Reprisal 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

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Reprisal and Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

At Muzaffarpore, on April 30, 1908, Khudiram Bose flung a bomb at Kingsford, the District judge, as an act of political reprisal. The bomb, however, hit a coach carrying two Englishwomen, Mrs. and Miss Kennedy. Both the women and the syce were fatally wounded. Khudiram Bose was subsequently sentenced to death.  Though we live in society, there are matters in which we should not or cannot follow it. Society may punish a thief because it does not believe in non-violence or cannot follow it. But those who seek to follow it in their lives, which have the courage to follow it, should remain neutral [in such cases]. If they do not, they will learn nothing from their effort to follow non-violence and society will make any progress. If this view is correct, you certainly cannot go to the court to give evidence. You should go, however, if you are summoned. In this case, at any rate, you should courteously explain to the magistrate what you think to be your dharma, so that the latter will punish the thief independently of you or may even let him off for want of evidence. So far the course seems clear to me. You have, however, no right to ask for mercy to be shown to the thief. When did you feel compassion for him?

If you had felt it when you found him, you and Gomati would not have felt afraid and run after him. You would have remained unconcerned if he had taken away anything. But we have not risen high enough for this. Fear has not left us or the love of possessions. I, therefore, feel that compassion is out of place, because unnatural. We may strive; we have been striving to cultivate such compassion in us. But so long as compassion has not become a permanent sentiment in us, it cannot be regarded as springing from our heart and, therefore, genuine. If indeed it has become a permanent sentiment in our heart, we should take the thief in our hands, meet him and try to reform him. Nor can the court accede to such a plea for mercy. If the thief himself makes the request and promises to try to reform himself, the court may consider it. The court may accept our request too, if we offer to keep the thief with us so as to prevent him from being a danger to others. I do not feel inclined to go so far and ask for mercy towards him. I have not been able to think of a third alternative besides punishment and mercy. When compassion does not produce as much effect as even punishment, we should understand that it is not genuine or sufficiently strong. I have practically stopped taking interest in the Hindu-Muslim problem because I feel that the compassion in my heart is insufficient or is unnatural. Unnatural does not mean pretended, but only that it has not gone deeper than the intellect. If it had gone deeper than the intellect, I should have been able to discover an alternative to the method of reprisal. But I am not in such a condition as yet. I have been striving hard to cultivate that degree of intense ahimsa in my heart. I must admit that up to the present I have failed. I have not accepted defeat however. I should like to correct an error you have made. I am sure it is due to oversight. You say that the present-day law does not regard theft itself as crime, but that theft is a crime only when the thief is caught; surely it is not as bad as that. You would be right if you said that the thief who was not caught escaped punishment. But then, this must have been so even in the golden age. God alone can visit every theft with punishment, and those who believe in God actually hold that man has to suffer punishment for every transgression. I assume that you mean no more than this. 1

I have come to Borsad as there is a danger of Government reprisal here. With me are Ba, Mirabehn, Mahadev, Pyarelal and a young man from Utkal. We will have to stay here for a few days. I will decide after that. I will have to go either to Mahabaleshwar or Simla or Nainital. I do not foresee my going to Europe. 2 I can give many instances from modern history, and later researches have shown as mere fables many things which at one time were supposed to be gospel truths. It was therefore the duty of institutions like the Commonwealth League to acquire true knowledge about India with reference to the past as well as the present. There is also, I see, a conspiracy of silence with reference to the events happening in India. Barbarities, or, I may say, atrocities have been committed in Chittagong. Chittagong is a most important port and town in Bengal. It has a large population and there were, as there are today, large commercial interests. An officer was assassinated by a Bengali youth of about 16 years. By way of reprisal, shops were looted and atrocities were committed which aroused even men like the Poet Tagore to indignation. Many of you may be aware that as a rule that ailing, infirm man never comes out into the public, but spends his time amidst books and dreams, conducting a unique college and school at Santiniketan, experimenting with so many things. He can ill afford to go out, but he could not possibly rest himself on this occasion. 3

The Viceroy has passed one more Ordinance. Do you know what an Ordinance is? An Ordinance is passed over the head of the Legislature by the Viceroy in exercise of his special jurisdictionary power. This Ordinance gives the widest powers to the police to arrest people without trial and detain them. This is done as if the powers already enjoyed were not enough. I personally think that these fresh powers are not necessary, but the Indian Government, shall I say, goes mad when this kind of terrorism takes place. This is not known as reprisal but as repression. This has commenced now and will continue for long. In spite of the repression, the terrorists have become active, fearless and, I might say, foolhardy. They dare to anything. They have sacrificed life in advance. They think their lives in the service of the country are not worth the purchase. 4 You are mistaken. Why, one Englishman is killed and a whole village is razed to the ground as a reprisal. What vindictiveness! 5

 

References:

 

 

1. Letter to Kishorelal Mashruwala, October 17, 1927
2. Letter to Chhaganlal Gandhi, April 29, 1931
3. Amrita Bazar Patrika, 4-11-1931
4. Amrita Bazar Patrika, 4-11-1931
5. Harijan, 4-8-1946