Gandhi spent the last year of his life trying to quell communal violence

This year we celebrate 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi. Organisations are planning functions, memorials, and marches in his honour across not just India but the entire world. At the same time, subtle efforts to subvert his message and redirect even his title of “Father of the Nation” are under play in contemporary India. His greatest legacy has beenof Ahimsa (non-violence) and communal harmony, the cause which he ultimately lost his life to.

Do young Indians remember his efforts towards the same after the Independence of India was achieved?

He preached “Ahimsa”(non-violence) throughout the Independence movement and it was this brand of seeking justice that made him revered by Indians and feared by British colonisers. In a cruel twist of irony, he met a violent death. But even before his assassination, the Mahatma had repeatedly voiced how he did not want to live anymore because his teachings of Ahimsa had been disregarded by his own people who indulged in widespread violence before and during Partition.

On October 2, 1947, he is quoted to have said,

‘‘मेरे लिए तो आज मातम मनाने का दिन है। मैं आज तक जिन्दा पड़ा हूं। इस पर मुझ को खुद आश्चर्य होता है, शर्म लगती है, मैं वही शख्स हूं कि जिसकी जुबान से एक चीज निकलती थी कि ऐसे करो तो करोड़ों उसको मानते थे। पर आज तो मेरी कोई सुनता नहीं हैं। मैं कहूं कि तुम ऐसा करो, ‘नहीं, ऐसा नहीं करेंगे’ ऐसा कहते हैं।… ऐसी हालत में हिन्दुस्तान में मेरे लिए जगह कहां है और मैं उसमें जिन्दा रह कर क्या करूंगा ? आज मेरे से 125 वर्ष की बात छूट गई है। 100 वर्ष की भी छूट गई है और 90 वर्ष की भी। आज मैं 79 वर्ष में तो पहुंच जाता हूं, लेकिन वह भी मुझको चुभता है।’’

(“Today is a day of mourning for me. The fact that I am still alive surprises and embarrasses me. I am the same person whose words were followed by crores of people, but now, no one listens to me. If I ask them to do something, they say, no, we will not do this. In such circumstances, where is my place in Hindustan and what will I gain by remaining alive? I used to say I want to live till the age of 125, but I have given that up now, not even 100, not even 90, today I have reached 79 years of age and even this hurts me.”)

In the lead up to agreements about Partition and Independence between Indian leaders and British authorities, rifts were evident between the extreme “Hindu” and “Muslim” factions. Sensing that political leaders were ready to risk civil war in the pursuit of power, Gandhi distanced himself from the negotiations that commenced in 1946. He called the planned Partition “vivisection of India” and set off to Naokhali in East Bengal (present day Bangladesh) where riots had erupted in mid-1947 following the proclamation of impending Partition. He walked from village to village nursing, consoling, and appealing for peace.

He travelled back to Delhi due to appeals from the British Viceroy seeking his advice on how to stop the killings, he soon realised it was a charade and that the administration was not interested in taking steps to ensure peace. He decided to leave Delhi and return to Noakhali where he was needed and listened to. Before reaching Noakhali, his train stopped at Calcutta (modern day Kolkata) and he was greeted by crowds of Muslims who were pleading with him to stay on, in Calcutta.

The Muslim minority there feared that the transfer of power to a “Hindu Congress” government in West Bengal would revive riots that had started a year ago, on August 16, 1946, after the proclamation of “Direct Action Day” by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, president of the Muslim League. The man most widely blamed for the violent riots that followed Direct Action Day was Bengal’s Muslim League,chief minister, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy who had given the police, a “holiday” to celebrate Direct Action Day which rendered the people unprotected when mobs broke out. The British Army, coldly inactive despite being present, was equally to blame for its inaction during the riots.

Suhrawardy was stripped of Calcutta’s chief ministership. He even had to give up his dream of presiding over an independent nation of Bengal—Bangladesh—a new nation state he had lobbied hard to have carved out of the Eastern quarter of British India by integrating the Hindu majority West Bengal and Muslim majority East Pakistan into a single unified land of Bengali speakers, whose language and culture would transcend any differences of religious doctrine or practice.

When the crowds of Muslims requested Gandhi to stay in Calcutta in August 1947, he agreed on one condition, that he and Suhrawardy would live under the same roof, so that they could appeal to Muslims and Hindus alike to live in peace.

“Adversity makes strange bed-fellows,” Gandhi told his prayer meeting in Calcuttaon August 11, 1947. He moved into the abandoned Hydari House with Suhrawardy. This symbolic gesture was intended to demonstrate forgiveness and communal harmony to Calcutta‘s angry and fearful Hindus and Muslims. When Hindu mobs tried to break into the house asking why the Mahatma was siding with Muslims, he answered, “I have come here to serve not only Muslims but Hindus. You can obstruct my work, even kill me. I won’t invoke the help of the police. You can prevent me from leaving this house, but what is the use of your dubbing me an enemy of the Hindus? I will not accept the label.” The Mahatma then asked them what good it would do now to “avenge” the wrongs committed in 1946.

On August 14, 1947, Gandhi had a discussion with angry Hindu youth –even a young couple who had lost a son to bitter communal hatred—and, by evening, he had won their hearts and minds. When questioned in anguish by these young parents on how they could overcome their feelings of anger and grief at their young son’s killings, he said, “adopt a Muslim child, the same age as your lost son. Bring him up as a Muslim. In these acts let your feelings of bitterness and revenge dissolve into ultimate forgiveness and compassion. Remember your son in your adopted son.”

An estimated ten thousand people gathered to hear Gandhi’s prayer that evening. “If the flames of communal strife envelop the whole country,” Gandhi asked, “how can our newborn freedom survive?”

When the moment of freedom did arriveon August 15, 1947, he awoke at 2 a.m.in Calcutta, having slept through Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny” speech at midnight. He was not in Delhi on the very eve of India’s Independence even as political leaders in Delhi called him the architect of Indian Independence and hailed him as “Father of the Nation”. He knew his work to bring about communal peace was more important.

He was already planning to go to West Pakistan to make a final pilgrimage to bring an end to the violence against Hindus and Sikhs. As we know, it was not to be. He was assassinated a few months later, and now, 150 years after he was born, his ideologies of Ahimsa and Communal Harmony seem to be dying a slow death too.

This Gandhi Jayanti, as we participate in functions and memorials, as we undertake activities like Swachchta Abhiyan in his honour, let us remember that the greatest way to honour him is to practice Ahimsa and honour the cause he died for- PEACE and COMMUNAL HARMONY.
 
Note: With thanks to Nitin Thakur, Asst. Editor TV9 Bharatvarsh, for valuable inputs.

References:

1. Gandhi: Ek Asambhav Sambhavna –by Sudhir Chandra
2. Gandhi’s Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi –by Stanley Wolpert
3. Nitin Thakur Page

 
Related articles:

1. Gandhi’s contribution to Communal Harmony
2. An Essay for Our Times: Diversity and Indian Nationalism
3. Right to Analyse Gandhi and Appraise Godse

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As a professor in Oxford University, Newman proved to be one of the foremost scholars and thinkers of his time. He could hold vast congregations of students and intellectuals, spellbound with his depth, erudite and brilliant communication skills. He was a spiritual and intellectual giant: a theologian and a poet, a writer and an orator all rolled in one; he was a prolific writer, and his writings were incisive.  He became known as a leader of, and an able polemicist for the ‘Oxford Movement’, an influential but controversial group within the Anglican Church, which challenged some of its practices and wanted it to restore some of the important elements in the liturgy which were in the Catholic Church. Newman was a relentless seeker of the truth. In a major shock to the Victorian establishment and intelligentsia of his times, he finally left the Church of England to embrace Catholicism. He converted to Catholicism on October 9, 1845; significantly, (breaking from tradition of keeping the day of the death of a Saint as the feast day), the Catholic Church keeps the feast of Newman every October 9.
 
Newman’s most well-known poem-prayer ‘Lead, kindly Light’, (dated June 16, 1833) was apparently penned during his search to do what is right. He wrote it when he was stranded in Palermo Italy for three weeks. He was impatient to return home, but he was sick besides, there was no boat to take him back to England. Newman writes, “I began to visit the churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. At last I got off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, ‘Lead, Kindly Light’, which have since become so well known”. In a matter of time, this poem (first published in 1834) became very popular in literary circles and church circles in England, in the United States and in other parts of the vast British Empire of that time.
 
Gandhi, who studied in Alfred High School, Rajkot would most probably have come to know about this poem as a school-boy. He would become more acquainted with it as a student of law in London from 1888-91, just at the time when Newman’s death, would have left a deep void in the intellectual and religious circles of England. Later, in South Africa, the tremendous impact this poem had on Gandhi, was obvious from the fact that ‘Lead, kindly Light’ held a unique position as the motto of the ‘Satyagraha’ (the force of Truth) movement. On September 11, 1906, Gandhi organised the first ‘Satyagraha’ campaign to protest the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance that was constituted against the local Indians. Again, in June 1907, he held a Satyagraha against the Black Act.
 

 
“Lead, kindly Light’, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene—one step enough for me.!”
 
Both Newman and Gandhi went through a long and painful process of search, of spiritual discernment asking for light and of conversion, before they unreservedly plunged into the crucial next step in their journey ahead. These ‘enlightened steps’ were indeed turning points: in their lives and in the profound impact it had on the lives of several others.  In 1916, after Mahatma Gandhi had established his ashram on the banks of the River Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, ‘Lead, kindly Light’ had a very special place in the daily prayers of the Ashram.
 
Gandhi had the prayer translated into Gujarati by Narasimharao Divetia; the initial words read “Premal Jyoti (Light of Love) taaro daakhavi Muj jeevan panth ujaal. Dur padyo nij dhaamthi hun ne ghere ghan andhaar, Maarg suje nav ghor rajanimaan, nij shishune sambhaal; Maaro jeevanpanth ujaal”. For more than thirty years, several of Gandhi’s writings and speeches had a reference to the phrases ‘Lead, kindly Light’ or to ‘one step enough for me’. Once, when asked the reason for his constant references to Newman and the latter’s works, Gandhi was quick on the retort, “he is perhaps the only honest Englishman, I have come across!” On March 10, 1947 Gandhi wrote to Vinobha Bhave, his closest disciple, “in my prayers, I pray to God to lead me from untruth to truth, isn’t it the same idea conveyed in ‘Lead kindly Light’?”
 
In India, we live today, as the anti-Nazi poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht would say “in dark times”. The country desperately needs selfless and committed leaders – in the mould of Newman and Gandhi -who have the courage, the vision and the ability to emulate their values and strengths. Saint Newman and Mahatma Gandhi were characterised by their spiritual depth and intellectual honesty. As we celebrate the Mahatma and the Saint, let us resolve to learn from them: the depth to pray “Lead Kindly Light”. Our country today yearns for Mahatmas and Saints-who have the openness to search for what is right, the transparency which is innate, the humility to discern, the audacity to take risks, and above all, the unflinching courage to stand up for Justice and Truth!                                                                                                                                                      
 
*(Fr. Cedric Prakash is a human rights/peace activist &writer. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com)
 

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So Gandhiji’s Swachch Bharat is sacred
Even if you are unhygienic on the inside
 
So Gandhiji is sacred
But his trial, where he along with Shankarlal Ghelabhai Banker, editor and printer and publisher of Young India were charged under Section 124 A by CN Broomfield, the district and sessions judge, Ahmedabad, proves nothing has altered hundred years later
 
So Gandhiji’s cow is sacred
But other living species (especially Untouchables and Muslims) are not
 
So Gandhiji is sacred
Even though they say it is not a Hatya but a vadh (similar to Ravana Vadh)
 
So Gandhiji is sacred
But his action in Champaner to begin an agitation for 19 lakh oppressed peasants is not
 
So Gandhiji is sacred
But his words in Hindustani about Nai Talim during his path breaking speech in Wardha are not
 
So Gandhiji is sacred
But his speech in Gujarati at the Gujarati Vidypeeth extolling students to raise their voice against injustice has been erased
 
So the Bardoli and Kheda agitations are sacred
But the message from these agitations is not what the World Bank and IMF want to hear
 
So the economy and its prized-mascot the GDP is sacred
But daily wages for daily wage labourers are not
 
So GST is sacred because it means a level playing field
But Ahimsa for all is not
 
So movement of inter-state goods is welcome
But inter-state movement of Satyagraha is not
 
Speaking of inter-state movement, travel and tourism and trade and commerce is sacred
But truth is not
 
So wealth is equitable
But the wealthy have not been informed about this
 
So malls are sacred
Mall-nutrition is not
 
So Gandhiji’s two themes of truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills
But these hills are being mined for ore and sand
 
So water in the Holy Ganges is sacred
But potable water for 1.4 billion Indians is not
 
So, The King of Good Times is sacred
But liquor is on the verge of being prohibited in one more state
 
So the Modis and Choksis and their multiple passports are sacred
But Manilal Maganlal Doctor being despatched by Gandhiji to Mauritius and Fiji to provide legal counsel for indentured labour is no longer part of our memory
 
So jawans are sacred
But what they eat or wear or think when they do their sacred duty is not
 
So the nation is sacred
But domi-nation through violence is even more sacred
 
So marriage is sacred
But Bapu and Kasturba holding hands in Modern Indian would be un-sacred
 
So knowledge is sacred
But recruiting teachers for rural schools is a no-no
 
Speaking of schools, government schools are being shut down under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, which is means whatever Dr Ambedkar said in the 1950 is no longer sacred
Knowledge is ex officio, I guess
 
So science is sacred
Which is why, we have no popular science magazine. And we have TV shows with lots of temper and none about scientific temper
 
So bhajans and pravachans are sacred
Which is why, more and more channels are mutating and praying for a miracle on the Sensex
 
So the Indian atma is sacred
But I need 4G to download the app to access it
 
So Parliamentarians are sacred
But Parliament is not
 
So voting is sacred
But voters are not
 
Which brings us to the wretched and the poor – and the minority
Who are they? Can we banish them, forever?
 
So Satyamev Jayatev is sacred
But trolling is preferred
 
So reserving our seats on a flight or booking the next iPhone is ok
But they can’t reserve a place in our society
 
So your identity is sacred
And it is defined by the cars and gizmos you use
 
So books are sacred
Which is why, they are banned by those who never-ever read Tolstoy or Thoreau or Tagore
 
So democracy is sacred
But not for We the People
 
So Bharat Ma is sacred
But her daughters are in danger due to female infanticide
 
So the national anthem is sacred
Especially if you are very audible about it
 
And finally, the Constitution of India is very very sacred
But only 0.1% people on this land have read the said document
 
And finally, My Experiments With Truth is sacred
Especially since no such experiment with truth will be permitted, today
 
Ramu Ramanathan is a Mumbai-based playwright who has penned two plays about Gandhi – Mahadevbhai and Postcards from Bardoli
 

Image Courtesy: Getty Images

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As the nation celebrates the 150^th year of Gandhi’s birth, I am reminded of his principles of non-violence, especially due their inclusion of our four-legged, furry and feathered friends. I, therefore, want to take this opportunity to advocate a more compassionate lifestyle by saying no to factory farming.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress, can be judged by the way its animals are treated” – Mahatma Gandhi.

 
While Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is the most popular world icon for equality and dignity, he was also a vociferous champion for animals. Their welfare was so important to Gandhi that he was a committed vegetarian. So much so that he proudly proclaimed, “…the basis of my vegetarianism is not physical, but moral. If anybody said that I should die if I don’t take beef tea or mutton, even on medical advice, I would prefer death.”
 
But, while he took a moral stand on the subject when he said, he never dictated what others should do. His position on vegetarianism was one that required his to maintain a delicate balance given how his satyagrah required bringing together diverse communities, classes and castes, many of whom rely on animal protein as a key part of their nutrition, many of whom have suffered oppression and discrimination for centuries because of their diet.
 
Gandhi showed us how one could influence and advocate without forcing people and alienating them. This is in sharp contrast to the beliefs and modus operandi of modern day cow protection groups and lynch mobs that would rather kill than die for their beliefs.
 
What helped Gandhi build meaningful bonds with everyone was that he did not believe in imposing his will or beliefs on anyone. That is what inspires me as well. I am vegan and while I encourage friends to give this lifestyle a shot, I recognise their freedom of choice, their right to decide what they eat. I only advocate making as many, big or small, changes that makes their lifestyle a little more compassionate.
 
However, this is not to say I agree wholeheartedly with everything Gandhi said with respect to vegetarianism. For instance, on the subject of eggs, Gandhi trampled on some shells when he said, “… eggs are regarded by the layman as a flesh food. In reality, they are not. Nowadays sterile eggs are also produced. The hen is not allowed to see the cock and yet it lays eggs. A sterile egg never develops into a chick. Therefore, he who can take milk should have no objection to taking sterile eggs.” I find this a little ill worded and thus divorced from reality.
 
Poultry farms are where one can witness some of the cruellest scenes. Hens are put in small cages, sometimes stocked over each other for their entire life. The male chicks are sent to the grinder where they are ground alive. The beaks of female chicks are chipped so that they don’t poke each other. There are no happy stories in factory farms. While there is a debate in the scientific and vegan community about the helpful nutrients of eggs, it would be nice if those who consume eggs choose free range ones instead of factory farmed ones. And cage-free farms could be freer for the birds where animals get a little more space to spread a wing or two.
 
Similarly, for all those who are okay with milking gau-mata, how can you ignore the cruelty in the milk production industry? Cows are made pregnant by artificial insemination and spend their entire life in confinement without space to move or socialise. There are injections administered so as to cause uterine convulsions and cause a spike in milk production. Quite opposite to the romanticed idea of a happy cow sharing its excess milk, a simple Youtube search would show how male calves are tied away from their mothers, many who starve to death or reach slaughter houses. 
 
I do not stand for the slaughter of animals, and I am certain that Gandhi didn’t either. I miss Gandhi today, for he would have stood against animal abuse, and more importantly against factory farming and commercial exploitation of cows for milk. He would have stood along with the young Fridays for Future brigade when they speak about how a compassionate choice in terms of food and sustainable agriculture would lead the way in ensuring that our earth doesn’t get antagonised to a point of destruction. 
 
This is why I urge my non-vegetarian friends to consider two things; one, boycott factory farming and only choose free range farm produce, and two, consider going vegan or at least vegetarian once a week. Perhaps this will help us all honour Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence and compassion in a sustainable and meaningful manner, and help our planet deal with climate change.

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