E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesChapter VClimaxNEVER was deck passenger accorded such a regal welcome; 'judging from thewarmth, cordiality and affection displayed at the reception, one would thinkthat the Mahatma had returned with Swaraj in the hollow of his hand',Subhas Chandra Bose remarked caustically. He had returned with his integrity;he had not stepped down from the role of half naked fakir who parleyed as anequal with the mighty British Empire. This was the next best thing to freedom,for it reflected the liberation of India's spirit. Since the Salt March, andspecially since the Irwin-Gandhi Pact, India felt free. Gandhi fed that feeling,and Indians were grateful. Moreover, their Mahatma had come back safely fromthe cold world across the sea.India's partial liberation was achieved in 1930-31, thanks to Gandhi, Irwin andthe British Labour government. But Irwin was gone; and in October 1931,Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government had been supplanted by a Cabinet,headed by MacDonald, in which Conservatives predominated. Sir Samuel Hoare'an honest and frank-hearted Englishman, according to Gandhi, and an honestand frank Conservative, was Secretary of State for India.The new British government proceeded to attack India s new sense of freedom.A full report was poured into Gandhi's ear from the moment ke set foot on theBombay quay on December 28. By evening he had a detailed picture of the uglysituation and conveyed it to the two hundred thousand listeners whom headdressed, with the aid of loudspeakers, on the vast Azad Maidan.Jawaharlal Nehru and Tasadduq Sherwani, Moslem president of the Congressorganization of the United Provinces, had been arrested two days earlier whiletravelling to Bombay to greet Gandhi. Emergency Powers Ordinances had beenpromulgated early in December in the United Provinces and in the North-westFrontier Province and Bengal to deal with a widespread no-rent movement;they authorized the military to seize buildings, impound bank balances,www.mkgandhi.org Page 337