Mahatma Gandhi’s Interview to Yusuf Heherally

[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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Mahatma Gandhi’s Interview to Yusuf Heherally

 

Q. What part do you expect the youth movement to play in the present struggle?

A. The Youth League can do a great deal. They can supply recruits in large numbers in the civil disobedience campaign. They can, moreover, help to carry the message of independence to every nook and corner of the land. They can usefully picket foreign cloth and liquor shops. Those of its members who are unable to participate actively in the present campaign can render good service in the realm of social reforming, popularizing khaddar and swadeshi articles, in pushing forward prohibition propaganda, etc. Indeed at this juncture great things are expected from the youth of the country and I have no doubt they will fully rise to the occasion.

Q. Will you advise students to leave schools and colleges immediately?

A. Yes. I wish to point out that the present appeal to the students differs from that of 1921. In the latter case, the students were asked to quit their Government-controlled educational institutions and join national educational institutions. The present call is: Suspend your studies and join in the fight for freedom. When victory is won and you happen to be alive, you will resume your studies in schools of our own Government. For to my mind it is a fight to the finish. The greatest service that the youth can now render is to empty schools and colleges and swell the ranks of satyagrahi volunteers.

Q. Would you advise Youth Leagues to call out even those students whose examinations are a month or even a week ahead?

A. Yes. If the students themselves feel the call they should come out at once. As I said, I consider it a fight to the finish. If they have not the faith, they won’t do it.

Q. Would you approve of the suggestion mooted in Youth League circles that the houses of “blackleg” M.L.C.’s who have not resigned their seats and those of selected other officials be picketed, and they be harassed in other ways as much as possible?

A. I should say no. During the N.C.O. days three specific instances of this type came to my notice. They did no good. I know they did harm.

Q. Would you suggest any method by which the Muslims could be still more attracted to the Congress fold and protected from the pernicious propaganda of communalists?

A. The best way to increase Muslim interest in the Congress is for Congressmen to serve them. Convince them that the Congress is as much theirs as anybody else’s. My present programme the breaking of the salt laws should appeal to all the communities in India, for it affects them all alike. I am an optimist. I have no doubt that soon the Congress will stand higher in the affections of the Muslims than it ever did before. The masses are sound at heart. They only require a correct and courageous lead. I repeat that the best way of winning over the Mussalmans is by seeking occasions of service and assuring them that the resolution of the Congress on the communal question means what it says.

Q. In case you are not arrested in the next few days, are the other Provinces not to embark on Satyagraha?

A. If I am not arrested till I reach Jalalpur, I expect that the Provinces will be free to start civil disobedience soon after I have committed the breach of Salt Act.

 

Reference:

The Hindu, 25-3-1930