the conditions agreed to by the members of the Peace Committee. It would have taken some time for all the members to assemble there and every minute counted.
When all the members had arrived in Birla House, Gandhiji’s room was packed to capacity. The gathering included Pandit Nehru and Maulana Azad, Zahid Husain, the High Commissioner for
Dr. Rajendra Prasad narrated how they had on the previous night after full discussion decided to sign the declaration then and there. But as representatives of some organisations were not present in that meeting they felt they should wait till the remaining signatures were obtained. This had since been done. In the morning meeting even those who had some lingering doubts on the previous night were confident that they could now, with a full sense of their responsibility, ask Gandhiji to break the fast. It had been decided to set up a number of committees to implement the pledge. In view of the guarantees that had jointly and severally been given. Dr. Rajendra Prasad proceeded, they all hoped that Gandhiji would now break his fast. A member described how a procession of 150 Muslims had been taken that morning to Sabzimandi, where they were greeted with fruits and refreshment by the Hindus.
Replying, Gandhiji said that they had given him all that he had asked for, but if their words meant that they held themselves responsible for communal peace in Delhi only and what happened in other places was no concern of theirs, then their guarantee was nothing worth and he would feel, and they to would one day realise, that it was a big blunder on his part to have given up his fast. They should clearly realise the implications of their pledge. What they had achieved in
(Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, by Pyarelal,Vol-II, pp,728-29-30.)
1. Bipin Chandra et al., Bharat Ka Swatantrata Sangharsha, 14th reprint 1997, p, 120.
2. Samagra Savarkar Wangmaya : Writings of Swatantrya Veer Savarkar Vol. VI, Page 296, Maharastra Prantiya Hindu Mahasabha,
3. Indian Annual Register 1943, Vol. II , P. 10.
4. Tara Chand, History of the Freedom Movement in
5. Pyarelal, "Mahatma Gandhi - The Last Phase," Vol -II, P. 75
6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. p. 244
8. Ibid. p.712 9. Ibid. P 713
10. Ibid. p. 714 11. Ibid. p. 714
12. Ibid. p. 714 13. Ibid. p 458
14. Ibid. p. 526 15. Ibid. p. 452
16. Ibid. p. 526
17. Pyarelal, "Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase", Vol -II, p.710
Charge-Sheet
The Hinduists indulge in the various strategies of deception. They try to convince that Swami Vivekanand, Subhash Babu, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and the other martyrs were also Hinduists. But not one of them was a Hinduist or a fundamentalist. But there has been a ceaseless and subtle propaganda to inhibit the people's mind that way. Another such lie is to depict Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as a partisan Hinduist. Here are two excerpts from Sardar Patel's correspondence:
18.7.48 -Vallabhbhai Patel
(From the letter addressed to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Sardar Patel's orrespondence; Vol. VI Page 323, Navjivan-1973)
"The speeches of the Sangh leaders are poisonous. It is as a result of this venom that Mahatma Gandhi has been assassinated. The followers of the Sangh have celebrated Gandhiji's assassination by distributing sweets. "
TELL THE WORLD
If I die of a lingering illness, nay even by as much as a boil or a pimple, it will be your duty to proclaim to the world, even at the risk of making people angry with you, that I was not the man that I claimed to be. If you do that it will give my spirit peace. Note down this also that if some one were to end my life by putting a bullet through me – as someone tried to do with a bomb the other day – and met his bullet without a groan, and breathed my last taking God's name, then alone would I have made good my claim.
- Gandhi
(The words uttered less than twenty hours before his death)
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