By
Mahatma Gandhi
BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
I receive many visitors. I do not relate to you everything they say. I do let you know if something is important enough. Today I had some visitors. It appeared they had had some business with the Prime Minister. They said the Prime Minister had earlier made a certain promise to them and that he was now going back on the promise. How was that, I asked. They said they had his letter. I asked them to show me the letter. After all I had no more power than they. I was not the Government. Yes, I was a servant, a friend of the Prime Minister, a co-worker, and so I would speak to him. But how was I to mention it to him? Then I reflected on the matter and I asked myself why this sort of thing happened,—people saying one thing and doing another. I have to bear the brunt of all this. I am sure that I have never deliberately deceived anyone. It is possible that, without understanding the implications, one may say something in all good faith without any dishonest motives. And yet a person may feel aggrieved thinking that he has been deceived. Often things are not fully understood and the result is breach of faith. But if a person deliberately breaks a promise it is a bad thing. This should not happen. The best thing is to keep quiet. Once we have put into words what we feel, we must act accordingly. Only then can we be said to be keeping our word. And now especially when we are free and run the Government in the name of the millions we must be very careful. We must show restraint, discretion and humility. We must not be arrogant. Only then can we take our work to a successful conclusion. No one then will be able to charge us with breach of faith. If we say that we shall distribute a certain thing free of cost and later say that we shall charge something even a little for it, then it is breach of faith. Today we have come to such a state that we do not value our word. We make a promise today and wriggle out of it the very next day. If I make an appointment with you for 4 o’clock tomorrow but at the appointed time go off to a dance, it is breach of faith. So I say that we have to be very careful. We must stick to our word, we must weigh our words before we utter them. We must not say anything on impulse. For instance we may say that there was rioting and later colour it and say that there was murder. This sort of thing cannot be hidden for long. The truth comes out in the end. So we must be careful.
A doctor from Sind has written to say that the Harijans left behind there are in a pitiable condition.¹ If only Harijans were left behind in Sind and caste Hindus went away, nothing but annihilation awaited them. The only condition for life there would be complete slavery and ultimate acceptance of Islam. This is a bad situation. Today the situation is such that if the Pakistan Government says something, the officials at its behest do not implement it. Of course the same thing is true of India. Jawaharlal and the Sardar say that they shall protect Muslims, they shall not allow even a single Muslim to be driven away to Pakistan, but it does not happen. They do not have people to enforce what they say. Their subordinates do not carry out their wishes and the people too do not pay any heed. Yesterday I told you that I had been to Panipat. All the Hindus and Sikhs who have arrived there are in a miserable plight. They were ill-treated in Pakistan and they had to flee. They came because they were oppressed. Otherwise what was the need for them to run away? Having themselves run away from oppression, does it behove them to force others into a similar situation? But this happens. How then can I complain to Pakistan? But I have to do so. The correspondent has written in detail. He says no Harijan wants to continue living in Sind. If they want to stay together at one place they are not left in peace. Forced labour is extracted from them. They are told to clean lavatories, do the sweeping and so on. A Bhangi should not be forced to clean lavatories today. If he can become a barrister, why should he be stopped? Why should we insist that his only work is to clean lavatories? They must be free to act according to their inclination. If they are told that they can stay only if they embrace Islam, what can they do and where can they go? You will have seen the long statement Jagjivan Ram² has issued. He says that Harijans must come away from Sind. If they want to come they should be given facilities to do so. So long as they are in Pakistan they must be allowed to go about their business unhampered; otherwise they should be allowed to leave. If this is not done it is going to leave a permanent sore spot on the Hindu and the Sikh minds. Although India and Pakistan are two countries, we cannot forget one another. We have to conduct ourselves as gentlemen. We must not hurt anyone. We must not force anyone to become a Muslim. We must not molest and abduct anyone’s wife or daughter. Dr. Gopichand Bhargava and Sardar Swaran Singh also said yesterday that India could not tolerate such things. Today the atmosphere has become so polluted that if a Muslim says that he has embraced Hinduism this should not be accepted as genuine. Harijans are non-Muslims. If they say that they have embraced Islam it is not to be accepted. It is only fear that makes them say so. All such conversions should be considered null and void.
Contradictory reports are coming from Kathiawar. Some reports say that the situation in Kathiawar is as bad as described. A telegram to that effect has come only today. Other reports are from the Congress sources and these say that such is not the case, that the Congress workers can never indulge in such things. The Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh say that they have never burnt anybody’s house. Which reports am I to accept as true? Shall I believe the Congress, or the Muslims, or the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh? It has become very difficult to get at the truth. If mistakes have been committed we must acknowledge them. If the Hindus have been in the wrong, if they have committed excesses, it must be admitted. But if this is not the case and if the Muslims exaggerate when they say that their properties were burnt, they were forced to become Hindus, that their daughters were abducted, we must proclaim it to the world that that was not the case. Similarly if the Hindu Mahasabha and the R. S. S. have not done anything wrong I must congratulate them. What the truth is I do not know, though I am trying to find out. I have written to people³ I know there. I have also written to Muslims. I have asked them to give me all the details so that I may be able to see what shapes things are taking there and what the upshot is going to be.
Now about South Africa. You will have seen what Vijayalakshmi Pandit has said. She says we have been defeated because we have not been able to secure the required two-thirds of votes.⁴ However, a number of people have been helpful and supported her stand. Besides, truth is on our side and in a way we have secured a victory.⁵ The Indians in South Africa should therefore not be disheartened. But there is something I have to say. Vijayalakshmi could not have said it because she represented the Government of India. You do not have a remedy but I have one which I had applied in South Africa. What is defeat or victory? The whites of South Africa and Smuts⁶ may say that they do not want us there, that we must leave. They may deny us food and water as is happening to non-Muslims in Pakistan and to Muslims in India. They have driven away Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan under threats. There are still a large number of Hindus and Sikhs in Bannu. What will happen to them I do not know. Meharchand Khanna⁷ has been to see me today. He says that in other places too there are people whose lives mayor may not be saved. If they survive they will have to embrace Islam. But at Bannu the number is very large. What should they do? They are like prisoners. They cannot get out and if they stay on what are they to eat? They are in a sad plight. What can the Government do? It has its own problems. What I have to say here applies also to the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in South Africa. I must tell them that victory and defeat are of no consequence. ’You must say that you will live in South Africa with honour, that you will not leave. You did not go there because you wanted to. You were invited. You went as indentured labourers and afterwards you had children there. If it is a question of rights no one except the Negroes have a right to be there. The Boers do not have even as much right as you have.’ There were delegations from all over the world at the U. N. O. Our country also had to send a delegation. We acted rightly. People assemble there to bring about justice, that they cannot or will not is another matter. We must continue our fight in South Africa, not with a sword but with soul-force. Even the little girl sitting beside me has soul-force, others too have it. The soldiers, too, have soul-force. The sword can be snatched away from us. We can be disarmed. Our arm can be cut off but no one can take away our soul. It is eternal. It is there today and it will remain tomorrow and the day after. The body is worthless without the soul. The body one day has to be disposed of. My wife died and I could not keep her with me. Mahadev⁸ died who was of so much help to me. But I could not keep him and his body had to be cremated. So I shall say that if the Indians in South Africa have self-respect which I think they have, if they have courage, they must say that even if they did not secure two-thirds of the votes at the U. N. they did secure a very large number. They must tell the whites of South Africa to let them stay in the country with honour. They must tell them that they intend to conduct themselves with dignity. They do not want government service. They do not expect help from the whites but they must be allowed to breathe the air, drink the water and live on the land. After all they pay their way, earn their keep, wherever they want to stay. They do not claim the right to vote. If they want the vote they must have it in the same way as the whites have it; otherwise they will do without it. They will not carry on satyagraha for franchise but they must safeguard their dignity. They must have bread and they must have water and they must have land. Also their children must have education. They will understand if no grants are forthcoming for the purpose but the education for the children is their right and they have the right to fight for this. It is not a question of victory or defeat but of laying down one’s life. They must do or die. There is no other recourse. If they want to live in this world in dignity they must do or die. Their duty is clear and admits of no argument. This is what I have to say to the Indians of South Africa and to you. I have nothing else to offer.
[From Hindi]
Courtesy: All India Radio. Also Prarthana Pravachan—II, pp. 160-5
Notes
- 1. According to a telegram sent by Choithram Gidwani to B. R. Ambedkar, Harijans in Sind and Baluchistan were being prevented from migrating to India under the Essential Services Ordinance.
- 2. (b. 1908); President, All India Depressed Classes’ League, 1936-46; Labour Minister in the Interim Government; later held important portfolios like Railways, Food and Agriculture and Defence in the Government of India
- 3. Vide pp. 151 and 163.
- 4. The Indian Resolution calling for a Round Table Conference on the treatment of Indians in South Africa failed to obtain the requisite two-third majority in the United Nations General Assembly, 31 having voted in favour, 19 against, with 6 abstentions and one country absent.
- 5. Vijayalakshmi Pandit had said: “Ours has been a moral victory of no small importance.”
- 6. Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa
- 7. Ex-Minister for Finance in N. W. F. P.; Secretary of the Khudai Khidmatgar Parliamentary Party. He was sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment on November 27 and on being released on bail came to Delhi. He expressed grave concern about the safety of the 40,000 Hindus and Sikhs who were still in Peshawar, Mardan, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Parachinar, awaiting evacuation as no refugee train was allowed to leave the N. W. F. P. since October 28. He was also concerned about the non-Muslim prisoners and under-trials in the Frontier jails.
- 8. Mahadev Desai
Notes
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