MAHATMA GANDHI

Gandhi was the one of the tallest leaders of the 20th century. He was a prolific writer and nearly one hundred volumes of complete works of Gandhi have been published by the Government of India. His own secretaries Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal wrote a number of volumes on their association with the Mahatma. The number of books and articles written on him by foreigners and other Indians would also run into hundreds, if not more. The Government of India, mostly ruled by the Congress Party since 1947, has highlighted two things about Gandhi: (a) Gandhi brought Independence to the country through non-violent Satyagraha; and (b) that Gandhi was a Mahatma in the true Hindu tradition.

Both those perceptions propagated by the Congress Party are flawed. They do not stand the scrutiny of any independent analysis of what Gandhi himself and his associates wrote and what other Indian and Western scholars have commented. There are a number of myths associated with Gandhi which have created a wrong impression on the peoples mind.

The crucial period which determined the withdrawal of the British from India is the commencement of the Quit India movement launched by Gandhi in 1942. This was considered as a call for rebellion made by Gandhi against the British. The most important source for the period 1942-47 are the 12 volumes on Constitutional relations between Britain and India, entitled The Transfer of Power, 1942-47 edited by Nicholas Mansergh and Penderel Moon (London : HMSO)1970-83. 

Gandhi On Satyagrah

In August, 1906, the Govt. of South Africa published the Asiatic Land Amendment Ordinance which required every Indian over eight years of age to submit to finger printing and receive a certificate of registration to be carried by him at all times and produce it on demand. At the meeting held at the Empire Theatre at Johannesburg on 11 September 1906, the launch of movement for passive resistance against these measures was announced. Gandhi declared that he would prefer to die rather than submit to the law. Gandhi termed this movement as Satyagraha meaning "firmness for truth" a "truth force". Gandhi, on his visit to England, was able to persuade the British not to approve the Ordinance. The Govt. of Transval however passed it into an Act in July 1907 soon after it was granted self government in January 1907.

During his second term in jail, Gandhi was informed that his wife Kasturba was seriously ill. He wrote back a letter to Kasturba which inter-alia shows how self centered Gandhi was:Time and again I have told you that you may quietly breath your last with faith in God. If you die, even that death of yours will be a sacrifice to the cause of Satyagraha. My struggle not merely is political, it is religious and therefore quite pure (page 193, The Life & Death of Mahatma Gandhi by Robert Payne, New York 1969). The doctors had suggested non-vegetarian diet for Kasturba. Gandhi flatly refused and suggested vegetarian food. On this Kasturba's reaction was significant. She told Gandhi "You are too obstinate". Gokhale had also said the same thing : "you will listen to no one".

General Smuts was in power during most of the time Gandhi had waged his campaigns for the abolition of the 3 Pound tax, recognition of monogamous marriages, issue and recognition of domicile certificates to Indians etc. Towards the end of Gandhi's stay in South Africa they had come to know one another better. This is what General Smuts wrote many years later about Gandhi: His method was deliberately to break the law and organize his followers into a mass movement of passive resistance in disobedience to the law objected to Nor was the personal touch wanting, for nothing in Gandhi's procedure is without a peculiar personal touch. In gaol he had prepared for me a very useful pair of sandals which he presented to me when he was set free. 

Gandhi's eight year struggle had come to a successful end. He sailed for India via England in 1915 and never saw South Africa again. Gandhi was awarded the Kaiser-e-Hind gold medal because of his achievements on behalf of Indians in South Africa.

Gandhi's fight for India's Independence

Gandhi had lived for nearly 26 years abroad, in England and South Africa before he appeared on the political horizon of India in 1915. In South Africa he fought for the rights of Indians - Hindu, Muslim and others - their number would not have exceeded a lakh or so. He adopted non-violent means to get their demands accepted by the White rulers. He was successful to a considerable extent. On coming to India, he adopted the same instruments to drive out the British. Since his knowledge about Islam and the Muslim mindset and the rise of Muslim League was negligible, he went on appeasing the Muslims in order to get their cooperation. Gandhi, a votary of truth turned the history of India upside down. To him, only the British were the enemy of India. Hindu and Muslims were Bhai Bhai. He gave the slogan Ram-Rahim ek hai.

Indian National Congress: 1885-1915 : 

For nearly three decades, that is, between the founding of the Congress in 1885 till about 1905 the organization had functioned under the guidance of leaders like Gopal Krishan Gokhale, Dadabhai Naoroji and Ferozeshah Mehta who believed in offering only a critique of Government policies. In 1907, a split took place whereby Bal, Pal and Lal formed a "New Party" which believed in direct confrontation with the British.

Gandhi's Innovation :

Gandhi, however, believed that India required total moral and spiritual regeneration. Gandhi had written the Hind-Swaraj during his journey from England to South Africa. In it he had declared that India needed to return to a simple village life. With financial help from Gujarati mill owners he set up an Ashram on the banks of the river Sabarmati near Ahmedabad. Under Gandhi's leadership, Congress was transformed from a club of India's civilized elite into a populist political entity. Gandhi took full advantage of the acts of commission and omission committed by the British rulers and launched his campaign of boycott of British goods in 1919. In 1920 he launched his Satyagraha. 

There is no doubt the causes for which he started the campaigns - abolition of salt tax, treatment of Indigo planters in Bihar, mill workers in Ahmedabad - were completely justified. It, however, needs to be pointed out that all his campaigns eventually led to violence and death of common people. 

Khilafat Movement : 

The nationwide Satyagraha of 1920-21 was launched to save Turkish Sultan and the Caliphate of Sunni Islam. Alongwith this Gandhi had declared that he would obtain Swaraj within one year. Lord Reading, the Viceroy, put the Congress agitators including Gandhi into prison. By February 1922 Gandhi, however, withdrew the agitation as 22 policemen in Chauri Chaura were burnt to death by the Satyagrahis. 

The failure of the Khilafat movement had led to Moplah riots in Malabar. In the words of Sir Sankaran Nair : for sheer brutality on Hindu women, I do not remember in history to match the Malabar rebellion. Mrs. Annie Besant after her visit to the area wrote :It would be well if Mr. Gandhi could be taken into Malabar to see with his own eyes the ghastly horrors which have been created by the preaching of himself and his loved brothers Muhammad and Shaukat Ali. When asked, Gandhi described the Moplahs, the killer of the Hindus, as God fearing brave Muslims.

Hindu heroes were misguided patriots :

In Young India of April, 1925 he called Guru Gobind Singh, Rana Pratap, Shivaji and Ranjit Singh as misguided patriots in the context of his theory of non-violence. It is well known that these Hindu heroes had sacrificed their lives in throwing out the Muslims from India. The votary of non-violence evidently saw no objection in a Muslim using non-violence. He used his theory as an excuse for criticising Hindu heroes and thereby appeasing the Muslims.

Abdul Rashid : Murderer, Brother of Gandhi

On 23 December, 1926 one Abdul Rashid killed Swami Shraddhananda in Delhi. The Swami was recovering from illness and was in bed. Abdul Rashid entered his room and killed the Swami with a dagger. Swami was one of the followers of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and had successfully implemented the Shuddhi (purification) programme. Since 90 per cent of Muslims in India are converts, anyone wishing to re-convert had to undergo purification before being readmitted to Vedic society. Earlier, in 1923 Muslims had started movements called Tanzeem and Tabligh in order to organize Muslims as a virile community. When the condolence resolution was discussed at the Guwahati session of the Congress in 1926, Gandhi, in the words of Pattabhi Sitaramayya said: Now you will perhaps understand why I have called Abdul Rashid, a brother and I repeat it. I do not even regard him as guilty of Swami's murder.

The British rulers, of course, sentenced him to death.

Dr. Ambedkar's observations : 

Between 1920 and 1940, there were communal riots all over the country. In most cases, Hindus suffered the most. Gandhi, however, was completely unmoved. Seeing Gandhi's attitude, Dr. Ambedkar wrote : Such is the record of Hindu Muslim relationship from 1920-40. Placed side by side with the frantic efforts made by Mr. Gandhi to bring about Hindu Muslim unity, the record makes most painful and heart rending reading. It would not be much exaggeration to say that it is a record of twenty years of civil war between the Hindus and the Muslims in India, interrupted by brief intervals of armed peace. 

Quit India :

Come 1942 and Gandhi launched the biggest mass civil disobedience movement called the "Quit India". The second World War was on and the British were locked in a life and death struggle. The mission led by Sir Stafford Cripps had failed to meet the demands of the Congress Party. Gandhi had described its proposal as post dated cheque on a failing bank. Gandhi wrote: My firm opinion is that the British should leave India now in an orderly manner and not run the risk that they did in Singapore, Malaya and Burma. The Quit India resolution as drawn up by Gandhi was debated and finally left without any substantial changes. Addressing the Congress Working Committee at Bomaby, Gandhi said : Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: Do or Die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt This is open rebellion. Gandhi wrote in the Harijan : Leave India to God. If that is too much, then leave her to anarchy. 

As expected, the British promptly arrested all including Gandhi. Gandhi and his immediate entourage were sent to Aga Khan Palace at Poona. The government let loose a reign of terror. The official reports showed that several hundred people had been killed and whipping was revived. Some five thousand people were detained without trial. In a telegram sent on 31st August 1942, Lord Linlithgow, the Viceroy told Churchill, the Prime Minister of England that : I am engaged here in meeting by far the most serious rebellion since that of 1857, the gravity and extent of which we have so far concealed from the world for reasons of military security.

Gandhi had lost pre-eminence 

The fact of the matter is that Gandhi had become irrelevant after the failure of the Round Table Conference, 1930-32. Gandhi, thereafter, was at best the leader of the Hindus; all other communities had disowned his leadership. Another fact is that the British left India because they seriously felt that in the event of a civil war, the lives of the British in India would be at risk. Furthermore, the British did not see an end to communal riots between Hindus and Muslims till India is divided. Their fear came true when Muslims resorted to indiscriminate killing of the Hindus during the Direct Action of 16 August 1946, at Calcutta.

Gandhi during his political leadership did an irreparable harm to the Hindu cause. Hindus for generations to come will continue to pay for Gandhi's arrogance and stubbornness.

Muslim view of Gandhi 

Maulana Muhammad Ali was a great friend of Gandhi. True to his religion he said the following about Mahatma Gandhi : "However pure Gandhi's character may be, he must appear to me from the point of view of religion inferior to any Mussalman even though he be without character". He repeated the same thing later: "Yes, according to my religion and creed, I hold an adulterous and a fallen Mussalman to be better than Mr. Gandhi".

Mahatma On Brahmacharya

During the Zulu rebellion of 1906, Gandhi offered his services to the British. He raised a small ambulance corps consisting 20 men. British gave Gandhi the rank of a Sergeant Major. There was, however, not much work to do either for Gandhi or for his men. His ambulance was utilized to attend to the Zulus who had been injured during the hostilities. It is at this point of time that the idea of abandoning sex altogether flashed Gandhi's mind. In trying to rationalize his decision, he came to the conclusion that : Procreation and the consequent care of children are inconsistent with public service. There is also a view that this decision was motivated by Gandhi's dissatisfaction with the education of his own children. And there was the fear that if chastity is not observed another child might come. Gandhi would also claim that one could live long by maintaining chastity. His poor treatment of his own children stemmed from a disgust at the carnality of their creation, as if he saw in his own sons nothing but the embodiment of the copulatory urge that had to be tamed says Jad Adams at page 280 of the book. Robert Payne is of the view that Gandhi would have been happier if all his sons practiced Brahmacharya (page 381 ibid). Furthermore, Gandhi raged against the physical body and its demands. In his own words : "Body is a filthy mess of bones, flesh and blood and the breath and water that exude from it are full of poison." All said and done Gandhi wished to be free from family burden. 

After a month service, he returned to Phoenix. On 19 July, 1906 Gandhi told his wife that henceforth he would live in perfect chastity. Kasturba did not object. This vow that Gandhi took in 1906 coloured his entire remaining life. His theories of non-violence, ahimsa emerged out of his vow of chastity or brahmacharya. Gandhi described a brahmachari thus :One who never has any lustful intentions, who, by constant attendance upon God, has become proof against conscious or unconscious emissions, who is capable of lying naked with naked women, however beautiful they may be, without being in any manner whatsoever sexually excited."

In the words of the famous biographer, Robert Payne: Gandhi could never escape entirely from the bondage of sexuality, and for the rest of his life he would discuss the sexual instinct with unconcealed horrors and the more horrified he became the more obvious it was that he was still unsure of himself.

While still in Africa in the first decade of the 20th century, Gandhi had commenced experiment on sexuality. In Gandhi's words : I sent the boys reputed to be mischievous and the innocent young girls to bathe in the same spot at the same time. I made the experiment from a belief that boys and girls could thus live together without harm. (Pages 111-112 of Adams's book).

The following narrative is primarily based on Gandhi: Naked Ambition by Jad Adams, Quercus, Great Britain, 2010.

Gandhi's association with Saraladevi Choudhurani : 

On the movement restrictions being relaxed after Amritsar massacre, Gandhi went to Lahore. There he was guest of Saraladevi Choudhrani whose husband, a nationalist, was in jail at that time. She was the niece of Rabindranath Tagore. She was forty seven and Gandhi was fifty years old. Gandhi's close association with the lady led to lots of rumours. Eventually, Gandhi declared : I call her my spiritual wife. A friend commented that it was an intellectual wedding. While staying with her in March 1920, Gandhi wrote : Saraladevi has been showering her love on me in every possible way. When unwell, Gandhi wrote to her : I am no better today. I must confine myself to bed. You still continue to haunt me even in my sleep. Later Gandhi recounted his discussion on polygamy with Saraladevi in the following words : I come into contact with an illiterate woman. Then I meet a woman with a broad, cultural education. Could we not develop a close contact? I said to myself. This was a plausible argument, and I nearly slipped. 
The relationship came to an end when serious objections were raised by Gandhi's son Devdas and Secretary Mahadev Desai

Sushila Nayar' Observations : 

She had been visiting Gandhi since her mother had taken her, aged six, to see him in 1920. As she sat on his lap he told her ;mother to gift the girl to him. Sushila often slept with Gandhi.In a letter written in 1938 to Sushila, Gandhi said : Stupid girl, if you too have experienced desire, it is as well. For then we are both in the same plight and we both ought to be on our guard.After my 69 years the vikara (lust) in you cannot affect me. I burn with my own vikara. Because of my vikara I regard myself as unfit to take service from any woman." This restraint on the part of the Mahatma did not last long and personal services were reinstated. (P.223). Gandhi went on to add : Sushila has been present in the bathroom while I have bathed in the nude and in her absence Kasturba or Prabhavati or Lilavati have attended on me.

Questioned in 1970s, Sushila said : Later on when people started asking questions about his physical contact with women - with Manu ( his grand niece), with Abha (another grand niece), with me, the idea of brahmacharya experiments was developed. (Pages 225-228).

Gandhi's advice to Munnalal Shah: 

This is what Jad Adams writes at page 246 of his book with regard to the marriage of Kanchan with the Ashram manager Munnalal Shah :Gandhi said to Munnalal : "You should not meet alone, nor touch each other. You should not talk with each other, nor work together, or take service from each other. I would advise you to go away for sometime." 

In a letter, Gandhi was to describe to Munnalal how he had obliged Kanchan to sleep with him. "Abha slept with me for hardly three nights. Kanchan slept one night only. Vina's 

sleeping with me might be called an accident. All that can be said is that she slept close to me. Kanchan's case was rather tragic. I did not understand her at all. What Abha or Kanchan told me was this : that she (Kanchan) had no intention whatever of observing Brahmachareya but wished to enjoy the pleasure of sex. She, therefore, stayed only reluctantly, and undressed only for fear of not hurting me. If I remember rightly, she was not with me even for an hour." Mahatma went on to say : If I stop sleeping together for all time it will mean that I have been mistaken. Otherwise why should I stop it? There is a limit to abstaining from it for the sake of my friendsIf I can become a perfect brahmachari thereby would I not be able to contribute more to the welfare of the world?" 

Gandhi's conversation with Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit 

Jawaharlal Nehru had read about Gandhi's satyagrah pledge against the imposition of Rowlett Act and the massacre at Amritsar. However, Motilal and his son had strong difference of opinion on the methods to be adopted against the Government policies. To defuse the situation Motilal invited Gandhi. Gandhi advised Jawaharlal to be patient with his father. 

While at Allahabad Gandhi had also helped in sorting out the difficulties relating to the marriage of Sarup (later Vijaya Lakshmi). She was married to a wealthy Brahmin from Maharastra. The couple went to Gandhi for his blessings. He gave them lecture on the importance of sacrifice for the nation and also urged them to take a vow of chastity. Mrs. Pandit's reply was : Why did you give your permission to our marriage if you thought it was wrong for us to live together as husband and wife. I want a normal married life. Gandhi backed down, writes Jad Adams at page 162 of his book.

Jawaharlal Nehru's comments: 

Nehru commented in 1936 on Gandhi's sexual experiments as unnatural and shocking I think Gandhi is absolutely wrong in this matter it can only lead to frustration, inhibition, neurosis, and all manner of physical and nervous ills. (P.213).

Mahadev Desai's remarks : 

Robert Payne in his book (page 437) says that Mahadev Desai recounts their day to day conversations. Some themes continually recur. Brahmcharya was never far from Gandhi's mindGandhi was continually inventing new arguments in favour of abstinence. Birth control has no place in India. Millions are physically and mentally enfeebled, and if sex is given a loose rein, it will constitute an impossible bar to progress, says Gandhi. He went on to say : As a man sows so should he be ready to reap. If he gratifies his instinct let him bear the burden of children.

Gandhi and Manu : 

In 1946 while touring Noakhali in East Bengal, Gandhi wrote to the father of nineteen year old Manu Gandhi saying he needed her support. She reached Srirampur on 19 December. "Early on the morning of the 20th Bose (Nirmal Kumar, a Professor who acted as an interpreter to Gandhi) entered Gandhi's room and found them in bed together. Gandhi later explained to Bose that they had been discussing a bold and original experiment whose heat will be great." Sometime later, Gandhi said to Manu, "We both may be killed by the Muslims at any time. We must both put our purity to the ultimate test, so that we know that we are offering the purest sacrifices, and we should both start sleeping naked." She acceded. At the end of December, Gandhi told Pyarelal: "She sleeps naked but she sleeps soundly (Pages 255-56). Adams goes on to write that Gandhi had stopped sleeping with Manu at the end of February 1947, but in May he resumed the challenges of chastity (pages 262-263).

By the end of July, 1947 Gandhi was sleeping with both Abha and Manu at the same time. Abha later recalled, "He did ask me to take my clothes off. But, as far as I remember, I usually kept my petticoat and choli on." (P.263)

Devdas, his son, wrote to him that he was on the wrong path. Congress leaders expressed their disapproval.

In June, 1947 while the empire was tottering Gandhi wrote a series of remarkable articles in the Harijan on brahmacharya. In these articles, he expressed his desire to renounce the flesh and all its temptations. He went on to say that for a man dedicated to God it should be possible to lie in bed with the most beautiful women on earth and feel not the slightest desire for her. However, the people of India were less interested in the problems of brahmacharya and ahimsa than in knowing whether they would live or die. (Pages 528-530 of Paynes book).

Postscript

Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer's Comments :

On his meeting with Lord Mountbatten, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, Prime Minister of Travancore State said : Gandhi was a most dangerous, semi-repressed sex maniac. (P.281)

Gandhi on Jinnah : Gandhi connected his physical state with the very survival of a united India. He is reported to have said of his sex trials : If I can master this, I can still beat Jinnah. (P.257)

English view of Gandhi

Lord Willingdon refused to meet Gandhi after Poona Pact on the representation of Harijans in the State Legislatures and the Viceroy's Council. In his words : Gandhi is a sort of Jekyll and Hyde, and while he may have his saint-like side on the other hand he is the most Machiavellian bargaining little political humbug, I have ever come across. 

After the arrest of Gandhi in January 1932, Lord Willingdon remarked that he had to deal with a man who is a mixture of a saint and a bania.

Sir Maurice Hallet: 

Governor of the United Provinces wrote : Gandhi was a fifth columnist or a quisling and we must be very watchful of his activities. Another Governor called Gandhi the Hitler of Indian politics and he needed a cold douche.

Winston Churchill : 

On Lord Irwin agreeing to meet Gandhi in Feb/March 1931, Churchill remarked that Gandhi was a malignant subversive fanatic. He went on to add that it was alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple Lawyer
now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half naked up the steps of the Viceregal Palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor. During one of the cabinet meetings Churchill called Gandhi as traitor who ought to be put back in prison.

Later in a memorable speech Churchill said : I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. He went on to observe : Why should we be apologetic to say that we are prepared to go out at the instance of some jackanapes? Look at the condition even now. An Indian maid with bangles on can travel from Travancore to Punjab all alone without fear of molestation. 

Lord Linlithgow : 

On Gandhi's fast of 9 Feb. 1943 Lord Linlithgow wrote to Churchill on 26 February that Gandhi was the world's most successful humbug The degree of nervous tension and hysteria engineered by all this Hindu hocus pocus is beyond belief. Churchill in turn called Gandhi an old humbug and a rascal. Though Gandhi survived the fast, the British rulers had proposed to issue the following statement in the event of Gandhi's death : The Government of India regret to announce that Mr. Gandhi died while in detention at Poona athours on..from collapse/heart failure following a self-imposed fast.