04-10-2004, 08:19 PM
These are not the only things Mr. Gandhi has done to build up Hindu-Moslem unity. He has never
called the Muslims to account even when they have been guilty of gross crimes against Hindus.
It is a notorious fact that many prominent Hindus who had offended the religious susceptibilities of
the Muslims either by their writings or by their part in the Shudhi movement have been murdered
by some fanatic Musalmans. First to suffer was Swami Shradhanand, who was shot by Abdul
Rashid on 23rd December 1926 when he was lying in his sick bed. This was followed by the
murder of Lala Nanakchand, a prominent Arya Samajist of Delhi. Rajpal, the author of the Rangila
Rasool, was stabbed by llamdin on 6th April 1929 while he was sitting in his shop. Nathuramal
Sharma was murdered by Abdul Qayum in September 1934. It was an act of great daring. For
Sharma was stabbed to death in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sind where he was
seated awaiting the hearing of his appeal against his conviction under Section 195, 1. P. C., for the
publication of a pamphlet on the history of Islam. Khanna, the Secretary of the Hindu Sabha, was
severely assaulted in 1938 by the Mahomedans after the Session of the Hindu Maha Sabha held in
Ahmedabad and very narrowly escaped death.
This is, of course, a very short list and could be easily expanded. But whether the number of
prominent Hindus killed by fanatic Muslims is large or small matters little. What matters is the
attitude of those who count, towards these murderers. The murderers paid the penalty of law where
law is enforced. The leading Moslems, however, never condemned these criminals. On the
contrary, they were hailed as religious martyrs and agitation was carried on for clemency being
shown to them. As anillustration of this attitude, one may refer to Mr. Barkat Alli, a Barrister of
Lahore, who argued the appeal of Abdul Qayum. He went to the length of saying that Qayum was
not guilty of murder of Nathuramal because his act was justifiable by the law of the Koran. This
attitude of the Moslems is quite understandable. What is not understandable is the attitude of Mr.
Gandhi.
Mr. Gandhi has been very punctilious in the matter of condemning any and every act of violence
and has forced the Congress, much against its will to condemn it. But Mr. Gandhi has never
protested against such murders. Not only have the Musalmans not condemned 26[f.26] these
outrages but even Mr. Gandhi has never called upon the leading Muslims to condemn them. He has
kept silent over them. Such an attitude can be explained only on the ground that Mr. Gandhi was
anxious to preserve Hindu-Moslem unity and did not mind the murders of a few Hindus, if it could
be achieved by sacrificing their lives.
This attitude to excuse the Muslims any wrong, lest it should injure the cause of unity, is well
illustrated by what Mr. Gandhi had to say in the matter of the Mopla riots.
The blood-curdling atrocities committed by the Moplas in Malabar against the Hindus were
indescribable. All over Southern India, a wave of horrified feeling had spread among the Hindus of
every shade of opinion, which was intensified when certain Khilafat leaders were so misguided as
to pass resolutions of " congratulations to the Moplas on the brave fight they were conducting for
the sake of religion". Any person could have said that this was too heavy a price for Hindu-Moslem
unity. But Mr. Gandhi was so much obsessed by the necessity of establishing Hindu-Moslem unity
that he was prepared to make light of the doings of the Moplas and the Khilafats who were
congratulating them. He spoke of the Moplas as the " brave God-fearing Moplas who were fighting
for what they consider as religion and in a manner which they consider as religious ". Speaking of
the Muslim silence over the Mopla atrocities Mr. Gandhi told the Hindus:
" The Hindus must have the courage and the faith to feel that they can protect their religion in spite
of such fanatical eruptions. A verbal disapproval by the Mussalmans of Mopla madness is no test of
Mussalman friendship. The Mussalmans must naturally feel the shame and humiliation of the
Mopla conduct about forcible conversions and looting, and they must work away so silently and
effectively that such a thing might become impossible even on the part of the most fanatical among
them. My belief is that the Hindus as a body have received the Mopla madness with equanimity and
that the cultured Mussalmans are sincerely sorry of the Mopla's perversion of the teaching of the
Prophet"
The Resolution 27[f.27] passed by the Working Committee of the Congress on the Mopla
atrocities shows how careful the Congress was not to hurt the feelings of the Musalmans.
" The Working Committee places on record its sense of deep regret over the deeds of violence done
by Moplas in certain areas of Malbar, these deeds being evidence of the fact that there are still
people in India who have not understood the message of the Congress and the Central Khilafat
Committee, and calls upon every Congress and Khilafat worker to spread the said message of
non-violence even under the gravest provocation throughout the length and breadth of India.
" Whilst, however, condemning violence on the part of the Moplas, the working Committee desires
it to be known that the evidence in its possession shows that provocation beyond endurance was
given to the Moplas and that the reports published by and on behalf of the Government have given
a one-sided and highly exaggerated account of the wrongs done by the Moplas and an
understatement of the needless destruction of life resorted to by the Government in the name of
peace and order.
" The Working Committee regrets to find that there have been instances of so-called forcible
conversion by some fanatics among Moplas, but warms the public against believing in the
Government and inspired versions. The Report before the Committee says:
" The families, which have been reported to have been forcibly converted into Mahomedanism,
lived in the neighbourhood of Manjeri. It is clear that conversions were forced upon Hindus by a
fanatic gang which was always opposed to the Khilafat and Non-co-operation Movement and there
were only three cases so far as our information goes. ' "
The following instances of Muslim intransigence, over which Mr. Gandhi kept mum are recorded
by Swami Shradhanand in his weekly journal called the Liberator. Writing in the issue of 30th
September 1926 the Swamiji says :
" As regards the removal of untouchability it has been authoritatively ruled several times that it is
the duty of Hindus to expiate for their past sins and non-Hindus should have nothing to do with it
But the Mahomedan and the Christian Congressmen have openly revolted against the dictum of Mr.
Gandhi at Vaikorn and other places. Even such an unbiased leader as Mr. Yakub Hassan, presiding
over a meeting called to present an address to me at Madras, openly enjoined upon Musalmans the
duty of converting all the untouchables in India to Islam. "
But Mr. Gandhi said nothing by way of remonstrance either to the Muslims or to the Christians.
In his issue of July 1926 the Swami writes :
" There was another prominent fact to which I drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi. Both of us
went together one night to the Khilafat Conference at Nagpur. The Ayats (verses) of the Quran
recited by the Maulanas on that occasion, contained frequent references to Jihad and killing of the
Kaffirs.But when I drew his attention to this phase of the Khilafat movement, Mahatmaji smiled
and said, ' They are alluding to the British Bureaucracy '. In reply I said that it was all subversive of
the idea of non-violence and when the reversion of feeling came the Mahomedan Maulanas would
not refrain from using these verses against the Hindus. "
The Swami 's third instance relates to the Mopla riots. Writing in the Liberator of 26th August
1926 the Swami says :
"The first warning was sounded when the question of condemning the Moplas for their atrocities on
Hindus came up in the Subjects Committee. The original resolution condemned the Moplas
wholesale for the killing of Hindus and burning of Hindu homes and the forcible conversion to
Islam. The Hindu members themselves proposed amendments till it was reduced to condemning
only certain individuals who had been guilty of the above crimes. But some of the Moslem leaders
could not bear this even. Maulana Fakir and other Maulanas, of course, opposed the resolution and
there was no wonder. But I was surprised, an out-and-out Nationalist like Maulana Hasrat Mohani
opposed the resolution on the ground that the Mopla country no longer remained Dar-ul-Aman but
became Dar-ul-Harab and they suspected the Hindus of collusion with the British enemies of the
Moplas. Therefore, the Moplas were right in presenting the Quran or sword to the Hindus. And if
the Hindus became Mussalmans to save themselves from death, it was a voluntary change of faith
and not forcible conversionâWell, even the harmless resolution condemning some of the Moplas
was not unanimously passed but had to be accepted by a majority of votes only. There were other
indications also, showing that the Mussalmans considered the Congress to be existing on their
sufferance and if there was the least attempt to ignore their idiosyncracies the superficial unity
would be scrapped asunder. "
The last one refers to the burning of the foreign cloth started by Mr. Gandhi. Writing in the
Liberator of 31st August 1926 the Swamiji says:
" While people came to the conclusion, that the burning of foreign cloth was a religious duty of
Indians and Messrs. Das, Nehru and other topmost leaders made bon-fire of cloth worth thousands,
the Khilafat Musalmans got permission from Mahatmaji to send all foreign cloth for the use of the
Turkish brethren. This again was a great shock to me. While Mahatmaji stood adamant and did not
have the least regard for Hindu feelings when a question of principle was involved, for the Moslem
dereliction of duty, there was always a soft corner in his heart "
In the history of his efforts to bring about Hindu-Moslem unity mention must be made of two
incidents. One is the Fast, which Mr. Gandhi underwent in the year 1924. It was a fast of 21 days.
Before undertaking the fast Mr. Gandhi explained the reasons for it in a statement from which the
following extracts are taken:
" The fact that Hindus and Musalmans, who were only two years ago apparently working together
as friends, are now fighting like cats and dogs in some places, shows conclusively that the
non-co-operation they offered was not non-violent. I saw the symptoms in Bombay, Chauri Chaura
and in a host of minor cases. I did penance then. It had its effects protanto. But this Hindu-Muslim
tension was unthinkable. It became unbearable on hearing of the Kohat tragedy. On the eve of my
departure from Sabarmati for Delhi, Sarojinj Devi wrote to me that speeches and homilies on peace
would not do. I must find out an effective remedy. She was right in saddling the responsibility on
me. Had I not been instrumental in bringing into being the vast energy of the people? I must find
the remedy if the energy proved self-destructive.
* * *
" I was violently shaken by Amethi, Sambhal and Gulbarga. I had read the reports about Amelhi
and Sambhal prepared by Hindu and Musalman friends. I had learnt the joint finding of Hindu and
Musalman friends who went to Gulbarga. I was writhing in deep pain and yet I had no remedy. The
news of Kohal set the smouldering mass aflame. Something had got to be done. I passed two nights
in restlessness and pain. On Wednesday I knew the remedy. I must do penance.
"It is a warning to the Hindus and Musalmans who have professed to love me. If they have loved
me truly and if I have been deserving of their love, they will do penance with me for the grave sin
of denying God in their hearts.
" The penance of Hindus and Mussalmans is not falling but retracting their steps. It is true penance
for a Mussalman to harbour no ill-will for his Hindu brother and an equally true penance for a
Hindu to harbour none for his Mussalman brother.
" I did not consult friendsânoteven Hakim Saheb who was close with me for a long lime on
Wednesdayânot Maulana Mahomed Ali under whose roof I am enjoying the privilege of
hospitality.
"But was it right for me to go through the last under a Mussalman roof? (Gandhi was at that time
the guest of Mr. Mahomed Ali at Delhi). Yes, it was. The fast is not born out of ill-will against a
single soul. My being under a Mussalman roof ensures it against any such interpretation. It is in the
fitness of things that this fast should be taken up and completed in a Mussalman house.
" And who is Mahomed Ali ? Only two days before the fast we had a discussion about a private
matter in which I had told him what was mine was his and what was his was mine. Let me
gratefully tell the public that I have never received warmer or teller treatment than under Mahomed
Ali's roof. Every want of mine is anticipated. The dominant thought of every one of his household
is to make me and mine happy and comfortable. Doctors Ansari and Abdur Rehman have
constituted themselves my medical advisers. They examine me daily. I have had many a happy
occasion in my life. This is no less happy than the previous ones. Bread is not everything. I am
experiencing here the richest love. It is more than bread [or me.
" It has been whispered that by going so much with Mussalman friends, I make myself unfit to
know the Hindu mind. The Hindu mind is myself. Surely I do not live amidst Hindus to know the
Hindu mind when every fibre of my being is Hindu. My Hinduism must be a very poor thing if it
cannot flourish under influences the most adverse. I know instinctively what is necessary for
Hinduism. But I must labour to discover the Mussalman mind. The closer I come to the best of
Mussalmans,the juster I am likely to be in my estimate of the Mussalmans and their doings. I am
striving to become the best cement between the two communities. My longing is to be able to
cement the two with my blood, if necessary. But, before I can do so, I must prove to the
Mussalmans that I love them as well as I love the Hindus. My religion teaches me to love all
equally. May God help me to do so I My fast among other things is meant to qualify me for
achieving that equal and selfless love.
called the Muslims to account even when they have been guilty of gross crimes against Hindus.
It is a notorious fact that many prominent Hindus who had offended the religious susceptibilities of
the Muslims either by their writings or by their part in the Shudhi movement have been murdered
by some fanatic Musalmans. First to suffer was Swami Shradhanand, who was shot by Abdul
Rashid on 23rd December 1926 when he was lying in his sick bed. This was followed by the
murder of Lala Nanakchand, a prominent Arya Samajist of Delhi. Rajpal, the author of the Rangila
Rasool, was stabbed by llamdin on 6th April 1929 while he was sitting in his shop. Nathuramal
Sharma was murdered by Abdul Qayum in September 1934. It was an act of great daring. For
Sharma was stabbed to death in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sind where he was
seated awaiting the hearing of his appeal against his conviction under Section 195, 1. P. C., for the
publication of a pamphlet on the history of Islam. Khanna, the Secretary of the Hindu Sabha, was
severely assaulted in 1938 by the Mahomedans after the Session of the Hindu Maha Sabha held in
Ahmedabad and very narrowly escaped death.
This is, of course, a very short list and could be easily expanded. But whether the number of
prominent Hindus killed by fanatic Muslims is large or small matters little. What matters is the
attitude of those who count, towards these murderers. The murderers paid the penalty of law where
law is enforced. The leading Moslems, however, never condemned these criminals. On the
contrary, they were hailed as religious martyrs and agitation was carried on for clemency being
shown to them. As anillustration of this attitude, one may refer to Mr. Barkat Alli, a Barrister of
Lahore, who argued the appeal of Abdul Qayum. He went to the length of saying that Qayum was
not guilty of murder of Nathuramal because his act was justifiable by the law of the Koran. This
attitude of the Moslems is quite understandable. What is not understandable is the attitude of Mr.
Gandhi.
Mr. Gandhi has been very punctilious in the matter of condemning any and every act of violence
and has forced the Congress, much against its will to condemn it. But Mr. Gandhi has never
protested against such murders. Not only have the Musalmans not condemned 26[f.26] these
outrages but even Mr. Gandhi has never called upon the leading Muslims to condemn them. He has
kept silent over them. Such an attitude can be explained only on the ground that Mr. Gandhi was
anxious to preserve Hindu-Moslem unity and did not mind the murders of a few Hindus, if it could
be achieved by sacrificing their lives.
This attitude to excuse the Muslims any wrong, lest it should injure the cause of unity, is well
illustrated by what Mr. Gandhi had to say in the matter of the Mopla riots.
The blood-curdling atrocities committed by the Moplas in Malabar against the Hindus were
indescribable. All over Southern India, a wave of horrified feeling had spread among the Hindus of
every shade of opinion, which was intensified when certain Khilafat leaders were so misguided as
to pass resolutions of " congratulations to the Moplas on the brave fight they were conducting for
the sake of religion". Any person could have said that this was too heavy a price for Hindu-Moslem
unity. But Mr. Gandhi was so much obsessed by the necessity of establishing Hindu-Moslem unity
that he was prepared to make light of the doings of the Moplas and the Khilafats who were
congratulating them. He spoke of the Moplas as the " brave God-fearing Moplas who were fighting
for what they consider as religion and in a manner which they consider as religious ". Speaking of
the Muslim silence over the Mopla atrocities Mr. Gandhi told the Hindus:
" The Hindus must have the courage and the faith to feel that they can protect their religion in spite
of such fanatical eruptions. A verbal disapproval by the Mussalmans of Mopla madness is no test of
Mussalman friendship. The Mussalmans must naturally feel the shame and humiliation of the
Mopla conduct about forcible conversions and looting, and they must work away so silently and
effectively that such a thing might become impossible even on the part of the most fanatical among
them. My belief is that the Hindus as a body have received the Mopla madness with equanimity and
that the cultured Mussalmans are sincerely sorry of the Mopla's perversion of the teaching of the
Prophet"
The Resolution 27[f.27] passed by the Working Committee of the Congress on the Mopla
atrocities shows how careful the Congress was not to hurt the feelings of the Musalmans.
" The Working Committee places on record its sense of deep regret over the deeds of violence done
by Moplas in certain areas of Malbar, these deeds being evidence of the fact that there are still
people in India who have not understood the message of the Congress and the Central Khilafat
Committee, and calls upon every Congress and Khilafat worker to spread the said message of
non-violence even under the gravest provocation throughout the length and breadth of India.
" Whilst, however, condemning violence on the part of the Moplas, the working Committee desires
it to be known that the evidence in its possession shows that provocation beyond endurance was
given to the Moplas and that the reports published by and on behalf of the Government have given
a one-sided and highly exaggerated account of the wrongs done by the Moplas and an
understatement of the needless destruction of life resorted to by the Government in the name of
peace and order.
" The Working Committee regrets to find that there have been instances of so-called forcible
conversion by some fanatics among Moplas, but warms the public against believing in the
Government and inspired versions. The Report before the Committee says:
" The families, which have been reported to have been forcibly converted into Mahomedanism,
lived in the neighbourhood of Manjeri. It is clear that conversions were forced upon Hindus by a
fanatic gang which was always opposed to the Khilafat and Non-co-operation Movement and there
were only three cases so far as our information goes. ' "
The following instances of Muslim intransigence, over which Mr. Gandhi kept mum are recorded
by Swami Shradhanand in his weekly journal called the Liberator. Writing in the issue of 30th
September 1926 the Swamiji says :
" As regards the removal of untouchability it has been authoritatively ruled several times that it is
the duty of Hindus to expiate for their past sins and non-Hindus should have nothing to do with it
But the Mahomedan and the Christian Congressmen have openly revolted against the dictum of Mr.
Gandhi at Vaikorn and other places. Even such an unbiased leader as Mr. Yakub Hassan, presiding
over a meeting called to present an address to me at Madras, openly enjoined upon Musalmans the
duty of converting all the untouchables in India to Islam. "
But Mr. Gandhi said nothing by way of remonstrance either to the Muslims or to the Christians.
In his issue of July 1926 the Swami writes :
" There was another prominent fact to which I drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi. Both of us
went together one night to the Khilafat Conference at Nagpur. The Ayats (verses) of the Quran
recited by the Maulanas on that occasion, contained frequent references to Jihad and killing of the
Kaffirs.But when I drew his attention to this phase of the Khilafat movement, Mahatmaji smiled
and said, ' They are alluding to the British Bureaucracy '. In reply I said that it was all subversive of
the idea of non-violence and when the reversion of feeling came the Mahomedan Maulanas would
not refrain from using these verses against the Hindus. "
The Swami 's third instance relates to the Mopla riots. Writing in the Liberator of 26th August
1926 the Swami says :
"The first warning was sounded when the question of condemning the Moplas for their atrocities on
Hindus came up in the Subjects Committee. The original resolution condemned the Moplas
wholesale for the killing of Hindus and burning of Hindu homes and the forcible conversion to
Islam. The Hindu members themselves proposed amendments till it was reduced to condemning
only certain individuals who had been guilty of the above crimes. But some of the Moslem leaders
could not bear this even. Maulana Fakir and other Maulanas, of course, opposed the resolution and
there was no wonder. But I was surprised, an out-and-out Nationalist like Maulana Hasrat Mohani
opposed the resolution on the ground that the Mopla country no longer remained Dar-ul-Aman but
became Dar-ul-Harab and they suspected the Hindus of collusion with the British enemies of the
Moplas. Therefore, the Moplas were right in presenting the Quran or sword to the Hindus. And if
the Hindus became Mussalmans to save themselves from death, it was a voluntary change of faith
and not forcible conversionâWell, even the harmless resolution condemning some of the Moplas
was not unanimously passed but had to be accepted by a majority of votes only. There were other
indications also, showing that the Mussalmans considered the Congress to be existing on their
sufferance and if there was the least attempt to ignore their idiosyncracies the superficial unity
would be scrapped asunder. "
The last one refers to the burning of the foreign cloth started by Mr. Gandhi. Writing in the
Liberator of 31st August 1926 the Swamiji says:
" While people came to the conclusion, that the burning of foreign cloth was a religious duty of
Indians and Messrs. Das, Nehru and other topmost leaders made bon-fire of cloth worth thousands,
the Khilafat Musalmans got permission from Mahatmaji to send all foreign cloth for the use of the
Turkish brethren. This again was a great shock to me. While Mahatmaji stood adamant and did not
have the least regard for Hindu feelings when a question of principle was involved, for the Moslem
dereliction of duty, there was always a soft corner in his heart "
In the history of his efforts to bring about Hindu-Moslem unity mention must be made of two
incidents. One is the Fast, which Mr. Gandhi underwent in the year 1924. It was a fast of 21 days.
Before undertaking the fast Mr. Gandhi explained the reasons for it in a statement from which the
following extracts are taken:
" The fact that Hindus and Musalmans, who were only two years ago apparently working together
as friends, are now fighting like cats and dogs in some places, shows conclusively that the
non-co-operation they offered was not non-violent. I saw the symptoms in Bombay, Chauri Chaura
and in a host of minor cases. I did penance then. It had its effects protanto. But this Hindu-Muslim
tension was unthinkable. It became unbearable on hearing of the Kohat tragedy. On the eve of my
departure from Sabarmati for Delhi, Sarojinj Devi wrote to me that speeches and homilies on peace
would not do. I must find out an effective remedy. She was right in saddling the responsibility on
me. Had I not been instrumental in bringing into being the vast energy of the people? I must find
the remedy if the energy proved self-destructive.
* * *
" I was violently shaken by Amethi, Sambhal and Gulbarga. I had read the reports about Amelhi
and Sambhal prepared by Hindu and Musalman friends. I had learnt the joint finding of Hindu and
Musalman friends who went to Gulbarga. I was writhing in deep pain and yet I had no remedy. The
news of Kohal set the smouldering mass aflame. Something had got to be done. I passed two nights
in restlessness and pain. On Wednesday I knew the remedy. I must do penance.
"It is a warning to the Hindus and Musalmans who have professed to love me. If they have loved
me truly and if I have been deserving of their love, they will do penance with me for the grave sin
of denying God in their hearts.
" The penance of Hindus and Mussalmans is not falling but retracting their steps. It is true penance
for a Mussalman to harbour no ill-will for his Hindu brother and an equally true penance for a
Hindu to harbour none for his Mussalman brother.
" I did not consult friendsânoteven Hakim Saheb who was close with me for a long lime on
Wednesdayânot Maulana Mahomed Ali under whose roof I am enjoying the privilege of
hospitality.
"But was it right for me to go through the last under a Mussalman roof? (Gandhi was at that time
the guest of Mr. Mahomed Ali at Delhi). Yes, it was. The fast is not born out of ill-will against a
single soul. My being under a Mussalman roof ensures it against any such interpretation. It is in the
fitness of things that this fast should be taken up and completed in a Mussalman house.
" And who is Mahomed Ali ? Only two days before the fast we had a discussion about a private
matter in which I had told him what was mine was his and what was his was mine. Let me
gratefully tell the public that I have never received warmer or teller treatment than under Mahomed
Ali's roof. Every want of mine is anticipated. The dominant thought of every one of his household
is to make me and mine happy and comfortable. Doctors Ansari and Abdur Rehman have
constituted themselves my medical advisers. They examine me daily. I have had many a happy
occasion in my life. This is no less happy than the previous ones. Bread is not everything. I am
experiencing here the richest love. It is more than bread [or me.
" It has been whispered that by going so much with Mussalman friends, I make myself unfit to
know the Hindu mind. The Hindu mind is myself. Surely I do not live amidst Hindus to know the
Hindu mind when every fibre of my being is Hindu. My Hinduism must be a very poor thing if it
cannot flourish under influences the most adverse. I know instinctively what is necessary for
Hinduism. But I must labour to discover the Mussalman mind. The closer I come to the best of
Mussalmans,the juster I am likely to be in my estimate of the Mussalmans and their doings. I am
striving to become the best cement between the two communities. My longing is to be able to
cement the two with my blood, if necessary. But, before I can do so, I must prove to the
Mussalmans that I love them as well as I love the Hindus. My religion teaches me to love all
equally. May God help me to do so I My fast among other things is meant to qualify me for
achieving that equal and selfless love.