Message for Anti-Untouchabilitty Day by 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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Message for Anti-Untouchabilitty Day by Mahatma Gandhi

 

I hope the message of hope born of the movement for the abolition of untouchability will penetrate Harijan quarters in every village in India on next Sunday which has been fixed by the Central Board for the removal of untouchability. Every Hindu child can do something by way of some little service to his or her Harijan brother or sister in this mass movement of self-purification. I have been listening to discourses of sanatanist friends with respectful attention with a perfectly open mind, and I shall continue to do so as long as they will strive with me with a view to conversion to their interpretation of Hinduism, but the conviction is daily growing upon me that untouchability as it is interpreted and practiced today has no sanction whatsoever in the Hindu Shastras taken as a whole, as they must be taken. There can be no doubt that the present interpretation and practice of untouchability is utterly contrary to every canon of morality. When therefore the evil is banished from our midst, it will be the greatest single act of purification in modern times on the part of caste Hindus. I, therefore, hope that there will be full response to the programme issued by the Central Board. I would invite the sanatani friends not to stand aloof from this movement on the ground that they cannot reconcile themselves to temple-entry. Service of no human being can be contrary to religious precepts; much less can the service of Harijans be contrary to the Hindu religion which regards them as a part of the Hindu society.

There are innumerable acts of kindness that they can perform by way of serving the Harijans who are truly children of God forsaken by us. I have seen a paragraph in newspapers about the fast of one described as Avadhut Swami. It is true that this gentleman wrote to me some letters some months ago. They were, like the many letters that I often receive, long, incoherent and irrelevant. The impression left on me was that the writer of those letters had lost his balance. He said in his letters that he had met me in 1909 or thereabouts. I have no recollection of any such meeting, and I wrote to him to that effect. He never challenged my denial. I have no knowledge of the notice referred to in the Press message as having been received from him when he is supposed to have met me. At that time years ago, there was no question of fast either. Someone telegraphed me a few days ago saying that Avadhut Swami was fasting and would continue to do so, unless I gave up anti-untouchability propaganda. I wired to the sender of the telegram saying that he should wean the Swami from the fast. The movement that I hold as a part of my living faith cannot be abandoned even if a million people fast to make me give it up. To everyone the living faith comes from God, and God alone can turn him from it. 

 

Reference:

 The Bombay Chronicle, 17-12-1932