By
Mahatma Gandhi
BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
I spoke to you yesterday about a friend and his wife who were fasting on the road outside Valmiki Mandir. Today they have sent me a very respectful letter. But the letter does not show wisdom. They are young, I am old. If I say that I possess a little wisdom they should accept my word. They say they can see the wisdom of what I say but that their conscience will not let them give up their fast.
You must have heard of the Gita Rahasya written by Tilak. It is so rich in thought that it needs to be studied again and again. I read it in Yeravda jail. True, I do not find myself in agreement with everything he says but the fact remains that Tilak was a great scholar and had a vast knowledge of Sanskrit literature. It is a long time since I read this work and so I cannot remember his exact words. But I shall tell you the substance of what he says. I think what he says is right.
He says at one place that “conscience” is an appropriate word for the inner voice, but that when one says that one acts according to the promptings of one’s conscience it does not really mean that one acts according to the promptings of one’s inner voice. According to the Vedic thought all creatures are endowed with conscience. But in many people conscience is dormant, which is to say the inner voice is torpid. How can it then be described as “conscience”? According to our Shastras the inner voice awakens only when one follows yama-niyamas and practises various other disciplines. I have digested this teaching of Tilak well so that I am able to tell whether what is taken for the inner voice is really the inner voice or not. If a voice told a thief, ’kill that girl, cut off her limbs and take away her jewellery’, I would not say it was the still small voice within. It would be sheer wickedness. We are all today sunk in stupor. It frequently occurs to us to kill innocent children. But the prompting does not come from the inner voice.
Then I am an expert on fasting. Some Jain friends had resorted to fasting merely because they were not able to get something which they wanted. I persuaded them to terminate the fast. I told you also how even a great scholar like Dharmanand Kosambi had given up fasting on my advice. Kaka Kalelkar, who is here, tells me that just before his death Dr. Kosambi had told him that I had been right in advising him to give up his fast. So, as an expert on fasting, I advise the couple to terminate their fast if they can do so. Three days should be enough.
You will have seen from the newspapers that I met Mr. Jinnah yesterday. I could not tell you about this meeting before because such a meeting had not been mooted. When I was at the Viceroy’s House, the Viceroy told me that Mr. Jinnah was present there and that I should see him. Well, I could not have refused. I am the kind of person who would not hesitate to visit Mr. Jinnah at his house. We met and we agreed that it would be good if we also met Badshah Khan. Then we were to see the Viceroy in the evening. But Badshah Khan, like the humble man he is, had taken a bus to Deoband and it took him not three but five hours to get back and this meant that we could not see the Viceroy again in the evening.
The Viceroy has left Delhi today but he would have been happy if we could have met. We therefore went to Lord Ismay at 4.30 in the afternoon. Badshah Khan has now gone to see Mr. Jinnah at his residence and he is still with him.
Do not please build any great hopes on this. But we can certainly hope that the wound that we have received in the shape of Pakistan can be prevented from becoming still deeper. We can but strive. The result is in the hands of God. Let us pray that the effort may lead to a happy result.
What would be a happy result in this instance? This, that the Pathans in the Frontier Province may all be united. Pathans are a sword-happy people. One can hardly find a Pathan who cannot wield a sword or a gun. From generation to generation vendetta rules their lives but Badshah Khan saw that they could defend themselves better by dying than by killing. He wanted the Pathans to develop this lofty courage and render service. But before this dream could be realized this question of referendum came up.
Some will now say that they want to be with Pakistan. Some others will say that they will remain with the Congress. And the Congress of course has come to be regarded by some as an organization of the Hindus. This will create a schism among the Pathans and may lead to a strife which it may be difficult to curb. They will indulge in mutual slaughter. Badshah Khan wants that by some means it may be made possible for the Pathans to remain free without having to submit to a referendum. They should make their own laws and remain united. It would not then matter whether they chose Pakistan or India. They say they have no money. They are a poor people. They do not want to be an independent nation. But they would decide which country to join after they have got over the present quarrels.
Then it also irks Dr. Khan Saheb that some Hindus found it necessary to take refuge in Hardwar. Therefore Badshah Khan wants these Hindus to return to N. W. F. P. There are still numerous Hindus in the N. W. F. P. who are too poor to be able to leave. They can feel secure only after this question of the referendum is settled. It is for this that Badshah Khan has gone to see the Qaid-e-Azam. What he brings from there remains to be seen.
Khwaja Abdul Majid has been to see me. He wants to be assured that, now that Pakistan has been conceded, the Nationalist Muslims will not be ignored. The Khwaja Saheb, being a good Muslim, also considers himself a good Hindu just as I being a good Hindu consider myself a good Muslim. He says that separate electorates should be done away with for we all want to present the Union of India to the world as a united nation. We may follow different religions but in the eyes of the law we shall all be citizens of India and anyone who is loyal to India should have the same rights as everyone else. I assure Khwaja Saheb that he would certainly have all those rights. At least there are two of us, who regard each other as a man of religion and goodwill. We shall see to it that no one is deprived of his rights on the ground of religion. At the same time we have to see that no special concessions are made on religious grounds. This is what Mr. Jinnah did. First he advanced eleven demands, then fourteen, then twenty-one and in the end he advanced the demand for Pakistan. Nobody now shall be permitted to do this. India is a vast country and it has a place for everyone who will be loyal to it.
[From Hindi]
Prarthana Pravachan—I, pp. 173-7
Notes
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