Blankets for Soldiers – Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

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Blankets for Soldiers – Mahatma Gandhi

 

It is a good augury that votaries of non-violence often raise fine questions of principle. Man advances through such spirit of inquiry, but there is a prerequisite condition to it. The inquiry should not be like that of a person who strains at a gnat and swallows a camel. Raising such questions profit only him who is ever vigilant in major matters and whose practice keeps pace with the progress of the principle. Let me illustrate what I mean. A certain khadi bhandar received an order for woolen blankets from the military. The bhandar authorities asked me whether they could accept it replied that they could. The question of principle raised was whether it did not amount to helping the war. As a matter of abstract principle, it will have to be conceded that the acceptance was a breach. But in that case, we must leave India and every country engaged in the war. Because we help war in purchasing the very food we eat. We do the same when we travel by train or buy postage stamps.

Our use of the currency itself is an aid to war. In fact we are hardly able to do any act which is free from the taint. The truth is that no one is able to act upon a great principle, like that of non-violence, in its entirety. Like the geometrical line, it can only be imagined, but never drawn. In practice, we have to be content with drawing only such fine lines as we can with our instruments. There is no wall which can be called ‘straight’ according to Euclid. And yet, walls have stood the test of time for thousands of years. It is the same with ahimsa. We must put it into practice as best as we can. It would have been easy for me to forbid the sale of the blankets. It was a question of only a few thousand rupees, a small amount for an establishment whose turnover is in lakhs. But the prohibition would have been a matter of shame for me. I could have done so only by concealing my real view of the matter. Where should I draw the line from which such prohibition should commence? If I were a grain merchant, should I decline to sell it to soldiers? Or, if I were a chemist, should I refuse to sell quinine and other drugs to them? If I should, what could be the reason for my doing so? Does my ahimsa prevent me from entertaining such customers? In other words, does it require of me to look into the occupations of my customers? The clear reply is that provided I deal in goods which conduce to the welfare of society, I may not look into the occupations of my customers. This means that I may sell my innocuous articles even to soldiers.  

 

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Khadi Jagat, September 1941