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Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 98

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Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 98 1. GIVE AND TAKE1 A Sindhi sufferer writes: At this critical time when thousands of our countrymen are leaving their ancestral homes and are pouring in from Sind, the Punjab and the N. W. F. P., I find that there is, in some sections of the Hindus, a provincial spirit. Those who are coming here suffered terribly and deserve all the warmth that the Hindus of the Indian Union can reasonably give. You have rightly called them dukhi,2 though they are commonly called sharanarthis. The problem is so great that no government can cope with it unless the people back the efforts with all their might. I am sorry to confess that some of the landlords have increased the rents of houses enormously and some are demanding pagri. May I request you to raise your voice against the provincial spirit and the pagri system specially at this time of terrible suffering? Though I sympathize with the writer, I cannot endorse his analysis. Nevertheless I am able to testify that there are rapacious landlords who are not ashamed to fatten themselves at the expense of the sufferers. But I know personally that there are others who, though they may not be able or willing to go as far as the writer or I may wish, do put themselves to inconvenience in order to lessen the suffering of the victims. The best way to lighten the burden is for the sufferers to learn how to profit by this unexpected blow. They should learn the art of humility which demands a rigorous self-searching rather than a search of others and consequent criticism, often harsh, oftener undeserved and only sometimes deserved. Searching of self ennobles, searching of others debases. The sufferers should learn the art and virtue of corporate life, in which the circumstance of co-operation is ever widening till at last it encircles the whole human race. If they do this no sufferer will live in isolation. All of them, no matter to which province they belong, will hold together and would be considering not the welfare of self but that of all. This does not mean that all of them will live or insist on living at one place, an impossible feat at any time, more so today, when lakhs upon lakhs of people have been torn from their homes, not knowing where to lay their heads upon. But this humble spirit of co-operation does mean that wherever 1 The Gujarati version of this appeared in Harijanbandhu, 14-12-1947. 2 Vide “Speech at Prayer Meeting”, 25-11-1947. VOL. 98: 6 DECEMBER, 1947 - 30 JANUARY, 1948 1 they are placed, they will feel one with all the sufferers, no matter from what strata of society they are drawn or to which province they belong. Insistence on being accommodated in a particular place of one’s choice there will be none. The sufferers will never grumble. They will disdain to occupy houses belonging to Muslim owners or tenants, whether these places are physically occupied or evacuated. It is for the Government to decide what they will do with property evacuated under abnormal conditions that are prevalent in India today. The sufferers’ one and only care would be to hold together and act as one man. It would be seen that if the idea thus presented takes shape and spreads, the problem of accommodating sufferers, otherwise styled refugees, will become incredibly simple and they will cease to be a menace. Moreover, every sufferer who is not a cripple will do his or her full share of work against bread, clothing and shelter in a becoming manner. Thus they will realize the dignity of labour and feel dependent upon no one. All will be equal to one another irrespective of sex. Some labour will be shared by all, e.g., sanitary work including latrine- cleaning and scavenging. No labour will be considered too low or too high. In this society there will be no room for drones, idlers or loafers. This camp life is any day superior to the city life of dirt and squalor side by side with palaces—difficult to decide which is a greater eyesore between the two. NEW DELHI, December 6, 1947 Harijan, 14-12-1947 2. LETTER TO VALJI G. DESAI December 6, 1947 CHI. VALJI, I read your article on the cinema1 just now. It took me some time to decipher some of the English words which were unfamiliar to me. When you quote from a book, it will perhaps help if you send the book, too. Alternatively, you may get the article typed or write it in a still clearer hand. I would not be able to translate this article into Gujarati. I myself did not follow all the English words fully. You had 1 The article entitled “Reconstitute Film Censor Boards” appeared in Harijan, 14-12-1947. 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI agreed to send the Gujarati and the Hindi translations also. Even if you cannot send the Hindi, send the Gujarati. You may, if you wish, send it directly. I am writing to the people at Ahmedabad not to translate it into Gujarati. As for your previous articles, I am inquiring about them. Are you all right? Blessings from BAPU From the Gujarati original: C. W. 7506. Courtesy: Valji G. Desai 3. SPEECH AT PRAYER MEETING NEW DELHI, December 6, 1947 BROTHERS AND SISTERS, You heard the bhajan and the Ramdhun sung by Subbula- kshmi1. She is new to Delhi. Usually she gives music recitals. One ought to lose oneself while singing bhajans and Ramdhun. Today you must have realized why people are so keen to hear her. She has a melodious voice. I welcomed her message offering to come and sing here. Today I do not wish to take more than 15 minutes. Yesterday I took 25 minutes which was too long. I am ashamed of it. I must train myself to finish within 15 minutes. Today I intend to take only 15 minutes and leave out what cannot be covered within that time. I had a letter from a friend yesterday. I have only been able to read a part of it. I have another letter today which I have not been able to go through. I must ask to be excused. The letter which I have read in part says that I am too simple a man, that I do not know how the world’s affairs are run and am apt to be deceived. The correspondent also explains the nature of the deception and cautions me to be careful. He asks me to see what is happening in Pakistan and suggests that we should do the same here. That we should take revenge I do not agree. We cannot burn the houses of the Muslims. However humble those houses may be they are as dear to their owners as the palaces of millionaires may be to them. It is in these houses that they live. When 1 M. S. Subbulakshmi, eminent exponent of Carnatak music VOL. 98: 6 DECEMBER, 1947 - 30 JANUARY, 1948 3 a Muslim has to go to Pakistan he suffers. The correspondent asks when the displaced Hindus and Sikhs can go back to their homes. I may inform him that so long as they do not go back I shall not rest. It is a different thing if they die before that happens. So long as there is a single Hindu or Sikh left who does not get his house back, I shall not rest. Yes, one may not ask that the house that has been burnt should be restored to its former state. No government can do that, not even the Government of India. I shall say that the Hindus and Sikhs should go to Model Town and stay there. The Lahore Hindus and Sikhs can ask the Pakistan Government to return them their houses and their land just as they are. All that they should ask is that the Muslims who have occupied their properties should be made to vacate them. We cannot ask them to raise houses on the land. They should merely return the land. Those who are now in the Indian Union should become truthful and decent. We must not imitate Pakistan. If they cut off their noses we can’t do the same. I shall further say to the correspondent that if we have made a mistake we must rectify it. Everyone makes mistakes. Only, one must not repeat them. Man is liable to err, even as he has the potentiality to do good. Once he rectifies his mistakes, he can only do good. If we stick to our dharma it is not necessary to advertise it to the world. I have had to write on what happened to Kathiawar Muslims. I did the right thing. It is good to tell the Hindus there about it. It is good to tell the Government. It is our right. When we agreed to the formation of Pakistan we had not bargained for the houses of Hindus and Sikhs being burnt in Pakistan and their being driven out of the country. If mistakes have been made they must be rectified. Of course they can say that we should also rectify our own mistakes. They may say that the Muslims who had gone to Pakistan were driven out of India and that they should be taken back. If that is done the displaced Hindus and Sikhs could go back to Pakistan and the displaced Muslims in Pakistan could come back to India.
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