My Faith – 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

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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My Faith – Mahatma Gandhi

 

A Bangali correspondent who gives his name and address even for publication if necessary has written a long letter which I condense as follows: Much has been said about Bhagat Singh and his comrades, yet even now I find great difficulty in appreciating the wisdom of passing the resolution at the Karachi Congress. I am afraid it will not be possible for me to explain to you properly the different peculiar and surreptitious ways in which your remarks about Bhagat Singh and the Karachi Resolution extolling him are being exploited here by some interested politicians to serve their own purpose and under-mine your influence. 1. They accuse you for the niggardly way in which the resolution had been worded by you.

These people are trying to impress upon the minds of the young men that you really had no sincere sympathy for those unfortunate men and that you gave your support to the resolution and expressed your admiration for Bhagat Singh and his comrades only being prevailed upon by the Navajuvanwallas, whose strong agitation you could not resist, and you wanted to placate Pandit Jawaharlal. 2. They question your integrity and sincerity and try to belittle you (and your cause) by surreptitiously propagating an idea in Bengal that while you gave your active support to the resolution about Bhagat Singh at Karachi you severely criticized the late Deshbandhu Das for his responsibility in carrying out an exactly similar resolution at Faridpur Conference praising Gopinath Saha who lost his life on the gallows under exactly similar circumstances; and in this they say you are not immune from provincial bias. They are taking every opportunity to undermine your influence in Bengal by appealing to the sentiment of local patriotism. They say that many Bengal youths sacrificed their lives even within this very year for the same cause for which Bhagat Singh and his comrades died. Among those who thus died in Bengal there were Benoy Bose and his comrade, there were the Chittagong raiders the twenty-one lads, who died fighting bravely against the British troops on the Jalallabad Hills whose deeds were much more courageous and romantic than you would imagine, but how strange you did not find romance there: not a word of sympathy passed from your lips! The insidious appeal made to their sentiment of local patriotism easily estranges them from you and your path of non-violence.

I have already expressed my doubts as to the propriety of my having drafted and sponsored the Bhagat Singh resolution not because it was wrong in principle but for the misinterpretation it has lent itself to. But the reader must know that it was neither the fear of the Navajuvans nor my love for Pandit Jawaharlal that prompted me to initiate the resolution. Not that I should be ashamed of yielding to Navajuvans or placating Jawaharlal. I should be foolish if I did not yield to Navajuvans, if yielding advanced the interest of the country and involved no sacrifice of principle. And I should go a very long way to please Jawaharlal and retain his affection which I have the privilege of possessing in abundance. But there was no prompting required in this case. I had interested myself in the movement for the commutation of the death sentence on Bhagat Singh and his comrades. I had put my whole being into the task. I had therefore to study the life of the principal actor in the tragedy. I had to come in contact with his devoted father and those who were attached to Bhagat Singh not for his deed but for his character. I was thus drawn to the resolution in the natural course. I am too sensitive not to be moved by circumstances demanding sympathy. Therefore had I found myself impelled to interest myself in any of the Bengali youths and had fancied myself in possession of influence which I could exercise in their behalf, I should have with equal zest plunged myself into their case. I regard myself as incapable of having any provincial bias. Bengal is as dear to me as the Punjab. And I owe a special debt to Bengal for the inspiration it gave me in my youth.

It is true that Deshbandhu and I differed as to the emphasis in the matter of Gopinath Saha resolution. I do not know that my resolution on Gopinath Saha differed in substance from the Karachi Resolution. But the reader should know that whatever our differences, Deshbandhu and I always remained friends. Indeed towards the end of his all too short life, we came much nearer each other even in our ideals and methods of working towards them. I should therefore be sorry to discover that there was any secret propaganda against me in Bengal. I have many precious co-workers in Bengal. I want the number to grow. I know the value of the cooperation of the youth of Bengal. I need it for their sakes, for the sake of the country they love so well, but sometimes, alas, blindly. They must not by their unwarranted prejudice deny themselves the service of a true friend. If I have any influence over the youth of the country, it is a treasure I want to use for gaining the freedom of the motherland. I am therefore glad that my correspondent has given me the opportunity of stating my position. But whether I retain my hold on the youth of Bengal or any other province or I do not, I must proclaim my creed from the house-top. Freedom of India’s starving millions is attainable only through Truth and Ahimsa.

 

Reference:

Young India, 11-6-1931