[Gandhiji addressed the A.I.C.C. at Bombay on 8-8-'42 outlining his plan of action, in Hindustani as follows:]
"Before you discuss the resolution, let me place
before you one or two things. I want you to understand two things
very clearly and to consider them from the same point of view from
which I am placing them before you. I ask you to consider it from my
point of view, because if you approve of it, you will be enjoined to
carry out all I say. It will be a great responsibility. There are
people who ask me whether I am the same man that I was in 1920, or
whether there has been any change in me. You are right in asking
that question.
"Let me, however, hasten to assure you that I am the
same Gandhi as I was in 1920. I have not changed in any fundamental
respect. I attach the same importance to non-violence that I did
then. If at all, my emphasis on it has grown stronger. There is no
real contradiction between the present resolution and my previous
writings and utterances.
"Occasions like the present do not occur in
everybody's and but rarely in anybody's life. I want you to know and
feel that there is nothing but purest Ahimsa in all that I am saying
and doing today. The draft resolution of the Working Committee is
based on Ahimsa, the contemplated struggle similarly has its roots
in Ahimsa. If, therefore, there is any among you who has lost faith
in Ahimsa or is wearied of it, let him not vote for this resolution.
"Let me explain my position clearly. God has
vouchsafed to me a priceless gift in the weapon of Ahimsa. I and my
Ahimsa are on our trial today. If in the present crisis, when the
earth is being scorched by the flames of Himsa and crying for
deliverance, I failed to make use of the God given talent, God will
not forgive me and I shall be judged unworthy of the great gift. I
must act now. I may not hesitate and merely look on, when Russia and
China are threatened. "He emphasized: "Ours is not a drive for
power, but purely a non-violent fight for India's independence. In a
violent struggle, a successful general has been often known to
effect a military coup and to set up a dictatorship. But under the
Congress scheme of things, essentially non-violent as it is, there
can be no room for dictatorship. A non-violent soldier of freedom
will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of
his country. The Congress is unconcerned as to who will rule, when
freedom is attained. The power, when it comes, will belong to the
people of India, and it will be for them to decide to whom it should
be entrusted. May be that the reins will be placed in the hands of
the Parsis, for instance — as I would love to see happen — or they
may be handed to some others whose names are not heard in the
Congress today. It will not be for you then to object saying, ' This
community is microscopic. That party did not play its due part in
the freedom's struggle; why should it have all the power?' Ever
since its inception the Congress has kept itself meticulously free
of the communal taint. It has thought always in terms of the whole
nation and has acted accordingly....
"I know how imperfect our Ahimsa is and how far away
we are still from the ideal, but in Ahimsa there is no final failure
or defeat. I have faith, therefore, that if, in spite of our
shortcomings, the big thing does happen, it will be because God
wanted to help us by crowning with success our silent, unremitting
sadhana for the last twenty- two years."
"I believe," he said, "that in the history of the
world, there has not been a more genuinely democratic struggle for
freedom than ours. I read Carlyle's French Revolution while I
was in prison, and Pandit Jawaharlal has told me something about the
Russian revolution. But it is my conviction that inasmuch as these
struggles were fought with the weapon of violence they failed to
realize the democratic ideal. In the democracy which I have
envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be
equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master. It is to
join a struggle for such democracy that I invite you today. Once you
realize this you will forget the differences between the Hindus and
Muslims, and think of yourselves as Indians only, engaged in the
common struggle for independence."
Concluding his speech, Gandhiji said:
"Then, there is the question of your attitude towards
the British. I have noticed that there is hatred towards the British
among the people. The people say they are disgusted with their
behaviour. The people make no distinction between British
imperialism and the British people. To them, the two are one. This
hatred would even make them welcome the Japanese. It is most
dangerous. It means that they will exchange one slavery for another.
We must get rid of this feeling. Our quarrel is not with the British
people, we fight their imperialism. The proposal for the withdrawal
of British power did not come out of anger. It came to enable India
to play its due part at the present critical juncture. It is not a
happy position for a big country like India to be merely helping
with money and material obtained willynilly from her while the
United Nations are conducting the war. We cannot evoke the true
spirit of sacrifice and valour, so long as we do not feel that it is
our war, so long as we are not free. I know the British Government
will not be able to withhold freedom from us, when we have made
enough self-sacrifice. We must, therefore, purge ourselves of
hatred. Speaking for myself, I can say that I have never felt any
hatred. As a matter of fact, I feel myself to be a greater friend of
the British now than ever before. One reason is that they are today
in distress. My very friendship, therefore, demands that I should
try to save them from their mistakes. As I view the situation, they
are on the brink of an abyss. It, therefore, becomes my duty to warn
them of their danger even though it may; for the time being, anger
them to the point of cutting off the friendly hand that is stretched
out to help them. People may laugh, nevertheless that is my claim.
At a time when I may have to launch the biggest struggle of my life,
I may not harbour hatred against anybody. "
Mahatma, Vol. VI, pp. 188-90
II
[Gandhiji's address before the A.I.C.C. at Bombay on 8-8-'42 delivered in Hindustani.]
"I congratulate you on the resolution that you have
just passed. I also congratulate the three comrades on the courage
they have shown in pressing their amendments to a division, even
though they knew that there was an overwhelming majority in favour
of the resolution, and I congratulate the thirteen friends who voted
against the resolution. In doing so, they had nothing to be ashamed
of. For the last twenty years we have tried to learn not to lose
courage even when we are in a hopeless minority and are laughed at.
We have learned to hold on to our beliefs in the confidence that we
are in the right. It behoves us to cultivate this courage of
conviction, for it ennobles man and raises his moral stature. I was,
therefore, glad to see that these friends had imbibed the principle
which I have tried to follow for the last fifty years and more.
"Having congratulated them on their courage, let me
say that what they asked this committee to accept through their
amendments was not the correct representation of the situation.
These friends ought to have pondered over the appeal made to them by
the Maulana to withdraw their amendments; they should have carefully
followed the explanations given by Jawaharlal. Had they done so, it
would have been clear to them that the right which they now want the
Congress to concede has already been conceded by the Congress.
"Time was when every Muslaman claimed the whole of
India as his motherland. During the years that the Ali brothers were
with me, the assumption underlying all their talks and discussions
was that India belonged as much to the Musalmans as to the Hindus. I
can testify to the fact that this was their innermost conviction and
not a mask; I lived with them for years. I spent days and nights in
their company. And I make bold to say that their utterances were the
honest expression of their beliefs. I know there are some who say
that I take things too readily at their face value, that I am
gullible. I do not think I am such a simpleton, nor am I so gullible
as these friends take me to be. But their criticism does not hurt
me. I should prefer to be considered gullible rather than deceitful.
"What these communist friends proposed through their
amendments is nothing new. It has been repeated from thousands of
platforms. Thousands of Musalmans have told me, that if Hindu-Muslim
question was to be solved satisfactorily, it must be done in my
lifetime. I should feel flattered at this; but how can I agree to a
proposal which does not appeal to my reason? Hindu-Muslim unity is
not a new thing. Millions of Hindus and Musalmans have sought after
it. I consciously strove for its achievement from my boyhood. While
at school, I made it a point to cultivate the friendship of Muslim
and Parsi co-students. I believed even at that tender age that the
Hindus in India, if they wished to live in peace and amity with the
other communities, should assiduously cultivate the virtue of
neighbourliness. It did not matter, I felt, if I made no special
effort to cultivate the friendship with Hindus, but I must make
friends with at least a few Musalmans. It was as counsel for a
Musalman merchant that I went to South Africa. I made friends with
other Musalmans there, even with the opponents of my client, and
gained a reputation for integrity and good faith. I had among my
friends and co-workers Muslims as well as Parsis. I captured their
hearts and when I left finally for India, I left them sad and
shedding tears of grief at the separation.
"In India too I continued my efforts and left no
stone unturned to achieve that unity. It was my life-long aspiration
for it that made me offer my fullest co-operation to the Musalmans
in the Khilafat movement. Muslims throughout the country accepted me
as their true friend.
"How then is it that I have now come to be regarded
as so evil and detestable? Had I any axe to grind in supporting the
Khilafat movement? True, I did in my heart of hearts cherish a hope
that it might enable me to save the cow. I am a worshipper of the
cow. I believe the cow and myself to be the creation of the same
God, and I am prepared to sacrifice my life in order to save the
cow. But, whatever my philosophy of life and my ultimate hopes, I
joined the movement in no spirit of bargain. I cooperated in the
struggle for the Khilafat solely in order to discharge my obligation
to my neighbour who, I saw, was in distress. The Ali brothers, had
they been alive today, would have testified to the truth of this
assertion. And so would many others bear me out in that it was not a
bargain on my part for saving the cow. The cow like the Khilafat,
stood on her own merits. As an honest man, a true neighbour and a
faithful friend, it was incumbent on me to stand by the Musalmans in
the hour of their trial.
"In those days, I shocked the Hindus by dining with
the Musalmans, though with the passage of time they have now got
used to it. Maulana Bari told me, however, that though he would
insist on having me as his guest, he would not allow me to dine with
him, lest some day he should be accused of a sinister motive. And
so, whenever I had occasion to stay with him, he called a Brahmana
cook and made special arrangements for separate cooking. Fir- angi
Mahal, his residence, was an old-styled structure with limited
accommodation; yet he cheerfully bore all hardships and carried out
his resolve from which I could not dislodge him. It was the spirit
of courtesy, dignity and nobility that inspired us in those days.
The members of each community vied with one another in
accommodating members of sister communities. They respected one
another's religious feelings, and considered it a privilege to do
so. Not a trace of suspicion lurked in anybody's heart. Where has
all that dignity, that nobility of spirit, disappeared now? I should
ask all Musalmans, including Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah, to recall those
glorious days and to find out what has brought us to the present
impasse. Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah himself was at one time a Congressman.
If today the Congress has incurred his wrath, it is because the
canker of suspicion has entered his heart. May God bless him with
long life, but when I am gone, he will realize and admit that I had
no designs on Musalmans and that I had never betrayed their
interests. Where is the escape for me, if I injure their cause or
betray their interests? My life is entirely at their disposal. They
are free to put an end to it, whenever they wish to do so. Assaults
have been made on my life in the past, but God has spared me till
now, and the assailants have repented for their action. But if
someone were to shoot me in the belief that he was getting rid of a
rascal, he would kill not the real Gandhi, but the one that appeared
to him a rascal.
"To those who have been indulging in a campaign of
abuse and vilification I would say, 'Islam enjoins you not to revile
even an enemy. The Prophet treated even enemies with kindness and
tried to win them over by his fairness and generosity. Are you
followers of that Islam or of any other? If you are followers of the
true Islam, does it behove you to distrust the words of one who
makes a public declaration of his faith? You may take it from me
that one day you will regret the fact that you distrusted and killed
one who was a true and devoted friend of yours.' It cuts me to the
quick to see that the more I appeal and the more the Maulana
importunes, the more intense does the campaign of vilification grow.
To me, these abuses are like bullets. They can kill me, even as a
bullet can put an end to my life. You may kill me. That will not
hurt me. But what of those who indulge in abusing? They bring
discredit to Islam. For the fair name of Islam, I appeal to you to
resist this unceasing campaign of abuse and vilification.
"Maulana Saheb is being made a target for the
filthiest abuse. Why? Because he refuses to exert on me the
pressure of his friendship. He realizes that it is a misuse of
friendship to seek to compel a friend to accept as truth what he
knows is an untruth.
"To the Quaid-i-Azam I would say: 'Whatever is true
and valid in the claim for Pakistan is already in your hands. What
is wrong and untenable is in nobody's gift, so that it can be made
over to you. Even if someone were to succeed in imposing an untruth
on others, he would not be able to enjoy for long the fruits of such
a coercion. God dislikes pride and keeps away from it. God would not
tolerate a forcible imposition of an untruth.'
"The Quaid-i-Azam says that he is compelled to say
bitter things but that he cannot help giving expression to his
thoughts and his feelings. Similarly I would say: I consider myself
a friend of Musalmans. Why should I then not give expression to the
things nearest to my heart, even at the cost of displeasing them?
How can I conceal my innermost thoughts from them? I should
congratulate the Quaid-i-Azam on his frankness in giving expression
to his thoughts and feelings, even if they sound bitter to his
hearers. But even so why should the Musalmans sitting here be
reviled, if they do not see eye to eye with him? If millions of
Musalmans are with you can you not afford to ignore the handful of
Musalmans who may appear to you to be misguided ? Why should one
with the following of several millions be afraid of a majority
community, or of the minority being swamped by the majority? How did
the Prophet work among the Arabs and the Musalmans? How did he
propagate Islam? Did he say he would propagate Islam only when he
commanded a majority? I appeal to you for the sake of Islam to
ponder over what I say. There is neither fair play nor justice in
saying that the Congress must accept a thing, even if it does not
believe in it and even if it goes counter to principles it holds
dear.
"Rajaji said: I do not believe in Pakistan. But
Musalmans ask for it, Mr. Jinnah asks for it, and it has become an
obsession with them. Why not then say "yes" to them just now? The
same Mr. Jinnah will later on realize the disadvantages of Pakistan
and will forgo the demand.' I said: It is not fair to accept as true
a thing which I hold to be untrue, and ask others to do so in the
belief that the demand will not be pressed when the time comes for
settling it finally. If I hold the demand to be just, I should
concede it this very day. I should not agree to it merely in order
to placate Jinnah Saheb. Many friends have come and asked me to
agree to it for the time being to placate Mr. Jinnah, disarm his
suspicions and to see how he reacts to it. But I cannot be party to
a course of action with a false promise. At any rate, it is not my
method.'
"The Congress has no sanction but the moral one for
enforcing its decisions. It believes that true democracy can only be
the outcome of non-violence. The structure of a world federation can
be raised only on a foundation of non-violence, and violence will
have to be totally abjured from world affairs. If this is true, the
solution of Hindu- Muslim question, too, cannot be achieved by a
resort to violence. If the Hindus tyrannize over the Musalmans, with
what face will they talk of a world federation? It is for the same
reason that I do not believe in the possibility of establishing
world peace through violence as the English and American statesmen
propose to do. The Congress has agreed to submitting all the
differences to an impartial international tribunal and to abide by
its decisions. If even this fairest of proposals is unacceptable,
the only course that remains open is that of the sword, of violence.
How can I persuade myself to agree to an impossibility? To demand
the vivisection of a living organism is to ask for its very life. It
is a call to war. The Congress cannot be party to such a fratricidal
war. Those Hindus who, like Dr. Moonje and Shri Savarkar, believe in
the doctrine of the sword may seek to keep the Musalmans under Hindu
domination. I do not represent that section. I represent the
Congress. You want to kill the Congress which is the goose that lays
golden eggs. If you distrust the Congress, you may rest assured that
there is to be perpetual war between the Hindus and the Musalmans,
and the country will be doomed to continue warfare and bloodshed. If
such warfare is to be our lot, I shall not live to witness it.
"It is for that reason that I say to Jinnah Saheb,
'You may take it from me that whatever in your demand for Pakistan
accords with considerations of justice and equity is lying in your
pocket; whatever in the demand is contrary to justice and equity
you can take only by the sword and in no other manner.'
"There is much in my heart that I would like to pour
out before this assembly. One thing which was uppermost in my heart
I have already dealt with. You may take it from me that it is with
me a matter of life and death. If we Hindus and Musalmans mean to
achieve a heart unity, without the slightest mental reservation on
the part of either, we must first unite in the effort to be free
from the shackles of this empire. If Pakistan after all is to be a
portion of India, what objection can there be for Musalmans against
joining this struggle for India's freedom? The Hindus and Musalmans
must, therefore, unite in the first instance on the issue of
fighting for freedom. Jinnah Saheb thinks the war will last long. I
do not agree with him. If the war goes on for six months more, how
shall we be able to save China?
"I, therefore, want freedom immediately, this very
night, before dawn, if it can be had. Freedom cannot now wait for
the realization of communal unity. If that unity is not achieved,
sacrifices necessary for it will have to be much greater than would
have otherwise sufficed. But the Congress must win freedom or be
wiped out in the effort. And forget not that the freedom which the
Congress is struggling to achieve will not be for the Congressmen
alone but for all the forty crores of the Indian people.
Congressmen must for ever remain humble servants of the people.
"The Quaid-i-Azam has said that the Muslim League is
prepared to take over the rule from the Britishers if they are
prepared to hand it over to the Muslim League, for the British took
over the empire from the hands of the Muslims. This, however, will
be Muslim Raj. The offer made by Maulana Saheb and by me does not
imply establishment of Muslim Raj or Muslim domination. The Congress
does not believe in the domination of any group or any community. It
believes in democracy which includes in its orbit Muslims, Hindus,
Christians, Parsis, Jews—every one of the communities inhabiting
this vast country. If Muslim Raj is inevitable, then let it be; but
how can we give it the stamp of our assent? How can we agree to the
domination of one community over the others?
"Millions of Musalmans in this country come from
Hindu stock. How can their homeland be any other than India? My
eldest son embraced Islam some years back. What would his homeland
be—Porbandar or the Punjab? I ask the Musalmans: 'If India is not
your homeland, what other country do you belong to? In what separate
homeland would you put my son who embraced Islam?’
His mother wrote him a letter after his conversion,
asking him if he had on embracing Islam given up drinking which
Islam forbids to its followers. To those who gloated over the
conversion, she wrote to say: I do not mind his becoming a Musalman,
so much as his drinking. Will you, as pious Musalmans, tolerate his
drinking even after his conversion? He has reduced himself to the
state of a rake by drinking. If you are going to make a man of him
again, his conversion will have been turned to good account. You
will, therefore, please see that he as a Musalman abjures wine and
woman. If that change does not come about, his conversion goes in
vain and our non-co-operation with him will have to continue.'
"India is without doubt the homeland of all the
Musalmans inhabiting this country. Every Musalman should therefore
co-operate in the fight, for India's freedom. The Congress does not
belong to any one class or community; it belongs to the whole
nation. It is open to Musalmans to take possession of the Congress.
They can, if they like, swamp the Congress by their numbers, and can
steer it along the course which appeals to them. The Congress is
fighting not on behalf of the Hindus but on behalf of the whole
nation, including the minorities. It would hurt me to hear of a
single instance of a Musalman being killed by a Congressman. In the
coming revolution, Congressmen will sacrifice their lives in order
to protect the Musalman against a Hindu's attack and vice versa.
It is a part of their creed, and is one of the essentials of
non-violence. You will be expected on occasions like these not to
lose your heads. Every Congressman, whether a Hindu or a Musalman,
owes this duty to the organization to which he belongs. The Musalman
who will act in this manner will render a service to Islam. Mutual
trust is essential for success in the final nation-wide struggle
that is to come.
"I have said that much greater sacrifices will have
to be made this time in the wake of our struggle because of the
opposition from the Muslim League and from Englishmen. You have
seen the secret circular issued by Sir Frederick Puckle. It is a
suicidal course that he has taken. It contains an open incitement to
organizations which corp up like mushrooms to combine to fight the
Congress. We have thus to deal with an empire whose ways are
crooked. Ours is a straight path which we can tread even with our
eyes closed. That is the beauty of Satyagraha.
"In Satyagraha, there is no place for fraud or
falsehood, or any kind of untruth. Fraud and untruth today are
stalking the world. I cannot be a helpless witness to such a
situation. I have traveled all over India as perhaps nobody in the
present age has. The voiceless millions of the land saw in me their
friend and representative, and I identified myself with them to an
extent it was possible for a human being to do. I saw trust in their
eyes, which I now want to turn to good account in fighting this
empire upheld on untruth and violence. However gigantic the
preparations that the empire has made, we must get out of its
clutches. How can I remain silent at this supreme hour and hide my
light under the bushel ? Shall I ask the Japanese to tarry awhile?
If today I sit quiet and inactive, God will take me to task for not
using up the treasure He had given me, in the midst of the
conflagration that is enveloping the whole world. Had the condition
been different, I should have asked you to wait yet awhile. But the
situation now has become intolerable, and the Congress has no other
course left for it.
"Nevertheless, the actual struggle does not commence
this moment. You have only placed all your powers in my hands. I
will now wait upon the Viceroy and plead with him for the,
acceptance of the Congress demand. That process is likely to take
two or three weeks. What, ^would you do in the meanwhile? What is
the programme, for the interval, in which all can participate? As
you know, the spinning wheel is the first thing that occurs to me. I
made the same answer to the Maulana. He would have none of it,
though he understood its import later. The fourteenfold constructive
programme is, of course, there for you to carry out. What more
should you do? I will tell you. Every one of you should, from this
moment onwards, consider yourself a free man or woman, and act as
if you are free and are no longer under the heel of this
imperialism.
"It is not a make-believe that I am suggesting to
you. It is the very essence of freedom. The bond of the slave is
snapped the moment he considers himself to be a free being. He will
plainly tell the master: 'I was your bondslave till this moment, but
I am a slave no longer. You may kill me if you like, but if you keep
me alive, I wish to tell you that if you release me from the
bondage, of your own accord, I will ask for nothing more from you.
You used to feed and clothe me, though I could have provided food
and clothing for myself by my labour. I hitherto depended on you
instead of on God, for food and raiment. But God has now inspired me
with an urge for freedom and I am today a free man, and will no
longer depend on you.'
"You may take it from me that I am not going to
strike a bargain with the Viceroy for ministries and the like. I am
not going to be satisfied with anything short of complete freedom.
May be, he will propose the abolition of salt tax, the drink evil,
etc. But I will say 'Nothing less than freedom'.
"Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give
you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours
give expression to it. The mantra is: 'Do or Die'. We shall
either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see
the perpetuation of our slavery. Every true Congressman or woman
will join the struggle with an inflexible determination not to
remain alive to see the country in bondage and slavery. Let that be
your pledge. Keep jails out of your consideration. If the Government
keep me free, I will spare you the trouble of filling the jails. I
will not put on the Government the strain of maintaining a large
number of prisoners at a time, when it is in trouble. Let every man
and woman live every moment of his or her life hereafter in the
consciousness that he or she eats or lives for achieving freedom and
will die, if need be, to attain that goal. Take a pledge, with God
and your own conscience as witness, that you will no longer rest
till freedom is achieved and will be prepared to lay down your
lives in the attempt to achieve it. He who loses his life will gain
it; he who will seek to save it shall lose it. Freedom is not for
the coward or the faint-hearted.
"A word to the journalists. I congratulate you on the
support you have hitherto given to the national demand. I know the
restrictions and handicaps under which you have to labour. But I
would now ask you to snap the chains that bind you. It should be the
proud privilege of the newspapers to lead and set an example in
laying down one's life for freedom. You have the pen which the
Government can't suppress. I know you have large properties in the
form of printing-presses, etc., and you would be afraid lest the
Government should attach them. I do not ask you to invite an
attachment of the printing-press voluntarily. For myself, I would
not suppress my pen, even if the press was to be attached. As you
know my press was attached in the past and returned later on. But I
do not ask from you that final sacrifice. I suggest a middle way.
You should now wind up your standing committee, and-you may declare
that you will give up writing under the present restrictions and
take up the pen only when India has won her freedom. You may tell
Sir Frederick Puckle that he can't expect from you a command
performance, that his press notes are full of untruth, and that you
will refuse to publish them. You will openly declare that you are
whole-heartedly with the Congress. If you do this, you will have
changed the atmosphere before the fight actually begins.
"From the princes I ask with all respect due to them
a very small thing. I am a well-wisher of the princes. I was born in
a State. My grandfather refused to salute with his right hand any
prince other than his own. But he did not say to the prince, as I
feel he ought to have said, that even his own master could not
compel him, his minister, to act against his conscience. I have
eaten the princes' salt and I would not be false to it. As a
faithful servant, it is my duty to warn the princes that if they
will act while I am still alive, the princes may come to occupy an
honourable place in free India. In Jawaharlal's scheme of free
India, no privileges or the privileged classes have a place.
Jawaharlal considers all property to be State-owned. He wants
planned economy. He wants to reconstruct India according to plan. He
likes to fly; I do not. I have kept a place for the princes and the
zamindars in India that I envisage. I would ask the princes in all
humility to enjoy through renunciation. The princes may renounce
ownership over their properties and become their trustees in the
true sense of the term. I visualize God in the assemblage of people.
The princes may say to their people: 'You are the owners and masters
of the State and we are your servants.' I would ask the princes to
become servants of the people and render to them an account of their
own services. The empire too bestows power on the princes, but they
should prefer to derive power from their own people; and if they
want to indulge in some innocent pleasures, they may seek to do so
as servants of the people. I do not want the princes to live as
paupers. But I would ask them: 'Do you want to remain slaves for all
time? Why should you, instead of paying homage to a foreign power,
not accept the sovereignty of your own people?' You may write to the
Political Department: 'The people are now awake. How are we to
withstand an avalanche before which even the large empires are
crumbling? We therefore, shall belong to the people from today
onwards. We shall sink or swim with them.' Believe me, there is
nothing unconstitutional in the course I am suggesting. There are,
so far as I know, no treaties enabling the empire to coerce the
princes. The people of the States will also declare that though they
are the princes' subjects, they are part of the Indian nation and
that they will accept the leadership of the princes, if the latter
cast their lot with the people, but not otherwise. If this
declaration enrages the princes and they choose to kill the people,
the latter will meet death bravely and unflinchingly, but will not
go back on their word.
"Nothing, however, should be done secretly. This is
an open rebellion. In this struggle secrecy is a sin. A free man
would not engage in a secret movement. It is likely that when you
gain freedom you will have- a G.I.D. of your own, in spite of my
advice to the contrary. But in the present struggle, we have to work
openly and to receive bullets on our chest, without taking to heels.
"I have a word to say to Government servants also.
They may not, if they like, resign their posts yet. The late Justice
Ranade did not resign his post, but he openly declared that he
belonged to the Congress. He said to the Government that though he
was a judge, he was a Congressman and would openly attend the
sessions of the Congress, but that at the same time he would net let
his political views warp his impartiality on the bench. He held
Social Reform Conference in the very pandal of the Congress. I would
ask all the Government servants to follow in the footsteps of Ranade
and to declare their allegiance to the Congress as an answer to the
secret circular issued by Sir Frederick Puckle.
"This is all that I ask of you just now. I will now
write to the Viceroy. You will be able to read the correspondence
not just now but when I publish it with the Viceroy's consent. But
you are free to aver that you support the demand to be put forth in
my letter. A judge came to me and said: 'We get secret circulars
from high quarters. What are we to do?' I replied, 'If I were in
your place, I would ignore the circulars. You may openly say to the
Government: "I have received your secret circular. I am, however,
with the Congress. Though I serve the Government for my livelihood,
I am not going to obey these secret circulars or to employ underhand
methods." '
"Soldiers too are covered by the present programme. I
do not ask them just now to resign their posts and to leave the
army. The soldiers come to me, Jawaharlal and the Maulana and say:
'We are wholly with you. We are tired of the Governmental tyranny.'
To these soldiers I would say: 'You may say to the Government, "Our
hearts are with the Congress. We are not going to leave our posts.
We will serve you so long as we receive your salaries. We will obey
your just orders, but will refuse to fire on our own people." '
"To those who lack the courage to do this much I have
nothing to say. They will go their own way. But if you can do this
much, you may take it from me that the whole atmosphere will be
electrified. Let the Government then shower bombs, if they like. But
no power on earth will then be able to keep you in bondage any
longer.
"If the students want to join the struggle only to go
back to their studies after a while, I would not invite them to it.
For the present, however, till the time that I frame a programme for
the struggle, I would ask the students to say to their professors:
'We belong to the Congress. Do you belong to the Congress or to the
Government? if you belong to the Congress, you need not vacate your
posts. You will remain at your posts but teach us and lead us unto
freedom.' In all fights for freedom, the world over, the students
have made very large contributions.
"If in the interval that is left to us before the
actual fight begins, you do even the little I have suggested to you,
you will have changed the atmosphere and will have prepared the
ground for the next step.
"There is much I should yet like to say. But my heart
is heavy. I have already taken up much of your time. I have yet to
say a few words in English also. I thank you for the patience and
attention with which you have listened to me even at this late hour.
It is just what true soldiers would do. For the last twenty-two
years, I have controlled my speech and pen and have stored up my
energy. He is a true Brahmachari who does not fritter away his
energy. He will, therefore, always control his speech. That has been
my conscious effort all these years. But today the occasion has come
when I had to unburden my heart before you. I have done so, even
though it meant putting a strain on your patience; and I do not
regret having done it. I have given you my message and through you I
have delivered it to the whole of India."
Mahatma, Vol. VI, pp. 191-203
III
[The following is the concluding portion of Gandhiji's speech before the A.I.C.C. at Bombay on 8-8-'42 which was delivered in English:]
I have taken such an inordinately long time over
pouring out, what was agitating my soul, to those whom I had just
now the privilege of serving. I have been called their leader or, in
the military language, their commander. But I do not look at my
position in that light. I have no weapon but love to wield my
authority over any one. I do sport a stick which you can break into
bits without the slightest exertion. It is simply my staff with the
help of which I walk. Such a cripple is not elated, when he has been
called upon to bear the greatest burden. You can share that burden
only when I appear before you not as your commander but as a humble
servant. And he who serves best is the chief among equals.
Therefore, I was bound to share with you such
thoughts as were welling up in my breast and tell you, in as summary
a manner as I can, what I expect you to do as the first step.
Let me tell you at the outset that the real struggle
does not commence today. I have yet to go through much ceremonial as
I always do. The burden, I confess, would be almost unbearable. I
have to continue to reason in those circles with whom I have lost my
credit and who have no trust left in me. I know that in the course
of the last few weeks I have forfeited my credit with a large number
of friends, so much so, that they have begun to doubt not only my
wisdom but even my honesty. Now I hold my wisdom is not such a
treasure which I cannot afford to lose; but my honesty is a precious
treasure to me and I can ill-afford to lose it. I seem however to
have lost it for the time being.
Friend of the Empire
Such occasions arise in the life of the man who is a
pure seeker after truth and who would seek to serve the humanity and
his country to the best of his lights without fear or hypocrisy. For
the last fifty years I have known no other way. I have been a humble
servant of humanity and have rendered on more than one occasion such
service as I could to the Empire, and here let me say without fear
of challenge that throughout my career never have I asked for any
personal favour. I have enjoyed the privilege of friendship as I
enjoy it today with Lord Linlithgow. It is a friendship which has
outgrown official relationship. Whether Lord Linlithgow will bear me
out, I do not know, but there is a personal bond between him and
myself. He once introduced me to his daughter. His son-in-law, the
A.D.C. was drawn towards me. He fell in love with Mahadev more than
with me and Lady Anna and he came to me. She is an obedient and
favourite daughter. I take interest in their welfare. I take the
liberty to give out these personal and sacred tit-bits only to give
you an earnest of the personal bond which exists between us; and yet
let me declare here that that personal bond will never interfere
with the stubborn struggle on which, if it falls to my lot, I may
have to launch against Lord Linlithgow, as the representative of the
Empire. I will have to resist the might of that Empire with the
might of the dumb millions with no limit but of non-violence as
policy confined to this struggle. It is a terrible job to have to
offer resistance to a Viceroy with whom I enjoy such relations. He
has more than once trusted my word, often about my people. I would
love to repeat that experiment, as it stands to his credit. I
mention this with great pride and pleasure. I mention it as an
earnest of my desire to be true to the Empire when that Empire
forfeited my trust and the Englishman who was its Viceroy came to
know it.
Charlie Andrews
Then there is the sacred memory of Charlie Andrews
which wells up within me. At this moment the spirit of Andrews
hovers about me. For me he sums up the brightest traditions of
English culture. I enjoyed closer relations with him than with most
Indians. I enjoyed his confidence. There were no secrets between us.
We exchanged our hearts every day. Whatever was in his heart, he
would blurt out without the slightest hesitation or reservation. It
is true he was a friend of Gurudev, but he looked upon Gurudev with
awe. He had that peculiar humility. But with me he became the
closest friend. Years ago he came to me with a note of introduction
from Gokhale. Pearson and he were the first-rank specimens of
Englishmen. I know that his spirit is listening to me.
Then I have got a warm letter of congratulations from
the Metropolitan of Calcutta. I hold him to be a man of God. Today
he is opposed to me.
Voice of Conscience
With all this background, I want to declare to the
world, although I may have forfeited the regard of many friends in
the West and I must bow my head low; but even for their friendship
or love I must not suppress the voice of conscience — the promptings
of my inner basic nature today. There is something within me
impelling me to cry out my agony. I have known humanity. I have
studied something of psychology. Such a man knows exactly what it
is. I do not mind how you describe it. That voice within tells me,
"You have to stand against the whole world although you may have to
stand alone. You have to stare in the face the whole world although
the world may look at you with bloodshot eyes. Do not fear. Trust
the little voice residing within your heart." It says: "Forsake
friends, wife and all; but testify to that for which you have lived
and for which you have to die." Believe me, friends I am not anxious
to die. I want to live my full span of life. And for me I put my
span of life at 120 years. By that time India will be free, the
world will be free.
Real Freedom
Let me tell you too that I do not regard England or
for that matter America as free countries. They are free after their
own fashion, free to hold in bondage coloured races of the earth.
Are England and America fighting for the liberty of these races
today? If not, do not ask me to wait until after the war. You shall
not limit my concept of freedom. The English and American teachers,
their history, their magnificent poetry have not said that you shall
not broaden the interpretation of freedom. And according to my
interpretation of that freedom I am constrained to say they are
strangers to that freedom which their teachers and poets have
described. If they will know the real freedom they should come to
India. They have to come not with pride or arrogance but in the
spirit of real earnest seekers of truth. It is a fundamental truth
which India has been experimenting with for 22 years.
Congress and Non-violence
Unconsciously from its very foundations long ago the
Congress has been building on non-violence known as constitutional
methods. Dadabhai and Pherozeshah who have held the Congress India
in the palm of their hands became rebels. They were lovers of the
Congress. They were its masters. But above all they were real
servants. They never countenanced murder, secrecy and the like. I
confess there are many black sheep amongst us Congressmen. But I
trust the whole of India today to launch upon a non-violent
struggle. I trust because of my nature to rely upon the innate
goodness of human nature which perceives the truth and prevails
during the crisis as if by instinct. But even if I am deceived in
this I shall not swerve. I shall not flinch. From its very inception
the Congress based its policy on peaceful methods, included Swaraj
and the subsequent generations added non-violence. When Dadabhai
entered the British Parliament, Salisbury dubbed him as a black man;
but the English people defeated Salisbury and Dadabhai went to the
Parliament by their vote. India was delirious with joy. These things
however India has outgrown.
I will Go Ahead
It is, however, with all these things as the
background that I want Englishmen, Europeans and all the United
Nations to examine in their hearts what crime had India committed in
demanding Independence. I ask, is it right for you to distrust such
an organization with all its background, tradition and record of
over half a century and misrepresent its endeavours before all the
world by every means at your command? Is it right that by hook or by
crook, aided by the foreign press, aided by the President of the
U.S.A., or even by the Generalissimo of China who has yet to win his
laurels, you should present India's struggle in shocking caricature?
I have met the Generalissimo. I have known him through Madame Shek
who was my interpreter; and though he seemed inscrutable to me, not
so Madame Shek; and he allowed me to read his mind through her.
There is a chorus of disapproval and righteous protest all over the
world against us. They say we are erring, the move is inopportune. I
had great regard for British diplomacy which has enabled them to
hold the Empire so long. Now it stinks in my nostrils, and others
have studied that diplomacy and are putting it into practice. They
may succeed in getting, through these methods, world opinion on
their side for a time; but India will speak against that world
opinion. She will raise her voice against all the organized
propaganda. I will speak against it. Even if all the United Nations
opposed me, even if the whole of India forsakes me, I will say, "You
are wrong. India will wrench with non-violence her liberty from
unwilling hands." I will go ahead not for India's sake alone, but
for the sake of the world. Even if my eyes close before there is
freedom, non-violence will not end. They will be dealing a mortal
blow to China and to Russia if they oppose the freedom of
non-violent India which is pleading with bended knees for the
fulfillment of debt long overdue. Does a creditor ever go to the
debtor like that? And even when, India is met with such angry
opposition, she says, "We won't hit below the belt, we have learnt
sufficient gentlemanliness. We are pledged to non-violence." I have
been the author of non-embarrassment policy of the Congress and yet
today you find me talking this strong language. I say it is
consistent with our honour. If a man holds me by the neck and wants
to drown me, may I not struggle to free myself directly? There is no
inconsistency in our position today.
Appeal to United Nations
There are representatives of the foreign press
assembled here today. Through them I wish to say to the world that
the United Powers who somehow or other say that they have need for
India, have the opportunity now to declare. India free and prove
their bona fides. If they miss it, they will be missing the
opportunity of their lifetime, and history will record that they did
not discharge their obligations to India in time, and lost the
battle. I want the blessings of the whole world so that I may
succeed with them. I do not want the United Powers to go beyond
their obvious limitations. I do not want them to accept non-violence
and disarm today. There is a fundamental difference between fascism
and this imperialism which I am fighting. Do the British get from
India all they want? What they get today is from India which they
hold in bondage. Think what difference it would make if India was to
participate as a free ally. That freedom, if it is to come, must
come today. It will have no taste left in it if today you who have
the power to help cannot exercise it. If you can exercise it, under
the glow of freedom what seems impossible, today, will become
possible tomorrow. If India feels that freedom, she will command
that freedom for China. The road for running to Russia's help will
be open. The Englishmen did not die in Malaya or on Burma soil. What
shall enable us to retrieve the situation? Where shall I go, and
where shall I take the forty crores of India? How is this vast mass
of humanity to be aglow in the cause of world deliverance, unless
and until it has touched and felt freedom. Today they have no touch
of life left. It has been crushed out of them. If lustre is to be
put into their eyes, freedom has to come not tomorrow, but today.
Do or Die
Concluding Gandhiji said, "I have pledged the Congress and the Congress will do or die."
From a galley-proof traced from our records