By
Mahatma Gandhi
BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
You know that I am coming straight after meeting the Viceroy. Not that I had gone to get anything out of him. Nor had he called me in order to give me anything. Actually the talk between us was not even finished. But I excused myself saying to the Viceroy that I would not like to miss the prayer time so long as it was humanly possible. He appreciated my point and said that our talk could be resumed later.¹
I told you that we would not give even an inch of land as Pakistan under coercion. In other words, we would not accept Pakistan under the threat of violence. Only if they can convince us by peaceful argument and if their proposal appeals to our reason would we concede Pakistan.
I cannot say that this whole question has been treated rationally. The Congress Working Committee insists that they have not granted anything under duress. They are not scared because so many people are dying and property is being destroyed. It is not at all true that they have accepted defeat in the face of violence. I should not take them to be a timid lot. They have taken this course because they realized that it was not possible to get round the Muslim League in any other way. For, once the Muslim League agrees to at least some points, our task becomes easy. In short, the Working Committee claims that they have accepted the vivisection of the country into Pakistan and Hindustan not out of fear but after realizing the prevailing situation.
We do not wish to force anyone. We tried hard. We tried to reason with them, but they refused to come into the Constituent Assembly. The League supporters kept on arguing that they were afraid of the Hindu majority in the event of their joining the Constituent Assembly.
What can the Viceroy do under these circumstances? He says that whatever happens, he wants to quit by June, 1948. He would not like to stay beyond that date even if you wanted him to. He says they must grant full independence to India. Why he insists on this is another matter. You might say that the British have now become helpless because they are no longer the mighty power they used to be. We would want them to be a first-class power even now. It is true that they have tyrannized over us for 150 years. I also know that we have been fighting against their might for the last 32 years. But I never make an enemy of my opponent. I would still appeal to God and pray that He should be good to them. And whatever God does would be just.
I shall speak no more now about God’s infallible power. Let us realize this much that every human being is prone to commit mistakes. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs all can say that the Muslims have committed a great blunder. But on what ground can we absolve ourselves of the blame? Let us leave it to God to pass judgment.
I would say this much, that it was wrong on their part to demand Pakistan. But they can think of nothing else. They say that they can never live where the Hindus have a majority. They are harming themselves by making this demand and I pray to God to save them in time from any harm coming to them. When my own brother, whether he follows my religion or some other religion, wants to harm me, I cannot aid him, even though he may not be aware that he is harming me. If I do it I am sure to be crushed between the two stones of a quern. Why should I not keep my own millstone apart?
And now I want to reassure you about the British. I want to tell you, not in the light of the Viceroy’s speech² but in the light of my own talks with him, that the Viceroy has had no hand in this decision. The decision has been taken jointly by all the leaders in consultation. The leaders say that for seven years they insisted on the unity of India. The Cabinet Mission also gave a reasonable award. But the League went back on its assurance and now this course has had to be adopted. They (the Muslims) have got to come back to India. Even if Pakistan is formed, there will have to be mutual exchange of populations and movements to and fro. Let us hope that co-operation endures.
But now that this decision has been taken, should I say that we should all rebel against the Congress? Or, should I ask the Viceroy to intervene? The Viceroy says that he never wanted partition. Jawaharlal says on behalf of the Congress that he too does not approve of it. But they have all been obliged to accept it, not for fear of violence, but because of the circumstances. For the Hindus, the Sikhs, all say that they would live in their own homelands, not in the Muslims’. The Hindus are willing to be under Sikh rule because they say the Sikhs never compel them at the point of the sword to bow before the Granth Saheb.
Master Tara Singh came to see me today. I told him that he should not remain a lone soldier, but become equal to one and a quarter lakh. The Sikhs should learn to die without killing and then the history of the Punjab would be completely changed. With it the history of India would change too. The Sikhs are few in number, but they are brave. That is why the British are afraid of them. If the Sikhs became truly brave, rule of the Khalsa would spread throughout the world.
I told you these things to relieve you of your pain. You should not feel sorry at heart that India is to be divided into two. The demand has been granted because you asked for it. The Congress never asked for it. I was not even present here. But the Congress can feel the pulse of the people. It realized that the Khalsa as also the Hindus desired it. You have lost nothing, nor have the Sikhs, nor the Muslims. The Viceroy has already stated in his speech and he has also assured me that when we approach him united this decision would be revoked. Only our united decision would be accepted. The Viceroy says that his task is merely to see that the British carry on their task honestly till power is transferred and then quit in peace.³ The British people do not wish that chaos should reign after they quit this country.
I had already said that they should not worry about anarchy. I am, after all, a gambler. But who would listen to me? You do not listen to me. The Muslims have given me up. Nor can I fully convince the Congress of my point of view. Actually I am a slave of the Congress, because I belong to India. I tried my best to bring the Congress round to accept the proposal of May 16. But now we must accept what is an accomplished fact. The wonderful thing about it is that we can undo it any time we want.
In the end, I would only say that you had better forget the Viceroy. It pains me that instead of having direct talks we should negotiate through the Viceroy as mediator. It does us no credit that the League should convey its point to the Viceroy who in turn conveys it to the Congress and the Congress again conveys its own view to the Viceroy. But what can be done when the Muslim League does not agree to anything at all? The Congress agrees to something and the Sikhs have joined the Congress. And the Viceroy then had to request Jinnah Saheb day and night to climb down a little. Thus he found this solution. Even while doing all this the Viceroy says that he is wondering what the League would say and what the Congress would say. But he goes on doing his work in the name of God. Let us therefore have trust in his honesty so long as we have no experience to the contrary.
But I would like to request Jinnah Saheb, implore him, to have direct talks with us at least now. Whatever has happened is all right, but now let us sit together and decide about the future. Let him forget all about the Viceroy now, and let him invite us to come to any understanding he wishes to have, so that it is in the interest of all of us.
[From Hindi]
Prarthana Pravachan—I, pp. 120-4
Notes
- 1. For the Viceroy’s note on the interview, vide Appendix III.
- 2. In his broadcast of June 3, 1947, the Viceroy had stated: “I am of course just as much opposed to the partition of Provinces as I am to the partition of India herself and for the same basic reasons. For just as I feel there is an Indian consciousness which should transcend communal differences, so I feel there is a Punjabi and a Bengali consciousness which has evoked a loyalty to their Provinces. And so I felt it was essential that the people of India themselves should decide this question of partition.”
- 3. In his speech the Viceroy had said: “Whichever way the decision of the Indian people may go, I feel sure any British official who may be asked to remain for a while will do everything in his power to help implement that decision.”
Notes
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