Gandhi On Gandhi

These mixed feelings are not surprising. Though one of the most venerated figures in history, Gandhi has never been short of detractors. In recent years, doubts and questions about his ideas and his achievements have been aired not only in the drawing rooms of metropolitan towns, but in many an intellectual forum and in the media. Did Gandhi mix religion with politics? Was he responsible in any way for the Partition of India? Why did he fail to prevent the explosion of violence in the subcontinent towards the end of his life? Was there any ambivalence in his attitude towards the caste system and untouchability ? Curiously enough, these questions are not new. In 1983, soon after the phenomenal success of Attenborough's film Gandhi, they figured in an orchestrated campaign of denigration of Gandhi in an influential section of the western press, which provoked me to write Gundhi and His Critics.

Though running to nearly 500 pages, this book does not purport to be a story of Gandhi's life and times. It has been conceived for a specific purpose, an 'inquiry' for the students of Gandhi's life. A seven-page biographical sketch is followed by essays, which debate at length Gandhi's views on particular themes such as nonviolence, religion, race, caste, and the Partition of India. The author brings to bear on his inquiry meticulous research and great diligence. He tries hard to be objective. Indeed, in dealing with Gandhi's opponents and rivals such as Jinnah, Linlithgow and Ambedkar, he shows a measure of generosity which the Mahatma would have appreciated.

In these essays, we have an avalanche of quotations, which makes it a veritable anthology. The narrative moves to and fro, cutting across chronology. It presumes a fair knowledge of Gandhi's career and thought, but it's array of facts and sound judgment should help to dissipate the miasma of prejudice and ignorance which cloud the understanding of some of the critical issues raised by Gandhi's critics.

Not surprisingly, the book gives us intimate glimpses of the Gandhi family. The Mahatma did not have the reputation of an indulgent husband and father. He was hard with his wife and his sons, but he was hardest with himself. However, there was a softer side too in his relationship with his family, and some lighter moments ham been captured in the book.

The longest essay is on the Partition of India. When Gandhi returned to India in 1915, he was hopeful that, having forged Hindu-Muslim unity in his South African struggle, he would be able to repeat the feat in India. However, the problem in his homeland proved more intractable Gandhi's supreme gesture of supporting the Khilafat cause did not achieve its aim either. Thenceforth, there was a stead) journey downhill which is described in the book. In the final phase of the negotiations preceding the Partition, we get a vivid picture of Gandhi's isolation and anguish. His desperate proposal in April 1947, that Jinnah should be invited to form a Muslim League government in India appealed neither to Mountbatten nor to the Congress leadership. The latter had come to the conclusion after the experience of the Interim Government and the communal riots, that no modus vivend with the Muslim League was feasiable. It has been alleged that Nehru, Patel and other Congress leaders were avid for power and were guilty of betraying Gandhi However, it was not the first time that the Mahatma's intuition had clashed with the logic of his colleagues. The proposal was never put to Jinnah, but it is well to recall his response to a similar proposal made by Gandhi in 1942:

"If the British Government accepts the solemn declaration of M K Gandhi and by an arrangement hands over the government of the country to the Muslim League, I am sure that under the Muslim rule non-Muslims would be treated fairly, justly, nay generously, and further the British will he making full amends to the Muslims by restoring the Government of India to them from whom they have taken it."

Rajmohan has done well to dispose of the 'erroneous story' that Mountbatten recorded about the acceptance of the Partition plan by Gandhi. Gandhi's opposition to the division remained till the end, even though his warnings failed to carry conviction to the three parties to the Mountbatten Plan: the British Government, the Muslim League and the Congress, who deluded themselves into thinking in the summer of 1947 that the Partition would bring about lasting peace in the subcontinent.