E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesIn December 1941, the British government released those members of theWorking Committee who had been imprisoned. The Second World War hadtaken a menacing turn.On December 7, Japan struck at Pearl Harbour; the next day, Japanese forcesoccupied Shanghai and Siam (Thailand) and made a landing in British Malaya.Twenty-four hours later, the Tokyo navy sank two British battleships, theRepulse and the Prince of Wales, thus crippling England's naval strength in thePacific.The war was moving closer to India. The situation uncovered the old split inCongress between the Gandhian non-violent non-co-operators and those whowould barter support of the war effort for an Indian national government.Gandhi, accordingly, withdrew once more from the Congress leadership.Hong Kong fell to the Japanese late in December 1941. The great British base ofSingapore surrendered to the Japanese in February 1942. In March, Japanoccupied most of Java, Sumatra and other islands of the Dutch East Indies. OnMarch 9th, an imperial Tokyo communique announced that Rangoon, the capitalof Burma, India's neighbour, had been seized.In North Africa, Nazi General Rommel was moving east towards Egypt. TheArabs of Palestine were preparing a friendly welcome for him. Observers talkedof a possible German-Japanese junction in India. From Cairo to Calcutta gloombrooded over the fortunes of the United Nations at War.The American public was disturbed by the low war morale of the Indian people;having been a colony of Britain the noted States understood India's aspirationsdespite the Propaganda fog. President Roosevelt sent Colonel Louis Johnson ashis personal envoy to India; this was an extraordinary act, for India was not asovereign state, and therefore all the more calculated to impress the Britishgovernment with America's concern. In London, United States Ambassador JohnG. Winant tried unsuccessfully to dissuade Prime Minister Churchill from statingpublicly that the Atlantic Charter's self-government clause did not apply toIndia. Face-to-face at the White House and in transatlantic telephoneconversations, Roosevelt had discussed India with Churchill and urged him towww.mkgandhi.org Page 402