Our Bapu - Mahatma Gandhi

Our Bapu
he would often say, 'Oh God, I cannot bear this killing and looting any more.
Take me from world'.
When peace had been restored in Noakhali and Bihar, Bapu started for the
Punjab. But just then rioting broke out in Delhi. What happened then is such a
recent matter and I suppose you remember it all very vividly. They were
terrible days. Bapu stopped in Delhi; he could not go Punjab when people were
fighting against each other in the very capital of India. He found that displaced
Punjab had poured into Delhi by the thousand. They were bitter and angry, and
they seemed to have been the cause of the outburst in Delhi. Bapu was in full
sympathy with them, but he also realised that, if once things went out of
control in Delhi, confusion and disorder would spread to the whole country and
destroy it."
"What did he do, then, mother?"
He thought over the matter calmly and carefully. He called the important
officials of Delhi and urged upon them to treat the Hindus and the Muslims alike
with complete impartiality. He asked them to be watchful and careful. He then
went to the refugees. He assured them of sympathy and help, and explained to
them that whatever the Muslims of the Punjab might have done to them, the
Muslims of Delhi had not harmed them in any way. It would be madness to try
to avenge their wrongs upon people who were innocent. He also appealed to
the Muslims of Delhi to help the refugees as best they could.
But people had lost their heads. Frenzy
and passion had clouded their vision.
Gandhiji then decided to undertake
another fast: he might succeed in
bringing the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs
together by laying down his own life.
There was a Commotion in Delhi: no
one knew what should be done. At
length the leaders of various communities went to Bapu and assured him that
they would risk their own lives in order to restore peace and goodwill in Delhi.
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