E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & Timesbody representing the Moslems of India. Why then should it have appointed anuntouchable, a Hindu? Obviously to annoy Congress and the caste Hindus. It wasa bad augury for the new government. And, in fact, Nawabzada Liaquat AliKhan, Finance Member and foremost League spokesman in the government,announced that he and his colleagues did not recognize the government as acoalition and felt no obligation to co-operate with Nehru and the otherCongress ministers. The government was a house divided—by religion.Everyday Gandhi preached against the uninterrupted violence between the twocommunities. 'Some people even rejoice,' he said, 'that Hindus are now strongenough to kill in return those who tried to kill them. I would far rather thatHindus died without retaliation...'At the same time he remembered his other causes and stressed the need formore khadi production; he protested against maltreatment of Harijans: 'If thereis an epidemic they are beaten and cannot draw water from the wells. Theylive in hovels.' He wanted the Salt Tax completely annulled, but he asked thepeople to be patient in this regard; the new ministers were overwhelmed withunaccustomed tasks.Most Congress ministers and many of their assistants as well as provincialofficials came to Gandhi's hut in the Harijan quarter for frequent visits—sometimes daily—to ask his advice and approval. Gandhi was 'super-PrimeMinister.'He wrote on leprosy and the need of collective prayer, on the regime in Indianjails and discrimination in South Africa, on lagging food production and the godsin the Hindu pantheon. Each day he gave instructions for his meals the nextday. Whenever possible, he made diary entries. 'It seems to be so very hard,' hewrote one night, 'to maintain detachment of mind in the midst of raging fire.'And he told a friend 'Why could I not suffer this anguish with unruffled calmnessof spirit? I am afraid I have not the detachment required for living to 125 years.'The raging fire of Hindu-Moslem strife gave him no rest. Yet his faith in humanbeings persisted. 'In Bombay a Hindu gave shelter to a Moslem friend the otherday,' he wrote on October 15. 'This infuriated a Hindu mob who demanded thewww.mkgandhi.org Page 503