Makers of Modern India

by Ramachandra Guha

  The Associated Press announced on the 10th inst. that the Caste Hindus of Kavitha agreed to admit Harijan boys to the village school in Kavitha and that matters were amicably settled. This was contradicted on the 13th instant by the Secretary of the Ahmedabad Harijan Sevak Sangh, who said in his statement that the Harijans had undertaken (privately of course) not to send their children to the school. Such an undertaking was not given voluntarily, but was extorted from them by the Caste Hindus, in this case the Garasias of the village, who had proclaimed a social boycott against poor Harijans—weavers, chamars and others, who number over 100 families. They were deprived of agricultural labour, their animals of grazing in the pasture land, and their children of buttermilk. Not only this, but a Harijan leader was compelled to take an oath by Mahadev [the Hindu god Shiva] that he and others would not hereafter even make an effort to reinstate their children in the school. The so-called settlement was brought about in this way.

  But even after the bogus settlement reported on the 10th and the complete surrender by poor Harijans, the boycott was not lifted up to the 19th and partly up to the 22nd from the weavers. It was lifted somewhat earlier from the head of the chamars, as Garasias themselves could not remove the carcasses of their dead animals, and thus had to come to terms with chamars earlier. As if the enormities perpetrated so far were not enough, kerosene was poured into the Harijan’s well, once on the 15th instant and again on the 19th instant. One can imagine what terrorism was thus practiced on poor Harijans because they had dared to send their children to sit alongside of the ‘princely’ Garasia boys.

  I met the leaders of the Garasias on the morning of the 22nd. They said they could not tolerate the idea of boys of Dheds and Chamars sitting by the side of their own boys. I met also the District Magistrate of Ahmedabad on the 23rd with a view to finding out if he would do something to ease the situation, but without any result.

  Harijan boys are thus practically banned from the village school with nobody to help them. This has caused despondency among the Harijans to such an extent that they are thinking of migrating in a body to some other village.

  This was a report made to Mr. Gandhi. What did Mr. Gandhi do? The following is the advice Mr. Gandhi gave to the Untouchables of Kavitha:

  There is no help like self-help. God helps those who help themselves. If the Harijans concerned will carry out their reported resolve to wipe the dust of Kavitha off their feet, they will not only be happy themselves but they will pave the way for others who may be similarly treated. If people migrate in search of employment how much more should they do so in search of self-respect? I hope that well-wishers of Harijans will help these poor families to vacate inhospitable Kavitha.

  Mr. Gandhi advised the Untouchables of Kavitha to vacate. But why did he not advise Mr. Thakkar to prosecute the Hindus of Kavitha and help the Untouchables to vindicate their rights? Obviously, he would like to uplift the Untouchables if he can but not by offending the Hindus. What good can such a man do to promote the cause of the Untouchables? All this shows that Mr. Gandhi is most anxious to be good to the Hindus. That is why he opposes satyagraha against the Hindus. That is why he opposed the political demands of the Untouchables as he believed that they were aimed against them. He is anxious to be so good to the Hindus that he does not care if he is thereby becoming good for nothing for the Untouchables. That is why Mr. Gandhi’s whole programme for the removal of Untouchability is just words, words and words and why there is no action behind it.

  The third reason is that Mr. Gandhi does not want the Untouchables to organize and be strong. For he fears that they might thereby become independent of the Hindus and weaken the ranks of Hindus. This is best illustrated by the activities of the Harijan Sevak Sangh. The whole object of the Sangh is to create a slave mentality among the Untouchables towards their Hindu masters. Examine the Sangh from any angle one may like and the creation of slave mentality will appear to be its dominant purpose.

  The work of the Sangh reminds one of the mythological demoness Putana described in the Bhagvat—a companion to the Mahabharat. Kamsa the king of Mathura, wanted to kill Krishna, as it was predicted that Kamsa will die at the hands of Krishna. Having come to know of the birth of Krishna, Kamsa asked Putana to undertake the mission to kill Krishna while he was yet a boy. Putana took the form of a beautiful woman and went to Yashoda, the foster mother of Krishna and having applied liquid poison to her breast pleaded to be employed as a wet nurse for suckling the baby Krishna and thus have the opportunity to kill it. The rest of the story it is unnecessary to pursue. The point of the story is that the real purpose is not always the same as the ostensible purpose and a nurse can be a murderess. The Sangh is to the Untouchables what Putana was to Krishna. The Sangh under the pretence of service is out to kill the spirit of independence from among the Untouchables. The Untouchables, in the early stages of their agitation, had taken the support of some well-meaning Hindus and had followed their leadership. By the time of the Round Table Conference, the Untouchables had become completely self-reliant and independent. They were no longer satisfied with charity from the Hindus. They demanded what they said was their right. There is no doubt that it is to kill this spirit of independence among the Untouchables that Mr. Gandhi started the Harijan Sevak Sangh. The Harijan Sevak Sangh by its petty services has collected a swarm of grateful Untouchables who are employed to preach that Mr. Gandhi and the Hindus are the saviours of the Untouchables … The Untouchables are too simple-minded to know that the cost of the service which the Harijan Sevak Sangh offers to render is loss of independence. This is exactly what Mr. Gandhi wants.

  The worst part of the activities of the Harijan Sevak Sangh is the help rendered to the Untouchable students kept in the hostels maintained by the Sangh. These Untouchable students remind me of Bhishma and Kacha, two prominent characters [who] figure in the Mahabharata. Bhishma proclaimed with great show that the Pandavas were right [but] between the two he fought on the side of the Kauravas and against the Pandavas. When asked to justify his conduct he was not ashamed to say that he fought for the Kauravas because they fed him. Kacha belonged to the community of the Devas who were engaged in a war against the Rakshasas. The spiritual head of the Rakshasas knew a mantra by which he could revive a dead Rakshasa. The Devas were losing the battle since their head did not know the mantra and could not revive their dead. The Devas planned to send Kacha to the head of the Rakshasas with instructions somehow to learn the mantra and come back. Kacha in the beginning could not succeed. Ultimately he entered into an agreement with Devayani the daughter of the spiritual head of the Rakshasas that if she helped him to acquire the mantra he would be prepared to marry her. Devayani succeeded in fulfilling her part of the contract. But Kacha refused to perform his part alleging that the interests of his community were more important than his promise to her.

  Bhishma and Kacha, in my opinion, are typical of the morally depraved characters who know no other purpose but to serve their own interests for the time being. The Untouchable students in the Harijan hostels are acting the part of both Bhishma and Kacha. During their stay in the hostels they play the part of Bhishma by singing the praises of Mr. Gandhi and the Congress. When they come out of the hostels they play the part of Kacha and denounce Mr. Gandhi and the Congress. I am extremely pained to see this. Nothing worse could happen to the youth of the Untouchables than this moral degeneration. But this is the greatest disservice which his Harijan Sevak Sangh has done to the Untouchables. It has destroyed their character. It has destroyed their independence. This is what Mr. Gandhi wants to happen.

  Take a fourth illustration. The Sangh is run by the Caste Hindus. There are some Untouchables who have demanded that the institution should be handed over to the Untouchables and should be run by them. Others have demanded that the Untouchables should have representation on the governing Board. Mr. Gandhi has flatly refused to do either on two very ingenious grounds which no man with the greatest cunning could improve. Mr. Gandhi’s first argument
is that the Harijan Sevak Sangh is an act of penance on the part of the Hindus for the sin of observing Untouchability. It is they who must do the penance. Therefore the Untouchable can have no place in running the Sangh. Secondly Mr. Gandhi says the money collected by him is given by the Hindus and not by the Untouchables and as the money is not of the Untouchables, the Untouchables have no right to be on the Governing Body. The refusal of Mr. Gandhi may be tolerated but his arguments are most insulting and a respectable Untouchable will be forgiven if he refuses to have anything to do with the Sangh. One should have thought that the Harijan Sevak Sangh was a Trust and the Untouchables its beneficiaries. Any tyro in law would admit that the beneficiaries have every right to know the aims and objects of the Trust, its funds and whether the objects are properly carried out or not. The beneficiaries have even the right to have the Trustees removed for breach of trust. On that basis it would be impossible to deny the claim of the Untouchables for representation on the Managing Board. Evidently Mr. Gandhi does not wish to accept this position. A self-respecting Untouchable who has no desire to cringe and who does not believe in staking the future of the Untouchables on the philanthropy of strangers cannot have any quarrel with Mr. Gandhi. He is quite prepared to say that if meanness is a virtue then Mr. Gandhi’s logic is superb and Mr. Gandhi is welcome to the benefit of it. Only he must not blame the Untouchables if they boycott the Sangh.

  These however could not be the real reasons for not allowing the Untouchables to run the Sangh. The real reasons are different. In the first place, if the Sangh was handed over to the Untouchables Mr. Gandhi and the Congress will have no means of control over the Untouchables. The Untouchables will cease to be dependent on the Hindus. In the second place, the Untouchables having become independent will cease to be grateful to the Hindus. These consequences will be quite contrary to the aim and object, which have led Mr. Gandhi to found the Sangh … That is why Mr. Gandhi does not wish to hand over the Sangh to the control and management of the Untouchables. Is this consistent with a genuine desire for the emancipation of the Untouchables? Can Mr. Gandhi be called a liberator of the Untouchables? Does this not show that Mr. Gandhi is more anxious to tighten the tie which binds the Untouchables to the apron strings of the Hindus than to free them from the thralldom of the Hindus?

  These are the reasons why Mr. Gandhi’s anti-Untouchability campaign has failed.

  * * *

  Chapter Ten

  The Muslim Separatist

  Muhammad Ali Jinnah

  Through the 1930s and 1940s, Gandhi and the Congress faced two major challenges that cast doubt on their claim to represent all of India and all Indians. The first was from B.R. Ambedkar, who argued that the Congress was a party of the upper castes. The second was from Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who insisted that the Congress represented only Hindus and that the Muslims of the subcontinent need look rather to his party, the Muslim League, to protect and advance their interests.

  Jinnah was born in Karachi in 1876, into a Gujarati-speaking family of Shia Muslim merchants. He was the eldest of seven children of a successful businessman, who owned horse carriages. After studying in a school in Karachi, Jinnah proceeded to London to qualify as a lawyer, enrolling at Lincoln’s Inn. In 1896 he returned with his barrister’s qualification in hand and joined the Bombay Bar.

  Thus far, there are some conspicuous parallels with Gandhi. Both had Gujarati as their mother tongue, both came from mercantile communities, both studied law in London and both came back to practise in Bombay. However, Jinnah was very successful at his chosen profession. In a few years he had developed a very lucrative practice. He was offered a place on the bench, which he refused on the grounds that he normally earned in a day what a judge earned in a month.

  At the same time, like other successful and ambitious young Indians, Jinnah was not averse to a career in public life. In 1904 he attended his first Congress session, in Bombay. In another parallel with Gandhi, he attracted the favourable attention of Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He also came close to the great Parsi nationalist Dadabhai Naoroji. Jinnah was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1910, as part of a new quota for Muslims. At thirty-five, he was one of its youngest members. Interestingly enough, one of his first speeches was on the condition of Indians in South Africa.

  By 1915 or thereabouts, Jinnah was being referred to as the ‘Muslim Gokhale’. Like his mentor, he was known for his careful research, his closely argued speeches and his focus on harmonious relations between Hindus and Muslims. In the politics of the day he occupied a unique position—for he was at once a member of the Congress and of the Muslim League, while simultaneously serving as a member of the Imperial Council.

  When Gandhi came home from South Africa in January 1915, Jinnah spoke at a reception for the returning hero in Bombay. Towards the end of the decade, however, the two Gujarati lawyer-politicians fell out over the best means to advance Indian interests. Jinnah preferred the constitutional route, while Gandhi wanted the Congress to adopt his creed of countrywide satyagraha. The break became final, and irretrievable, when at the Nagpur Congress of December 1920 Jinnah was booed off the stage by Gandhi’s eager (or perhaps overeager) followers.

  Through the 1920s, Jinnah tried, with limited success, to organize a moderate alternative to Gandhi’s party. In 1925 he was offered a knighthood, and refused, as Gokhale had done before him.

  In 1930 Jinnah moved to London, where he ran a successful practice at the Bar while also taking part in the Round Table Conferences of 1930 and 1931 which discussed, abortively, India’s political future. At one time he seriously considered standing for the British parliament. However, in 1934, he was persuaded to return to India to assume leadership of the Muslim League. Over the next few years, he infused life and purpose into a moribund organization. Under his leadership, the membership of the League increased from a few thousand to well over half a million. Students and professionals flocked to his call. Now, it could no longer be dismissed as a party merely of the Muslim nobility and gentry. Jinnah also laid special focus on strengthening the provincial branches of the League. In all this he was taking a leaf out of his rival’s book, for Gandhi had once adopted similar methods to convert the Congress from an elite debating club into a mass-based political party.

  In the elections of 1937 the Congress came to power over much of India. Ironically, electoral defeat actually helped the Muslim League, for they were now able to portray the Congress in office as an essentially Hindu party. Questions were raised about the promotion by the Congress ministries of Hindi (as opposed to Urdu) and the singing of religious hymns in state schools. These campaigns helped the League to alienate the Congress from any Muslim support it still enjoyed. Then the Second World War broke out and the Congress ministries resigned. In 1940 the Muslim League formally committed itself to the formation of a separate homeland for Muslims, to be named Pakistan. Jinnah, once known as ‘the ambassador of Hindu—Muslim unity’, had now come around to the view that Hindus and Muslims could not live together in a single, united, independent nation.

  When Gandhi and his followers went to jail during the Quit India movement, Jinnah used the opportunity to further consolidate the Muslim League. By now the British were treating the League on par with the Congress. Jinnah demanded, and obtained, a further parity, of himself with Gandhi.

  After the end of the war, elections were held to the central and provincial assemblies. The League obtained a resounding 88 per cent of the Muslim vote. In the crucial provinces of Punjab and Bengal, it won 75 out of 88 and 113 out of 119 Muslim seats respectively. Now Partition and the establishment of Pakistan were more or less inevitable.

  In their campaign to create Pakistan, Jinnah and the League were helped by separate electorates, by the arrogance of the Congress and by the British policy of ‘divide and rule’. That said, one cannot and must not discount the quality of Jinnah’s leadership or the energy and commitment of his cadres and followers. These made what, in 1937, had seemed a very distant
dream, into a concrete reality ten years later.

  Muhammad Ali Jinnah died in September 1948.

  The Steps Towards A Muslim Nation

  The context for this first excerpt is provided by the elections of 1937, in which the Congress did far better than the Muslim League even among Muslim voters. With the rival party now running administrations in six major provinces, the League had to regroup. In the following excerpt, from his presidential address to the annual session of the Muslim League held at Lucknow in October 1937, Jinnah urges his colleagues to stand firm against the adversary.1

  … The present leadership of the Congress, especially during the last ten years, has been responsible for alienating the Musalmans of India more and more by pursuing a policy which is exclusively Hindu, and since they have formed the Governments in six provinces where they are in a majority they have by their words, deeds and programme shown more and more that the Musalmans cannot expect any justice or fair-play at their hands. Wherever they are in a majority and wherever it suited them, they refused to co-operate with the Muslim League Parties and demanded unconditional surrender and signing of their pledges.

  The demand was insistent: abjure your part and forswear your policy and programme and liquidate [the] Muslim League; but where they found that they had not a majority, like the North-West Frontier Province, their sacred principle of collective responsibility disappeared, and promptly the Congress Party was allowed in that province to coalesce with any other group. That any individual Musalman member who was willing to unconditionally surrender and sign their pledge was offered a job as a minister and was passed off as a Musalman minister, although he did not command the confidence or the respect of an overwhelming majority of the Musalman representatives in the legislature. These men are allowed to move about and pass off as Muslim ministers for the ‘loyal’ services they have rendered to the Congress, by surrendering and signing the pledge unconditionally and the degree of their reward is the extent of their perfidy. Hindi is to be the national language of all India, and that Bande Matram is to be the national song, and is to be forced upon all. The Congress flag is to be obeyed and revered by all and sundry. On the very threshold of what little power and responsibility is given, the majority community have clearly shown their hand that Hindustan is for the Hindus … The result of the present Congress Party policy will be, I venture to say, class bitterness, communal war and strengthening of the imperialistic hold as a consequence …