E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & Timeschose instead to act as my interpreter and clerk in Champaran. Then there isthe Sardar (Patel). He has earned the nickname of being my Yes-man. He doesnot mind it. He even flaunts it as a compliment. He is a stormy petrel. Once heused to dress and dine in the Western style. But ever since he decided to casthis lot with me my word has been law to him. But even he cannot see eye toeye with me in this matter. They both tell me that whereas on all previousoccasions I was able to support my instinct with reason and satisfy their head aswell as heart, this time I have failed to do so. I told them in reply that whilstmy own heart was filled with misgivings I could not adduce any reason for it orelse I would have asked them to reject the proposals straightaway. It was myduty to place my misgivings before them to put them on their guard. But theyshould examine what I had said in the light of reason and accept my point ofview only if they were convinced of its correctness.'They were not convinced of its correctness and therefore the WorkingCommittee took a middle course by approving the provisions for the futureconstitution of India but holding aloof from the interim government. TheSocialist faction of the A.I.C.C., and some others, were fighting the WorkingCommittee's compromise. They advocated abstention from the ConstituentAssembly as well as from the interim government. They wished to followGandhi's instinct even though he had not supported it with rational argument.'...I am surprised that Jayaprakash Narayan said yesterday" Gandhi continued,'that it would be dangerous to participate in the proposed Constituent Assemblyand therefore you should reject the Working Committee's resolution. I was notprepared to hear such defeatist language from the lips of a tried fighter likeJayaprakash... A Satyagrahi knows no defeat.'Nor would I expect a Satyagrahi to say that whatever Englishmen do is bad. TheEnglish are not necessarily bad. There are good men and bad men among theEnglish people as among any other people. We ourselves are not free fromdefects. The English could not have risen to their present strength if they hadnot some good in them. They have come and exploited India because wequarreled amongst ourselves and allowed ourselves to be exploited. In God'swww.mkgandhi.org Page 489