John Mathai and 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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John Mathai and Mahatma Gandhi

 

John Matthai, Member for Railways and Transport in the Interim Government. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He had taken part in freedom movement. Herewith my file as it is. I see that some papers are missing. But what I send would give you what you need. 1 That is exactly what Dr. Sushila Nayar is doing. She regularly goes to the Purana Quila and to many other places. Today she has gone to Kurukshetra because a new camp has been set up there. People are making arrangements there, but she is a big doctor. Another lady doctor too has accompanied her. Mrs. John Matthai and many others also have gone there. Let us help them as much as we can. 2

Dr. John Matthai who is in charge of the Railways is helpless. He says all the wagons are already in use and are being fully utilized. Then there is a shortage of coal and iron and of staff. Also the producers of sugar keep on raising prices and after all it cannot be carried on one’s head. But though there is a shortage of railway wagons there is motor transport. A motor-truck runs as fast as a train and it does not require steel rails on which to ply. But motor transport requires petrol and petrol is still a controlled article. If the control over petrol is lifted the trucks and Lorries will start plying more easily and haul goods from one place to another. The movement of salt can also become smoother. It is paradoxical that we produce so much salt and there is no tax on it anymore, and yet it is so costly. That is because supplies do not arrive. In my view it has been a mistake to appoint contractors for producing and supplying salt. If petrol is decontrolled trucks can be used for carrying salt and several other things. It does not seem right to decontrol certain articles and continue control over others. When we have adopted decontrol as a policy we must pursue it fully and see what happens. You cannot say there is no petrol in the market. Black-market is flourishing in petrol and it will continue to flourish so long as the control over it is not lifted. I am told that corruption has also increased, that it is necessary to grease the palm of the petroleum officer and it is not a question of a rupee or two but of hundreds of rupees. Petrol is required only by those who run motor transport. The Government should retain what petrol it needs for itself and release the rest to be sold in the open market. Of course even if petrol should become virtually extinct and trains should become immobilized, the country’s affairs will not stop. Only the mode of transport will be changed. We will revert to old ways. I have therefore no fears from the control over petrol being lifted. 3

 

References:

 

1. Letter to John Matthai, September 15, 1946
2. Prarthana Pravachan—I, pp. 433
3. Prarthana Pravachan—II, pp. 224