E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesHe had been wandering over Bengal, Assam and Madras. In one locality, sixhundred thousand people came to a meeting. 'Grow More Food' was his slogan.'Spin,' he begged. 'Every pint of water, whether from bathing and ablutions orfrom the kitchen should be turned into backyard vegetable beds,' he toldtownspeople. "Vegetables could be grown in earthen pots and even in olddiscarded tins.'Hunger raised the question of the nation's high birth rate. 'Let me say,' hestated, 'that propagation of the race rabbit- wise must undoubtedly be stopped,but not so as to bring greater evils in its train. It should be stopped by methodswhich in themselves ennoble the race,' by 'the sovereign remedy of selfcontrol.'Shortages provoked looting of shops and other violent outbursts. Heavy riotingtook place in Bombay. In Calcutta, Delhi and other cities mobs engaged inarson, compelled passers-by to shout slogans, and forced Englishmen to removetheir hats. Gandhi reprimanded them severely. Indian sailors in the British navyin the harbour of Bombay mutinied and were only with difficulty persuaded byCongress leaders to desist.'Now that it seems we are coming into our own,' Gandhi wrote on February 10,1946, 'indiscipline and hooliganism,' which were increasing 'ought to go, andcalmness, rigid discipline, co-operation and goodwill must take their place ... Ihug the hope', he continued, 'that when real responsibility comes to the peopleand the dead weight of a foreign army of occupation is removed, we shall benatural, dignified and restrained....''Let me affirm that I love the Englishman as well as the Indian,' he wrote inMarch.Prime Minister Attlee announced that a British Cabinet mission, consisting ofLord Pethick-Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India; Sir Stafford Cripps,President of the Board of Trade; and Albert V. Alexander, First Lord of theAdmiralty, were coming to India to settle the terms of liberation.'Emphatically,' Gandhi affirmed, 'it betrays want of foresight to disbelieveBritish declarations and precipitate a quarrel in anticipation. Is the officialwww.mkgandhi.org Page 468