GANDHIJI'S POLITICS X-RAYED
(Section II)
69. The accumulating
provocation of 32 years culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast at
last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhiji
should be brought to an end immediately. On coming back to India
he developed a subjective the second fiddle to all hi s
eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and Primitive vision or it
had to carry on without him. He alone was the judge of every one
and everything; he was the master brain guiding the civil
disobedience movement; nobody else knew the technique of that
movement; he alone knew when to begin it and when to withdraw it.
The movement may succeed or fail; it my bring untold disasters and
political reverses but that could make no difference to the
Mahatma's infallibility. `A Satyagrahi can never fail' was his
formula for declaring - his own infallibility and nobody except
himself knew who a Setyagrahi was. Thus Gandhiji became the judge
and the counsel in his own case. These childish inanities and
obstinacies coupled with a most severe austerity of life,
ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhiji formidable and
irresistible. Many people thought his politics were irrational but
they had either to withdraw from the Congress or to place their
intelligence at his feet to do what he liked with it. In a
position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhiji was guilty of
blunder after blunder, failure after failure and disaster after
disaster. No one single political victory can be claimed to his
credit during 33 years of his political predominance. Herein below
I mention in some detail the series of blunders which he committed
during 32 years of his undisputed leadership.
70. I shall now describe briefly the enormous mischief done by the
slogans and the nostrums which Gandhiji prescribed and followed,
in pursuance of his policy, the fatal results that we now know.
Here are some of them :
(a) Khilafat-As a result of the First World War, Turkey had lost
most of its Empire in Africa and the Middle East. It had lost all
its European Imperial possessions also and by 1914 only a strip of
land was all that was left to her on the continent of Europe. The
young Turks had forced the Sultan of Turkey to abdicate and with
the disappearance of the Sultan the Khilafat was also abolished.
The Indian Muslims' devotion to the Khilafat was strong and
earnest and they believed that is was Britain that had brought
about the downfall of the Sultan and the Khilafat. They therefore
started a campaign for the revival of the Khilafat. In the moment
of opportunism the Mahatma misconceived the idea that by helping
the Khilafat Movement he would become the leader of the Muslims in
India as he already was of the Hindus and that with the
Hindu-Muslim Unity thus achieved the British would soon have to
conced Swaraj. But again, Gandhiji miscalculated and by leading
the Indian National Congress to identify itself with the Khilafat
Movement, he quite gratuitously introduced theological element
which has proved a tragic and expensive calamity. For the moment
the movement for the revival of the Khilafat appeared to be
succeeding. The Muslims who were not with the Khilafat Movement
soon became out of date and the Ali Brothers who were its foremen
leaders swam on the crest of a wave of popularity and carried
everything before them. Mr. Jinnah found himself a lonely figure
and was of no consideration for a few years. The movement however
failed. Our British Masters were not unduly shaken and as a
combined result of repression and the Montague Chelmsford Reforms
they were able to tide over the Khilafat Movement in a few years
time. The Muslims had kept the Khilafat Movement distinct from the
Congress all along; they welcomed the Congress support but they
did not merge with it. When failure came the Muslims became
desperate with disappointment and their anger was sited on the
Hindus. Innumerable riots in the various parts of India followed
the chief victims being the Hindus everywhere. The Hindu-Muslim
Unity of the Mahatma became a mirage.
(b) Moplah Rebellion-Malabar, Punjab, Bengal and N. W. F. Province
were the scene of repeated outrages on the Hindus. The Moplah
rebellion as it was called was the most prolonged and concentrated
attack on the Hindu religion, Hindu honour, Hindu life and Hindu
property; hundreds of Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam,
women were outraged. The Mahatma who had brought about all this
calamity on India by his communal policy kept mum. He never
uttered a single word of reproach against the aggressors nor did
he allow the Congress to take any active steps whereby repetition
of such outrages could be prevented. On the other hand he went to
the length of denying the numerous cases of forcible conversions
in Malabar and actually published in his paper 'Young India' that
there was only one case of forcible conversion. His own Muslim
friends informed him that he was wrong and that the forcible
conversions were numerous in Malabar. He never corrected his
misstatements but went to the absurd length of starting a relief
fund for the Moplahs instead of for their victims; but the
Promised land of Hindu.Muslim Unity was not yet in sight.
(c) Afghan Amir Intrigue-When the Khilafat movement failed Ali
Brothers decided to do something which might keep alive the
Khilafat sentiments. Their slogan was that whoever was the enemy
of the Khilafat was also the enemy of Islam and as the British
were chiefly responsible for the defeat and the dethronement of
the Sultan of Turkey, every faithful Muslim was in solemn duty
bound to be a bitter enemy of Britain. With that object they
secretly intrigued to invite the Amir or Afghanistan to invade.
India and promised him every support. There is a long history
behind this intrigue; Ali brothers never denied their share in the
conspiracy. The Mahatma pursued his tactics of getting
Hindu-Muslim Unity by supporting the Ali brothers through thick
and through thin. He publicly poured his affection on them and
promised them unstinted support in the restoration of the Khilafat.
Even with regard to the invasion of India by the Amir the Mahatma
directly and indirectly supported the Ali Brothers. This is proved
beyond the. shadow of a doubt. The late Mr. Shastri, Mr. C. Y.
Chintamani the Editor or the `Leader' of Allahabad and even the
Mahatma's life-long friend, the late Rev. C. F. Andrews told him
quite clearly that his speeches and writings amounted to a
definite support to the Ali Brothers in their invitation to the
Amir of Afghanistan to invade India. The following quotations from
the, Mahatma's Writing in those days should make it clear. that he
had forgotten his own country in his one consuming desire to
please the Muslims and had become a party to the invasion of his
motherland by a foreign Ruler. The Mahatma supported the invasion
in the following words :
"I cannot understand why the Ali Brothers are. going to be
arrested as the rumours go, and why I am to remain free. They have
done nothing which I would not do. If they had sent a message, to
Amir, I also would send one to inform the Amir that if he came, no
Indian so long as I can help it, would help the Government to
drive him back."
The vigilance of the British broke the conspiracy nothing came out
of the Ali Brothers' grotesque scheme of the invasion of India and
Hindu-Muslim Unity remained as far away as before.
(d) (i) Attack on Arya Samaj-Gandhiji ostentatiously displayed his
love for Muslims by a most unworthy and unprovoked attack on the
Arya Samaj in 1924. He publicly denounced the Samaj for its
supposed sins of omission and commission; it was an utterly
unwarranted reckless and discreditable attack, but whatever would
please the Mohammedans was the heart's desire of Gandhiji. The
Arya Samaj made a powerful but polite retort and for some time
Gandhiji was silenced, but the growing political influence of
Gandhiji weakened the Arya Samaj. No follower of Swami Dayanand
could Possibly be a Gandhian Congressman in politics. The two
things are entirely incompatible; but the lure of office and
Leadership has induced numerous Arya Samajists to play the double
game of claiming to be Gandhi to Congressmen and Arya Samajists at
the same time. The result was that a ban on Satyartha Prakash was
imposed by the Government of Sind four years ago and the Arya
Samaj on the whole took it lying down. As a result its hold on
Hindu social and religious life has been further considerably
Crippled. Individual members of the Samaj are and were strong
nationalists. The late Lala Lajpat Rai, and Swami Shradhanand to
mention only two names ware staunch Arya Samajists but they were
foremost amongst the leaders of the Congress till the end of their
life. They did not stand for blind support to Gandhi, but were
definitely ,Opposed to his pro-Muslim Policy, and openly fought
him on that issue. But these great men are gone now. We know that
the bulk of the Arya Samaj continues 'to be what they always were,
but they are ill-informed .and badly led by the self -seeking
section of the Samaj. The Samaj has ceased to be the force and the
power that it was at one time.
(d) (ii) Gandhiji's attack did not improve his popularity with the
Muslims but it provoked a Muslim youth to murder Swami
Shraddhanandji within a few months. The charge against the Samaj
that it was a reactionary body was manifestly false. Everybody
knew that far from being reactionary body the Samaj had been
vanguard of social reforms among the Hindus. The Samaj had for a
hundred years stood for the abolition of untuchability long before
the birth of Gandhiji. The Samaj had popularised widow remarriage.
The Samaj had denounced the caste system, and preached the oneness
of not merely the Hindus. but of all those who were prepared to
follow it& tenets. Gandhiji was completely silenced for some
time but his leadership made the people forget his baseless attack
on the Arya Samaj and even weakened the Samaj to a large extent.
Swami Dayanand. Saraswati who was the founder of the Arya Samaj;
had no fad about violence or non-violence. In his teaching the use
of force was not ruled out but was. permissible if morally
desirable. It must have been a struggle for the leaders of the
Arya Samaj whether to. remain within the Congress or not. because
Gandhiji insisted on non-violence in all cases and Swami Dayanand
made no bones about it. But Swamiji was dead and Gandhiji's star
was ascendant in the political firmament.
(e) Separation of Sind-By 1928 Mr. Jinnah's stock had risen very
high and the Mahatma had already conceded many unfair and improper
demands of Mr. Jinnah at the expense of Indian democracy and the.
Indian nation and the Hindus. The Mahatma even supported the
separation of Sind from the Bombay Presidency and threw the Hindus
of Sind to the communal wolves. Numerous riots took place in Sind-Karachi,
Sukkur, Shikarpur and other places in which the Hindus were the
only sufferers and the Hindu- Muslim Unity receded further from
the horizon.
(f) League's Good Bye to Congress - With each defeat Gandhiji
became even more keen on his method of achieving Hindu-Muslim
Unity. Like the ,gambler who had lost heavily he became more
desperate increasing his stakes each time and indulged in the most
irrational concessions, if only they could placate Mr. Jinnah and
enlist his support under the Mahatma's leadership in the fight for
freedom. But the aloofness of the Muslims from the Congress
increased with the advance of years and the Muslim League refused
to have anything to do with the Congress after 1928. The
resolution of Independence passed by the Congress at its Lahore
Session in 1929 found the Muslims conspicuous by their absence and
strongly aloof from the Congress organisation. The hope of Hindu
Muslim Unity was hardly entertained by anybody thereafter; but
Gandhiji continued to be resolutely optimistic and surrendered
more and more to Muslim communalism.
(g) Round - Table Conference and Communal Award - The British
authorities both in India and in England, had realised that the
demand for a bigger and truer instalment of constitutional reforms
was most insistent and clamant in India and that in spite of their
unscrupulous policy of 'Divide and Rule' and the communal discord
which it had generated, the resulting situation had brought thorn
no permanence and security so far as British Rule In India was
concerned. They therefore decided by the end of 1929 to convene a
Round Table Conference in England early in the next year and made
a declaration to that effect. Mr. Ramsay Mc- Donald was the Prime
Minister and a Labour Government was in power; but the action was
too late. The resolution of Independence was passed a month later
at the Lahore Session of the Congress in spite of the aforesaid
declaration and the Congress Party decided to boycott this Round
Table Conference. Instead, a Salt Campaign was started after a few
months which created tremendous enthusiasm and nearly 70,000
people, went to jails in breaking the provisions of the Salt Act.
The Congress however soon regretted its boycott of the First Round
Table Conference and at the Karachi Congress of 1931 it was
decided to send Gandhiji alone as the Congress
Representative to Second Session of Round Table Conference.
Anybody who reads the proceedings of that Session will realise
that Gandhiji was the biggest factor in bringing about the total
failure of the Conference. Not one of the decisions of the Round
Table Conference was in support of democracy or nationalism and
the Mahatma went to the length of inviting Mr. Ramsay McDonald to
give what was called the Communal Award, thereby strengthening the
disintegrating forces of communalism which had already corroded
the body politic for 24 years past The Mahatma was thus
responsible for a direct and substantial intrusion of communal
electorate and communal franchise in the future Parliament of
India. There is no wonder that when the communal award was given
by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, the Mahatma refused to oppose it and the
members of the Assembly were asked 'Neither to support nor to
reject it.' Gandhiji himself put an axe on the communal unity on
which he had staked so much for the previous. fifteen years. No
wonder under the garb of minority protection we got in the
Government of India Act of 1935 a permanent statutory recognition
of communal franchise, communal electorate and even weight age for
the minorities especially the Muslims, both in the, Provinces and
in the Centre. Those elected on the, communal franchise would be
naturally communal minded and would have no interest in bridging
the gulf between communalism and nationalism. The formation of a
parliamentary party on political and, economic grounds thus became
impossible. Hindus and Muslims became divided in opposite camps
and worked as rival parties, placing increased momentum to
separatism. Almost everywhere Hindus became victims of communal
orgies at the hands of the. Muslims. People became perfectly
cynical about any possibility of unity between Hindus and Muslims
but the Mahatma kept on repeating his barren formula all the time.
(Here refer to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya's speech against the
acceptance of Communal Award.)
(h) Acceptance of office and Resigning in Huff - Provincial
Autonomy was introduced from the, 1st of April, 1937 under the
Government of India Act 1935. The act was bristling with
safeguards, special Powers. protection to British personnel in the
various services intact. The Congress therefore would not accept
office at first but soon found out that in every Province a
Ministry was constituted and that at least in five Provinces they
were functioning in the normal manner. In the other six Provinces
the Ministers we a in a minority but they ware forging ahead with
their nation building programme and the Congress felt that it
would be left out in the cold if it persisted in its policy of
barren negation. It therefore decided to accept office in July,
1937; in doing so it committed a serious blunder in excluding the
members of the Muslim League from effective participation in the
Cabinet. They only admitted into the Cabinet such Muslims as were
congress-men. This was the right policy for a country with citizen
franchise and without communal representation but have accepted
communal electorate and communal franchise and other paraphernalia
of separatism, it became untenable to keep out the members of
Muslim League who represented the bulk of the Muslims in every
province, where they were in a minority. The Nationalist Muslims
who became Ministers were not representatives of the Muslims in
the sense in which the Muslim League Members were and in not
taking the League Members in the Cabinet the Congress openly
repudiated its own action in statutorily having recognised itself
communal by statute. On the other hand the Muslims were quite
unwilling to come under the Congress control; their interest never
needed protection. The Governors were there always ready and
willing to offer the most sympathetic support, but the rejection
of Muslim League Members as Ministers ,gave Mr. Jinnah a tactical
advantage which he utilised to the full and in 1939 when the
Congress resigned Office in a huff, it completely played in the
hand of the Muslim League and British Imperialism. Under Section
93 of the Government of India Act 1935 the Governments of the
Congress Provinces were taken over by the Governors and the Muslim
League Ministries remained in power and authority in the remaining
Provinces. The Governors carried on the administration with a
definite leaning towards the Muslims as an Imperial Policy of
Britain and communalism reigned right throughout the country
through the Muslim Ministries on the one hand and the pro-Muslim
Governors on the other. The Hindu. Muslim Unity of Gandhiji became
a dream, if it were ever anything else; but Gandhiji never cared.
His ambition was to become the leader of Hindu and Muslims alike
and in resigning the
Ministries the Congress again sacrificed democracy and
nationalism. The fundamental rights of the Hindus, religious,
political, economic and social, all were sacrificed at the altar
of the Mahatmic obstinacy.
(i) League Taking Advantage of War-Encouraged by the situation
thus created the Muslim Government in five Provinces and the
pro-Muslim Governors in the other six, Mr. Jinnah went ahead in
full speed. The congress opposed the war in one way or another.
Mr. Jinnah and the League had a very clear policy. They remained
neutral and created no trouble for the Government; but in
the year following the Lahore Session of the Muslim League passed
a resolution for the partition of India as a condition for their
co-operation in the war. Lord Linlithgow within a few months of
the Lahore Resolution gave full support to the Muslims in their
policy of separation by a declaration of Government Policy which
assured the Muslims that no change in the political constitution
of India will be made without the consent of all the elements in
India's national life. The Muslim League and Mr. Jinnah were thus
vested with a veto over the political progress of this country by
the pledge given by the Viceroy of India. From that day the
progress of disintegration advanced with accumulated force.
Muslims were not prohibited by the League from getting recruited
to the Army, Navy and Air Force and they did so in large numbers
In fact the Punjab Muslims resented their percentage in the Indian
Army at all reduced thus, with a view to preparing for
eventualities in future Muslim State as is being done in Kashmir
today, and of course the Muslim League never created any
difficulty for the Government throughout the six years of the
global war. (Here refer to the speech of the late Sir Sikandar
Hyat Khan delivered at Cairo to the armed forces during the last
World War) All that they wanted was that no changes should be made
in the constitution of India without their full consent and that
full consent could be obtained if only Pakistan was conceded. This
assurance was virtually given by Lord Linlithgow in August, 1940.
(j) Cripp's Partition Proposal Accepted - The Congress did not
know its own mind as to whether it should support the war, oppose
or remain neutral. All these attitudes were expressed in turn one
after the other; sometimes by way of speeches, sometimes by way of
resolutions, sometimes through Press campaigns and sometimes in
other ways. Government naturally felt that the Congress has no
mind of its own except verbose condemnation. The war was correct
on without let or hindrance till 1942. The Government could get
all the men, all the money, and all the, material which their war
efforts neededEvery Government loan was fully subscribed. In 1942
came the Cripps Mission which presented to the Congress and to the
rest of India Dead Sea Apple of useless promises, coupled as it
was, with a clear hint of partition of India in the background.
Naturally the Mission failed, but the Congress even while opposing
the Mission's proposals yielded to the principle of partition
after a very pretentious resolution reiterating its adherence to
democracy and nationalism. At a meeting of the All India Congress
Committee held in April, 1942 at Allahabad the principle of
partition was repudiated by an overwhelming majority-the minority
consisting of the present Governor General Mr. C. Rajagopalchari
and his half dozen supporters-bnt Maulana Azad, the so-called
nationalist Muslim, was then the President of the Congress. He
gave a ruling a few months later that the Allahabad Resolution had
no effect an the earlier resolution of the Working Committee which
conceded the principle of Pakistan however remotely. The Congress
was entirely at the end of its wits. The British Government went
on effectively controlling the whole country through Muslim
Ministries and through pro-Muslim Governors. The Princes wholly
identified themselves with the war. Labour refused to keep aloof.
The capitalist class supported the Congress in words and the
Government in deed by supplying the Government everything it
wanted at top prices. Even
Khaddar enthusiasts sold blankets to Government. The Congress
could tee no way out of its absolute paralysis; it was out of
office and Government was carried on in spite of its nominal
opposition.
(k) `Quit-India' by Congress and Divide and Quit' by League - Out
of sheer desperation Gandhiji evolved the `Quit India' Policy
which was endorsed by the Congress. It was supposed to be the
greatest national rebellion against foreign rule. Gandhiji had
ordered the people to 'do or die'. But except that the leaders
were quickly arrested and detained behind the prison bars some
furtive acts of violence were practised by Congressmen for some
weeks. But in less than three months the whole movement was
throttled by Government with firmness and discretion. The movement
soon collapsed. What remained was a series of piteous appeals by
the Congress Press and the Congress supporters, who were outside
the jail, for, the release of the arrested leaders without
formally withdrawing the 'Quit India' movement, which had already
collapsed. Gandhiji even staged a fast to capacity for his
release, but for two years until the Germans were decisively
beaten, the leaders had to remain in jails and our Imperial
masters were triumphant all along Mr. Jinnah openly opposed the
`Quit India' Movement as hostile to the Muslims and raised a
counter slogan `Divide and Quit'. That is where Gandhiji's
Hindu-Muslim Unity had arrived.
(l) Hindi Versus Hindustani-Absurdly pro. Muslim policy of
Gandhiji is nowhere more blatantly illustrated than in his
perverse attitude on the question of the National Language of
India. BY all the tests of a scientific language, Hindi has the
most prior claim to be accepted as the National Language of this
country. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhiji gave. a
great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not
like it, he became a turncoat and blossomed forth as the champion
of what is called, Hindustani. Every body in India knows that
there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has
no vocabulary; it is a mere dialect; it is spoken but not written.
It is a bastard tongue and a crossbreed between Hindi and Urdu and
not even the Mahatma's sophistry could make it popular; but in his
desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone
should be the national language of India. His blind supporters of
course blindly supported him and the so-called hybrid tongue began
to be used. Words like 'Badshah Ram' and 'Begum Sita' were spoken
and written but the Mahatma never dared to speak of Mr. Jinnah as
Sri Jinnah and Maulana Azad as Pandit Azad. All his experiments
were at the expense of the Hindus. His was a one-way traffic in
his search of Hindu-Muslim Unity. The charm and the purity of the
Hindi Language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims, but
even Congressmen, apart from the rest of India refused to digest
this nostrum. He continued to persist in his support to Hindustani
The bulk of the Hindus however proved to be stronger and more
loyal to their culture and to their mother tongue and refused to
bow down to the Mahatmic fiat. The result was that Gandhiji did
not prevail in the Hindi Parishad and had to resign from that
body; his pernicious influence however remains and the Congress
Governments in India still hesitate whether to select Hindi or
Hindustani as the National Language of India. The barest common
sense should make it clear to the meanest intelligence that the
language of 80 per cent of the people must be the language of the
country but his ostentatious support of the Muslims made him look
almost idiotic when he continued to stand for Hindustani. Happily
there are millions and millions of champions of the Hindi language
and the Devnagari script. The U.P. Government has adopted Hindi
as. the language of the Province. The Committee appointed by the
Government of India has translated the whole of the Draft
Constitution in pure Hindi and it now remains for the Congress
Party in the legislature to adopt the commensurable view in favour
of Hindi or assert their loyalty to the Mahatma in their mad
endeavour to force a foreign language on a great country like
India. For practical purpose Hindustani is only Urdu under a
different name, but Gandhiji could not have the courage to
advocate the adoption of Urdu as against Hindi, hence the
subterfuge to smuggle Urdu under the garb of Hindustani. Urdu is
not banned by any nationalist Hindu but to smuggle it under the
garb of Hindustani is a fraud and a crime. That is what the
Mahatma tried to do. To bolster up a dialect in School Curriculum
and in educational institutions that non-existent language in the
garb of Hindustani because it pleased the Muslims was the
communalism of the. worst type on the part of the Mahatma. All
these for Hindu- Muslim Unity.
(m) Vande Mataram Not to be Sung - The infatuation of Gandhiji for
the Muslims and his incorrigible craving for Muslim leadership
without any regard for right or wrong for truth or justice and in
utter contempt of the sentiments of the Hindus as a Whole was the
high water- mark of the Mahatmic benevolence. It is notorious that
some Muslims disliked the celebrated song of 'Vande Mataram' and
the Mahatma forthwith stopped its singing or recital wherever he
could. This song has been honoured for a century as the most
inspiring exhortation to the Bengalees to stand up like one man
for their nation. In the anti-partition agitation of 1905 in
Bengal the song came to a special Prominence and popularity. The
Bengalees swore by it and dedicated themselves to the Motherland
at countless meetings where this song was sung. The British
Administrator did not understand the true meaning of the song
'which simply meant 'Hail Motherland' Government therefore banned
its singing forty years ago for some time, that only led to its
increased popularity all over the country. It continued to be sung
at all Congress andother national gatherings but as soon as one
Muslim objected to it Gandhiji utterly disregarded the national
sentiment behind it and persuaded the Congress also not to insist
upon the singing as the national song. We are now asked to adopt
Rabindranath Tagore's 'Jana Gana Mane, as a substitute for 'Vande
Mataram'. Could anything be more demoralised or pitiful than this
brazen-faced action against a song of world- wide fame? Simply
because one ignorant fanatic disliked it. The right way to proceed
would have been to enlighten the ignorant and remove the
prejudice, but that is a policy which during the thirty years of
unbounded popularity and leadership Gandhiji could not muster
courage to try. His Hindu-Muslim Unity idea only meant to
surrender, capitulate, and concede whatever the Muslims wanted. No
wonder the Willo the Wisp unity never came and never could have
come .
(n) Shiva Bavani Banned-Gandhiji banned the public recital or
perusal of Shiva Bavani a beautiful collection of 52 verses by a
Hindu poet in which he had extolled the great power of Shivaji and
the protection which he brought to the Hindu community and the
Hindu religion. The refrain of that collection says `if there were
no Shivaji, the entire country would have been converted to
Islam.' (Here recite the couplet from the Book `Shiva Bavani'
ending with the words-
(Kashiji Ki Kala jati Mathura masjid hoti Shivaji jo na hote to
Sunnat hot Sabki)
This was the delight of millions of contemporary history and a
beautiful piece of literature, but Gandhiji would have none of it.
Hindu- Muslim Unityndeed !
(o) Suhrawardy Patronised-When the Muslim League refused to join
the provisional Government which Lord Wavell invited Pandit Nehru
to form, the League started a Council of Direct Action against any
Government farmed by Pandit Nehru, On the 15th of August 1946. A
little more than two weeks before Pandit Nehru was to take office,
there broke out in Calcutta an open massacre of the Hindus which
continued for three days unchecked. The horrors of these days are
described in the 'Statesman' newspaper of Calcutta. At the time is
was considered that the Government which could permit such
outrages on its citizens must be thrown out; there were actual
suggestions that Mr. Suhrawardy's Government should be dismissed,
but the socialist Governor refused to take up the administration
under Section 93 of the Government of India Act. Gandhiji however
went to Calcutta and contracted a strange friendship with the
author of these massacres, in fact he intervened on behalf of
Suhrawardy and the Muslim League. During the three days that the
massacre of Hindus took place, the police in Calcutta did not
interfere for the protection of life or property, innumerable
outrages were practised under the very eyes and nose of the
guardians of law. but nothing mattered to Gandhiji. To him
Suhrawardy was an object of admiration from which he could not be
diverted and publicly described Suhrawardy as a Martyr. No wonder
two months later there was the most virulent outbreak of Muslim
fanaticism in Noakhali and Tipperah 30,000 Hindu women were
forcibly converted according to a report of Arya Samaj, the total
number of Hindus killed or wounded was three lacs not to say the
crores of rupees worth of property looted and destroyed. Gandhiji
then undertook. ostensibly alone, a tour of Noakhali District. It
is wall known that Suhrawardy gave him protection wherever he went
and even with that protection Gandhiji never ventured to enter
Noakhali District. All these outrages, loss of life and property
were done when Surhawardy was the Prime Minister and to such a
monster of inequity and communal poison Gandhiji gave the
unsolicited title of Martyr.
(p) Attitude towards Hindu and Muslim Princes - Gandhiji's
followers successfully humiliated the Jaipur, Bhavnagar and Rajkot
States. They enthusiastically supported even a rebellion in
Kashmir State against the Hindu Prince. This attitude strangely
enough contrasts with what Gandhiji did about the affairs in
Muslim States. There was a Muslim League intrigue in Gwalior
States. as a result of which the Maharaja was compelled to abandon
the celebrations of the second millennium of the Vikram Calendar
four years ago: the Muslim agitation was based on pure communalism
The Maharaja is the liberal and impartial Ruler with a far sighted
outlook. In a recent casual Hindu Muslim clash in Gwalior because
the Musalmans suffered some casualties Gandhiji came down upon the
Maharaja with a vitriolic attack wholly undeserved.
(q) Gandhiji On Fast to Capacity-in 1943 while Gandhiji was on
fast to capacity and nobody was allowed to interview him on
political affairs, only .the nearest and the dearest had the
permission to go and enquire of his health. Mr. C. Rajagopalachari
smuggled himself into Gandhiji's room and hatched a plot of
conceding Pakistan which Gandhiji allowed him to negotiate with
Jinnah. Gandhiji later on discussed this matter for three weeks
with Mr. Jinnah in the later part of 1944 and offered Mr. Jinnah
virtually what is now called Pakistan. Gandhiji went every day to
Mr. Jinnah's house, flattered him. praised him, embraced him, but
Mr. Jinnah could not be cajoled out of his demand for the Pakistan
pound of flesh. Hindu Muslim Unity was making progress in the
negative direction.
(r) Desai-Liaquat Agreement - (i) In 1945 came -the notorious
Desai-Liaquat Agreement. It put one more, almost the last, nail on
the coffin of the ,Congress as a, National democratic body. Under
that agreement, the late Mr. Bhulabhai Desai the then leader of
the Congress party in the Central Legislative Assembly at Delhi
entered into an agreement with Mr. Liaquat All Khan, the League
Leader in ilie Assembly, jointly to demand a Conference from the
British Government for the solution of the stalemate in Indian
politics which was growing since the beginning of the War, Mr.
Desai was understood to have taken that step without consulting
anybody of any impor-tance in the Congress circle, as almost all
the Congress leaders had been detained since the `Quit India'
Resolution in 1942. Mr. Desai offered equal representation to the
Muslims with Congress at the said Conference and this. was the
basis on which the Viceroy was approached to convene the
Conference. The then Viceroy Lord Wavell flew to London on receipt
of this joint request and brought back the consent of the Labour
Government for the holding of the Conference. The official
announcement in this behalf stupified the country on account of
its treachery alike to nationalism and democracy to which the
Congress had become a party. Indian democracy was stabbed in the
back and every principle of justice was violated. The Congress
members quickly acquierced in this monstrous proposal. The
proposal however had, it was then revealed, the blessings of the
Mahatma and was in fact made with his previous knowledge and
consent. With the full agreement of the Congress party 25% of the
people of India were. treated as if they were 50% and the 75% were
brought down to the level of 50%. The Viceroy also laid down other
conditions for the holding of the Conference. They were :
(1) An unqualified undertaking on the part of the Congress and all
political parties to support the war against Japan until victory
was won.
(2) A coalition Government would be formed in which the Congress
and the Muslims would each have five representatives. There will
besides be a representative
of the depressed classes, of the Sikhs and other Minorities.
(3) The Quit India' Movement will be unconditionally withdrawn and
such of the Congress leaders as had been detained in consequence
of the Movement would be released.
(4) All measures of Administrative Reform will be within the four
corners of the Government of India Act 1935.
(5) The Governor-General and the Viceroy shall retain the same
constitutional position in the new setup as he had at that time i
e, he would remain the head of new Government.-
(6) At the end of the war, the question of complete freedom will
be decided through the machinery of the Constituent Assembly.
(7) If these were without any modification the Viceroy would
reconstitute his Government with all portfolios to be held by
Indians as per (2) above.
(8) People who had only three years ago started the 'Quit India'
Movement for complete Independence and exhorted the people to 'Do
or Die' in implementing the rebellion quietly submitted to accept
office under the leadership of a British Viceroy on the terms, and
conditions laid down by him, The fact was that the 'Quit India,
Movement had failed, the Congress had no alternative programme and
events were moving on whether the Congress party was ready for
them or not. Mr. Jinnah was the only gainer from the collapse of
the Congress. He obtained a great tactical advantage by the
recognition of the muslims' right for 50%. representation in oil
future discussions. The two-nation theory and the demand for
Pakistan received a fillip although the Conference failed without
achieving the Hindu-muslim Unity.
(s) Cabinet Mission Plant-Early in the year 1946 the so- called
Cabinet mission arrived in India. It consisted of the then
Secretary of State for India now Lord Lawrence, Mr. Alexander, the
minister for War and Sir Stafford Cripps. Its arrival was heralded
by a speech in Parliament by Mr. Atlee the prime Minister. Mr.
Atlee announced in most eloquent terms the determination of the
British Government to transfer power to India if only the latter
agreed upon common plan. ]he agreement was the pivot of the work
of the mission but it was fatal. The Congress was honestly for a
United India, but it was not outright in its conviction. It lacked
firmness. Mr. Jinnah on the other hand demanded a divided India
but he demanded it firmly. Between these two opposite demands the
mission found it impossible to bring about an agreement and after
some further informal discussions with both, the mission announced
its own solution on the 15th may 1946. It rejected and gave ten
good reasons for that rejection but while firmly championing the
unity of India the mission introduced Pakistan through the back-
door, In paragraph l5 of the proposals the mission introduced six
conditions under which the British Government would be prepared to
convene a Constituent Assembly invested with the right of framing
a Constitution of Free India. Each of these six proposals were
calculated to prevent the unity of India being maintained or full
freedom being attained even if the Constituent Assembly was an
elected body. The Congress party was so utterly exhausted by the
failure of `Quit India' that after some smoke-screen about its
unflinching nationalism it virtually submitted to Pakistan by
accepting the, mission's proposals which made certain the
dismemberment of India although in a roundabout manner. The
Congress accepted the scheme but did. not agree to form a
Government. The long and short of it was that the Congress was
called upon to form. a Government and accept the whole scheme
unconditionally. Mr. Jinnah denounced the British Government for
treachery and started a direct action council of the Muslim
League. The Bengal, the Punjab, the Bihar, the Bombay, and other
places in various parts of India became scenes of bloodshed,
arson, loot and rape on a scale unprecedented in history. The
overwhelming members of victims were Hindus. The Congress stood
aghast but impotent and could not give any protection to the
Hindus anywhere. The Governor General in spite of his powers to
intervene under the Act of 1935 in case, of a breach of peace and
tranquility in India or in any part of it merely looked on and
made no use of his obligations under the Act. few lakhs of people
were killed, many thousands of women and children were kidnapped
and few of them have not yet been traced, thousands and thousands
of woman were raped, hundreds crores worth of property was looted,
burned or destroyed. The Mahatma was as far as ever before from
his goal of Hindu-Muslim Unity.
(t) Congress Surrenders to Jinnah-By the following year the
Congress Party abjectly surrendered to Mr. Jinnah at the point of
bayonet and accepted Pakistan. What happened thereafter is too
well-known. The thread running throughout this narrative is the
increasing infatuation which Gandhiji developed for the Muslims.
He uttered not one work of sympathy or comfort for millions of
displaced Hindus, he had only one eye for humanity and that was
the Muslim humanity. The Hindus simply did not count with him. I
was shocked by all these manifestations of Gandhian saintliness.
(u) Ambiguous Statement about Pakistan - In one of his articles,
Gandhiji while nominally ostensibly opposed to Pakistan, openly
declared that if the Muslims wanted Pakistan at any cost, there
was nothing to prevent them from achieving it. Only the Mahatma
could understand what that declaration meant. Was it a prophesy or
a declaration or disapproval of the demand for Pakistan ?
(v) III-advice to Kashmir Maharaja - About Kashmir, Gandhiji again
and again declared that Sheikh Abdullah should be entrusted the
charge of the state and that the Maharaja of Kashmir should retire
to Benares for no particular reason than that the muslims formed
the bulk of the Kashmir. population. This also stands out in
contrast with his attitude on Hyderabad where although the bulk of
the Population is Hindu, Gandhiji never called upon the Nizam to
retire to Mecca.
(w) Mountbatten vivisects India-From August 15, 1946 onwards the
private armies of the Muslim League began killing, devastating and
destroying the Hindus wherever they could lay their hands on. Lord
Wavell, the then viceroy was undoubtedly gently ,distressed at
what was happening but he would not use his powers under the
Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent such a holocaust and
Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with mild
reactions in the Deccan. All the time from the 2nd September 1946
the so-called National Government consisting of two hybrid
elements utterly reconcilable to each other was in office but the
Muslim League members who were 50% of the Congress did every thing
in their power to make the working of a Coalition Government
impossible. The Muslim League members did everything they could to
sabotage the coalition Government but the more they became
disloyal and treasonable to the Government of which they formed a
part, the greater was Gandhiji's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell
had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement. He had
some conscience which prevented him from supporting the partition
of India. He had openly declared it to be unnecessary and
undesirable. But his retirement was followed by the appointment of
Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork. This Supreme
Commander of the South East Asia was a purely Military man aid he
had a great reputation for daring, and tenacity. He came to India
with a determination to do or die and he `did' namely he
vivisected India. He was more indifferent to human slaughter.
Rivers of blood flowed under his very eyes and nose. He apparently
was thinking that by the slaughter of Hindus so many opponents of
his mission were killed, the greater the slaughter of the enemies
greater the victory, and he pursued his aim relentlessly to its
logical conclusion. Long before June 1948 the official date for
handing over power, the wholesale murders of the Hindus had their
full effect. The Congress which had boasted of its nationalism and
democracy secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the
bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Mr. Jinnah. India was
vivisected. One third of the Indian territory became foreign land
to us from the 15th of August 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be
described in Congress Circle as the greatest Viceroy and Governor
General India had ever known. He had gifted ten months earlier
than 30th June 1948 what is called Dominion status to vivisected
India. This is what Gandhiji had achieved after thirty years of
undisputed dictatorship and this is what the Congress Party calls
'Freedom'. Never in the history of the world has such slaughter
been officially connived at or the result described as Freedom,
and 'Peaceful Transfer of power' If what happened in India in
1946, 1947 and 1948 is to be called peaceful one wonders what
would be the violent. Hindu Muslim Unity bubble was finally burst
and a theocratic and communal State dissociated from everything
that smacked of United India was established with the consent of
Nehru and his crowd and they have called it `Freedom won by them
at sacrifice' Whose sacrifice ?
(x) Gandhiji on Cow - slaughter - Gandhiji used to display a most
vehement desire for the, protection of the cow. But in fact he did
no effort in that direction. On the contrary, in one of his post
prayer speeches, he has admitted his inability to support the
demand for stopping cow-slaughter. An extract from his speech in
this connection is reproduced below.
Today Rajendra Babu informed me that he had received some
fifty-thousand postcards, 20-30 thousand telegrams urging
prohibition of cow-slaughter by law. In this connection I have
spoken to you before also. After all why are so many letters and
telegrams sent to me. They have not served any purpose. No law
prohibiting cow-slaughter? India can be enacted. How can I impose
my will upon a person who does not wish voluntarily to abandon
cow- slaughter India does not belong exclusively to the
Hindu&. Muslims, Parsees, Christians also live here. The claim
of the Hindus that India has become the land of the Hindus is
totally incorrect. This land belongs to all who live here. I know
an orthodox Vaishnava Hindu. He used to give beef soup to his
child.'
(y) Removal of Tri - Colour Flag - The tricolour flag with the
Charkha on it was adopted by the Congress as the National Flag out
of deference to Gandhiji. There were flag salutations on
innumerable occasions. The flag was unfurled at every Congress
meeting. It fluttered in hundreds at every session of National
Congress, The Prabhat Pheries were never complete unless the flag
was carried while the march was on. On the occasion of every
imaginary or real success of the Congress Party, public buildings,
shops and private residences were decorated with that flag. If any
Hindu attached any importance to Shivaji,s Hindu flag, "Bhagva
Zenda" the flag which freed India from the Muslim-domination
it was considered communal. Gandhiji's tricoloured flag never
protected any Hindu woman from outrage or a Hindu temple from
desecration, yet the late Bhai Parmanand was once mobbed- by
enthusiastic Congressmen for not paying homage to that flag.
University students showed their patriotism by mounting that flag
on University building. A Mayor of Bombay is believed to have lost
his Knighthood because his wife hoisted this flag on the
Corporation building. Such was supposed to be the allegiance of
the Congress people to their "National Flag". When the
Mahatma was touring Noakhali and Tipperah in 1946 after the
beastly outrages on the Hindus, the flag was flying on his
temporary hut. But when a muslim dame there and objected to the
presence of the flag on his head, Gandhiji quickly directed its
removal. All the reverential sentiments of millions of Congressmen
towards that flag were affronted in a minute, because that would
please an isolated muslim fanatic and yet the so-called
Hindu-Muslim unity never took shape.
http://www.hinduunity.org
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