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When Bapu didn’t wish to live

As we marked the completion of 70 years of the Indian nation, we forgot that this was also the 70th year of the last birthday of Gandhi who was called Bapu by his people.

When Bapu didn’t wish to live


Apoorvanand

As we marked the completion of 70 years of the Indian nation, we forgot that this was also the 70th year of the last birthday of Gandhi who was called Bapu by his people. Gandhi was to enter his 79th year on the 2 October of 1947. He had earlier expressed his desire to live for 125 years. Was he being boastful if we keep in mind the fact that in his times an average Indian male could expect to live only for 32 years? 

Gandhi cared for his body as much as he took care of his soul. For, he thought he was nursing the freedom of India in his womb. For a healthy child to be born, the mother had to be careful about her own health. It is not surprising, therefore, to see Gandhi writing about hygiene, dietary habits, health, etc. He does not want to go on living carelessly or thoughtlessly. He lived with rigour and precision.

A lie propagated

October 2, 1947, was different, though. He was not very enthusiastic about it. Addressing his well-wishers, he lamented, "I am surprised and also ashamed that I am still alive." There is no cause for celebration. He is harsh with himself and his people: "For me, today is the day of mourning." His dejection arises from his realisation that he was not heard any longer: "I am the same person whose word was honoured by the millions of the country. But today, nobody listens to me."

A lie has been propagated using this cry of despair by Gandhi to claim that he was feeling ignored by his erstwhile colleagues such as Nehru and Patel who in their lust for power had agreed for the Partition. We need to read the address beyond this famous line. Gandhi chides his audience, "You want only the Hindus to remain in India and say that none else should be left behind. You may kill the Muslims today; but what will you do tomorrow? What will happen to the Parsis and the Christians and then to the British? After all, they are also Christians. They have faith in Christ and are surely not Hindus. At present we have some Muslims in our midst who belong to us. If we are ready to kill them, let me tell you that I am not for it."

His own people turned away

Gandhi felt hurt because his own people had turned away from him. Those who rose like one person at his call in the course of their battle against the British now felt that he was useless, even harmful, "We assert that there can never be an honest Muslim. A Muslim always remains a worthless fellow. In such a situation, what place do I have in India and what is the point of my being alive? I have now stopped thinking about living for 125 years. I have stopped thinking in terms of 100 or even 90 years. I am entering my 79th year today; but even that pains me."

In midst of fire and blood

Gandhi was in Delhi on this occasion. He had come from Calcutta and wanted to go to Punjab. While trying to douse the fire of enmity between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta, Sikhs had approached him with the horrible news of Hindus and Sikhs being massacred, women abducted and converted forcibly. He was also getting calls from Punjab, urging him to rush to save the Hindus and Sikhs there. 

Gandhi was in the midst of fire and blood in Calcutta. Calcutta was not his destination. He was heading to Noakhali from where he was planning to go to Bihar and then Punjab. But this was not to be. Shaheed Suhrawardy pleaded with him to be in Calcutta to save it from the fratricidal war that Hindus and Muslims were indulging in. He pleaded guilty for his role in the earlier massacre in the wake of the call of the action. It resulted in what is known as the great Calcutta killings. 

Gandhi accepted his repentance. The old Suhrawardy had to die and in his place was to be born a faqir. Together, they stayed in a Muslim locality. Gandhi wanted Hindus to call back their Muslim neighbours and Muslims to welcome the Hindus who had been driven away in the violence. Gandhi was trying to rekindle humanity which seemed to have been subdued by a more powerful urge of hatred. He believed that humanity was like an ocean which cannot be polluted. People had to be reminded of their capacity to forgive and love. It was not easy.

Calcutta a trial

Calcutta was a great trial for Gandhi. Even he was not sure if he would be able to come out of it alive. His presence and words did sooth nerves. Hindus and Muslims promised to live together in peace. Gandhi was delighted to see Hindus and Muslims embracing each other, Hindus being invited in mosques. It reminded him of the great old days of Khilafat. But this peace did not look enduring to him. He was right. Within a fortnight, violence returned. Exasperated, Gandhi took to fasting. He was admonished by the Governor of Bengal R. Rajgopalachari. But he was firm. He had to be convinced by Hindus and Muslims that they would live in peace and as good neighbours.

Gandhi had undertaken many fasts. But he was approaching his 79th year. Dr Sunil Bose advised him not to exert himself. He retorted: "I can't interrupt the work which has made me fast and which makes me live. If my life ebbs away in the process, I would feel happy." Fortunately, the fast lasted only for three days. Leaders of the Hindu and Muslim organisations took a pledge to ensure that the peace was to endure the test of time.

What is remarkable about his stay in Calcutta is his plea with his people that the flags of India and Pakistan should fly together. When Congressmen of Khulna asked him about their attitude to the  flag with the Crescent, he told them to salute it. He expected the parting nations to ensure equality and respect for all people, be they Hindus or Muslims. In Calcutta, he faced hostile crowds and physical violence. He was not sure if there would be light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Pacifying refugees

Nehru agreed to his request for travel to Punjab. But Patel wanted him to stay in Delhi and bring back sanity to it. There was no respite for the old man. He took a direct plunge in the fire of Delhi. Gandhi knew that if Delhi succumbed to the communal violence, there was no hope for the rest of India. And he had hoped a free India to be a role model for the world. Where would the world go if India failed? So, with a worn-out body and a deeply injured soul, he moved from camp to camp, meeting the grieving refugees who had nothing but anger and revenge in their hearts. He was used to hostility and never felt insulted. He braved abusive slogans and humiliation, for, all this was coming from his people. He tried to tell them they could not give in to bestiality. 

Greetings were pouring in from all over the world. Gandhi felt condolence messages were more befitting for the occasion. On October 3, he printed in Harijan a poem sent by a well-wisher . A friend sends the following apt lines from George Matheson: It is by my fetters that I can fly; It is by my sorrows that I can soar;  It is by my reverses that I can run; It is by my tears that I can travel; It is by my Cross that I can climb into the heart of humanity; Let me magnify my Cross, 0 God!

Carrying this magnified cross on his back Gandhi walked in what were to be his last months. Independent India gave Gandhi only five months to live. 

The writer is a Professor of Hindi in  Delhi University 

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