SECTION I : Selected Letters

Gandhi Letter 27 : To Rabindranath Tagore1

Ahmedabad,
July 27, 1933

DEAR GURUDEV,
I have read your press message regarding the Yeravda Pact, in so far as it applied to Bengal. It caused me deep grief to find that you were misled by very deep affection for me and by your confidence in my judgment into approving of a Pact which was discovered to have done a grave injustice to Bengal. It is now no use my saying that affection for me should not have affected your judgment out or that, confidence in my judgment ought not to have made you accept a Pact about which you had ample means for coming to an independent judgment. Knowing as I do your very generous nature, you could not have acted otherwise than you did and in spite of the discovery made by you that you have committed a grave error you would continue to repeat such errors if the occasions too were repeated.
But I am not at all convinced that there was any error made. As soon as the agitation for an amendment of the Pact arose I applied my mind to it, discussed, it with friends who ought to know and I was satisfied that there was no injustice done to Bengal. I corre¬sponded with those who complained of injustice. But they too, including Ramanand Babu, could not convince me of any injustice. Of course our points of view were different. In my opinion, the approach to the question was also wrong.
A Pact arrived at by mutual arrangement cannot possibly be altered by the British Government except through the consent of the parties to the Pact. But no serious attempt seems to have been made to secure any such agreement. Your appearance, therefore, on the same platform as the complainants, I, for one, welcome, in the hope that it could lead to a mutual discussion, instead of a futile appeal to the British Government. If, therefore, you have, for your own part, studied the subject and have arrived at the opinion that you have now pronounced, I would like you to convene a meeting of the principal parties and convince them that a grave injustice has been done to Bengal. If it can be proved, I have no doubt that the Pact will be reconsidered and amended so as to undo the wrong, said to have been done to Bengal. If I felt convinced that there was an error of judgment, so far as Bengal was concerned, I would strain every nerve to see that the error was rectified. You may know that up to now I have studiously refrained from saying anything in public, in defence of the Pact save by way of reiter¬ating my opinion, accompanied by the statement that if injustice could be proved, redress would be given. I am, therefore, entirely at your service.
Just now, I am absorbed in disbanding the Ashram and devising means of saving as much as can be for public use. My service will, therefore, be available after I am imprisoned which event may take place any day after the end of this month. I hope you are keeping good health.

Yours sincerely,
M. K. GANDHI

DR. RABINDRANATH TAGORE

From a photostat: S.N. 19127

1. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)—Poet laureate and versatile author; was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913; Founded Shantiniketan later known as Vishva Bharati.