E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

66 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtmade to keep India united, on the eve of freedom. But it failedon account of several reasons. The Indian Muslim Leaguelaunched ‘Direct Action Day’ in August 1946, which led tomassacre in Calcutta. Soon it spread to Noakhali and Bihar and,subsequently, major parts of the country were engulfed incommunal riots. Gandhi found himself in an unenviablesituation. His dream of freeing India and keeping it united cameto a naught. He faced the greatest challenge of his life when hisentire life’s work was coming to a cropper. But as was hiswont, he neither lost his faith in non-violence nor was hecaught in the slough of despond. He had to acquit himself andhis faith by demonstrating its efficacy amidst communal frenzyand fire. He moved from place to place, viz., Calcutta,Noakhali, Bihar and finally to Delhi to extinguish thecommunal fire and frenzy. And he not only demonstrated hisunshakeable faith in non-violence, but also its efficacy in thepublic domain of Calcutta, Noakhali, Bihar and Delhi. Finally,he achieved martyrdom on 30 January 1948, in the process offighting the communal fire. And that turned the real proof ofhis being a true apostle of peace, non-violence and communalharmony.IIIBrahmacharya: Gandhian Theory and PraxisBrahmacharya was another key concept of Gandhi,which, at least in its practice, turned out to be the mostcontroversial of his ideas. For him it was the foundation of allhis ideas as its practice alone equipped him with moral andspiritual prowess to pursue his life-work with rare guts anddetermination. It was the mainspring of all his strength andperseverance.Gandhi and BrahmacharyaThe idea of Brahmacharya had gripped Gandhi evenmuch before the idea of Satyagraha. Perhaps the seed was