A question was put to Gandhiji at Narayanpur on the 15th January:
Why cannot the apostle of non-violence, the modern Buddha, stop
internecine war and blood-bath in the country?
Gandhiji, replying to this question, acquitted himself from the
charge of being the modern Buddha. He was and claimed to be a simple
man having extensive experience at his back, but on that account
claimed to be no better than any member of the audience. He was an
equal servant of both the communities or all the communities of
India. He wished he had the power to stop 'internecine war' and
consequent 'blood-bath'. Buddha or the prophets that followed him
had gone the way they went in order to stop wars. The fact that he
could not do so was proof positive that he had no superior power at
his back. It was true that he swore by non-violence and so he had
come to Noakhali in order to test the power of his non-violence. As
he had repeatedly said ever since his arrival in Bengal, he had no
desire to leave Bengal unless both the communities showed by their
action that they were like blood- brothers living together in
perfect peace and amity.
Gandhiji also dealt with a question that was raised by the Muslim
friends who had seen him before the prayer meeting. They had asked
him how he expected friendly relations between the two communities
when the Hindus agitated for the arrest and trial of those who were
guilty of murders, arson and loot during the disturbances. The
speaker confessed that he did not like these complaints. But he
sympathized with the complainants so long as the wrong-doers
avoided arrest and trial and so long as Muslim opinion in Noakhali
did not insist upon guilty parties disclosing themselves. He would
be glad to see Muslim opinion working actively to bring the
offenders not before the courts of justice but before the court of
public opinion. Let the offenders show contrition and let them
return the looted property. Let them also show to those against whom
offences were committed that they need fear no molestation, that the
days of frenzy were over. Muslim public opinion should be such as to
guarantee that miscreants would not dare to offend against any
individual, and only then Hindus Could be asked to return safely to
their villages. The speaker was sure that such purging before the
court of public opinion was infinitely superior to a trial before a
court of law. What was wanted was not vengeance but reformation.
Harijan,
9-2-1947