E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & TimesChapter XVIIIGandhi Hoes His GardenTHE British had left India. Politically literate, they had read the handwriting onthe Indian wall: Tour day is done'. The handwriting was Gandhi's.By the will of Indians, Lord Mountbatten remained as Governor-General of theIndian Union. It had been agreed that Mountbatten would also be Governor-General of Pakistan and thus a symbol of unity. But Jinnah substituted himself.Pakistan bisected India. Pakistan itself was bisected. It counted 38,000,000inhabitants in north-west India and 45,000,000 in north-east India. Between thetwo parts lay nearly 800 miles of the Indian Union.In Moslem Pakistan there were many million Hindus and Sikhs. Of the330,000,000 residents of the Indian Union, some 42,000,000 were Moslems.Five hundred and fifty of the 565 native states quietly acceded to the IndianUnion. Three joined Pakistan. Most of the maharajas and nawabs becameoverpaid pensioned puppets. Elephants went begging.The frontier that divided India in two divided families separated factories fromraw materials, crops from markets. The army was divided; the treasury was tobe divided. The non-Moslems of Pakistan were worried about their future. TheMoslems of the Indian Union were anxious. In each of the new dominions,fighting broke out between ruling majority and frightened minority.One India could have lived in peace. Vivisection sundered vital arteries; out ofthem flowed human blood and the poison of religious hate.Calcutta and the western part of Bengal province remained in the Indian Union.Eastern Bengal went to Pakistan. Twenty-three per cent of the population ofCalcutta was Moslem. The Hindus and Moslems fought.How does a religious riot commence? On April 17, 1938, three Hindus and aMoslem were sitting on their haunches in the Northbrook Gardens in Bombayplaying cards. They had been drinking. They quarrelled over the game.www.mkgandhi.org Page 537