INDIA
Gandhi Foregoes Independence India's native leaders present a spectacle not unlike a steeplechase.
They are all headed for the same finish line—independence from
Great Britain. At the risk of breaking their necks at the various hurdles,
fences, hedges and ditches interposed along the course by Britain, they
compete for the No. 1 position. Sometimes this competition is so bitter that
they lose sight of the finish and run off the course. Most remarkable single
fact about this strange race: when the running gets hottest, the leading
courser is almost invariably mounted by a tiny, leathery, ascetic man in a
white cotton loincloth. Last week the leaders were bunched at an important
hurdle, and once again the first over was Mohandas K. Gandhi. Last week's barrier was the 53rd session of the All-India' Nationalist
Congress. The meeting was the most important and potentially the most
dangerous to date along the long grind to independence. With Britain
busy at war, many leaders were set to demand immediate, violent,
decisive action. Mohandas Gandhi has always been convinced that India
would eventually get more from Britain by moderation, discussion,
compromise, delay. He argues that dominion status after Europe's war
would be better than the repression which would surely follow an
immediate violent Indian revolt. The Congress was split wide open: the
followers of Mahatma Gandhi on the one hand, the advocates of
activism—ranging all the way from Communists through
middle-of-the-road Moslems to extreme Conservatives—on the other.
The situation was tense because the latter were led by Subhas Chandra
Bose, the only Indian who has come anywhere near successfully opposing
Gandhi. In a specially constructed city of bamboo huts, roofed with waterproofed
hubla nettings, equipped with waterworks and baths, deep in the
malarious, tiger-infested Hazaribagh jungle of Bihar, over 100.000
Congress members had gathered. The site, Ramgarh village, had been
chosen because 20 years' meteorological records showed it to be among
Indian towns least subject to the torrential rains of March. The weather was clear and the Congress track was fast on the afternoon
when Gandhi's first spring put him out in front. He urged the Congress
guiding committee to approve a resolution in favor of delaying civil
disobedience while pressing for independence by negotiation. The
committee obeyed. Saint Gandhi thanked them in a speech bristling with
humility: “I am called Mahatma, but I am an ordinary man. I have
blundered and committed mistakes. … I am perhaps the poorest general
any army ever had. My only wealth is your love. If you don't like me,
remove me, but while I am your leader you must obey me.” Punjah Leader Gopal Singh Himh tried to ride the Mahatma off by an
attack on his behind-the-scenes tactics. “Everyone,” he charged, “is
ready for action except Gandhi. I demand that Gandhi become at least a
four-annas member of Congress [cheapest price of membership]. … If he
wishes to lead Congress he should at least be a member.” The Punjah challenge was quickly checked when another Punjah member,
Sardar Kartar Singh, answered: “Gandhi may not be a four-annas member,
but Gandhi and Congress are identical.”
