Two Indonesian friends, who dropped in to see Gandhiji, asked how it
was possible for them to resist European aggression except by
aggression. Europe had always believed in force and the Indonesian
friends did not see how any country could meet it except by force.
Gandhiji gently remonstrated by saying that such a question betrayed
complete ignorance of non-violence. "Let me put you a
counter-question," he said. "Supposing the armed and combined might
of Britain, America and Russia wished to enslave you, what amount of
violence would you need to counter it? I suggest that you would not
violently stand up to it unless, perhaps, you had the backing of the
whole of Asia and even then you might lose if the European weapons
of war were better. But you would resist them alone with
non-violence. You might be annihilated to a man but no one could
conquer you." Gandhiji went on to tell them what he has been saying
on more than one occasion recently that the Indian struggle for
independence had been mere passive resistance which is a weapon of
the weak and often a stepping stone to active armed resistance. If
the Congress had really adopted nonviolence, the present communal
strife just could not have come' into being. The bravery of the
heart was far greater than the bravery of the body. A non-violent
Indonesia could lead the East; a position Gandhiji would have liked
India to hold. But today a mighty flood of violence was sweeping
over India which they had not, to their hurt, learnt how to resist
non-violently. "Unless," he ended, "we cultivate this strength India
will not fulfill the high hopes I have cherished for her in my heart
all these many many years."
New Delhi,
10-7-‘47
Harijan, 20-7-1947