GANDHI HIS LIFE AND THOUGHT Builders of Modern India GANDHI HIS LIFE AND THOUGHT J.B, KRIPALANI PUBLICATIONS DIVISION MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING GOVERNMENT OF INDIA August 197O (Sravana 1892) <c) PUBLICATIONS DIVISION Price Rs.8-00 PUBLISHED BY THE DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS DIVISION MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING* DELHI-! GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 9 PATIALA HOUSE, NEW Regional offices : BOTAWALA CHAMBERS, SIR PHERCXZESHAH MEHTA ROAE>, Bombay -1 AKASHVANI BUAVAN Calcutta-l SHASTRI BHAVAN, 35, HADDOWS ROAD, ]Madras-6 Printed by R. K, Jain at Today & Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers, 1 1/7 Milestone, Faridabad, India ABOUT THE SERIES The object of this series is to record, for the present and future generations, the story of the struggles and achievements of the eminent sons and daughters of India who have been mainly instru- mental in our national renaissance and the attainment of indepen- dence. Except in a few cases, such authoritative biographies have not been available. The biographies are planned as handy volumes written by knowledgeable people and giving a brief account, in simple words, of the life and activities of the eminent leaders and of their times. They are not intended either to be comprehensive studies or to replace the more elaborate biographies. The work of writing these lives has to be entrusted to different people. It has, therefore, not been possible to publish the bio- graphies in a chronological order. It is hoped, however, that within a short period all eminent national personalities will figure in this series. Sri R. R. Diwakar is the General Editor of the series. PREFACE three ABOUT years ago, Sri U.S. Mohan Rao, the then Director,, Publications Division, invited me to write a short biography of Gandhiji. I presumed that he wanted from me a booklet of some sixty pages or so. Many years ago I had prepared for All India Radio a short sketch of Gandhiji's life which the authori- ties wanted to translate for being broadcast in Persian. Hoping to brush it up and give it to the Publications Division, I thought no more of it. On the Division reminding me of my promise some six months later, I discovered that something more ambitious was expected of me. I had very little leisure then. I had to fight two elections to the Lok Sabha in about three months' time. It is my fate that I succeed only in by-elections. After the elec- tion I set to work on the task I had undertaken. But I found it stupendous, considering the handicaps from which I suffered. A life of Gandhiji which would do some justice to his unique personality, his ideas and his novel technique of fight to redress political wrongs and injustice, national and international, required the pen of a great and powerful writer. All my writings so far had been of a polemical character, occasioned by political con- troversies. These increased as the struggle for the freedom of the motherland became more serious and urgent under Gandhi- ji's leadership of the Congress and the people. Having joined Gandhiji during his satyagraha in Champaran (Bihar) in 1917 and having made a painful effort to understand his philosophy of life and his new technique, I often tried to defend his ideas, so far as I could, against attacks from the advocates of constitu- tional agitation, when India had no democratic constitution by which the Government could be changed. I had also to defend his ideas against the so-called "scientific" socialists, who held that freedom and socialism could be achieved in India simul- taneously ! I had also to explain to the sceptics the value of the constructive programme and the scientific nature of Gandhi- ji's new scheme of Basic Education. But a full-length biography Vlll GANDHI : HIS LIFE AND THOUGHT of Gandhiji was beyond my capacity. The available matter was so voluminous, varied and valuable that it was difficult to pick and choose. I have, however, in this book, tried to do my best. I am conscious that many events of significance must have been left untouched. To add to my difficulties, I was told that the volume would be issued in connection with Gandhiji's centenary celebrations and must, therefore, be ready by the beginning of October 1969. It is true that I was almost the first, if not the very first, person, interested in the political life of the country and its freedom, to meet Gandhiji when in the beginning of 1915 he finally came to India. It was natural to expect that in the course of over thirty years* association with him I must have collected a good deal of material which I would record and which would be of interest to the reader. But my contact with Gandhiji was not as intimate as was generally believed. Even though after Champaran, I lived for five years in close proximity to him at the Sabarmati Ash- ram, when I was the Acharya (Principal) of his premier educa- tional institution, the Gujarat Vidyapith, I did not meet him often. When I met him, I did so only to enquire after his health. He was a busy man, and I too had little leisure from the task of putting into shape the scheme of national education. I often accompanied him during his tours and organised some of them. Yet my contact with him was more political than per- sonal. I had never cultivated the habit of referring my private difficulties to him. I had learnt that as he solved his problems by himself, so must I. I never had any private talks with him as other leaders had, notably Jawaharlal. I did not encourage Gandhiji's habit of playing the father confessor to the inmates of his Ashram and to those who came in intimate contact with him. I had an idea that some of them confessed their real or imaginary sins in order to win his confidence. As a matter of fact, I had rarely a personal problem. I never indulged in long correspondence with him. Whenever I had something to ask, I wrote to his Secretary, Mahadevbhai, who was a dear friend. I have no copies of the few letters that I must have exchanged with Gandhiji. Having once been mixed up with revolutionaries, I had made it a habit to destroy all correspondence, as soon as PREFACE IX I had done with it. For the same reason I did not maiatain a diary. Hence I could not give an intimate personal picture of Gandhiji. The present attempt to write a biography of Gandhiji must be considered a joint product of many hands. The chief among them is Sucheta, who helped me in collecting and putting toge- ther the material. I had invaluable help from Pyarelal and Prof. K. Swaminathan who read through the final draft. The services of Sri K.N. Vaswani and Sri K.P. Goswami of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi were made available to me by the former Director, Sri Shankar Dayal. In preparing the final draft, I was also helped by Sri C.L. Bhardwaj, Director of the Publica- tions Division, and Sri R.M. Bhatt of the same department. The last complicated portion of the narrative was finalised with the help of my nephew, Girdhari. These friends worked overtime to help me with collection and arrangement of the material. My thanks are due to them all. But the opinions expressed in the book are my own. I alone must be held responsible for them. I have divided the book into two parts, one narrating the events of Gandhiji' s life, the other dealing with his thought. I have tried as much as possible to keep my person out of the narration. Where I have talked of myself, I have done so for historical rea- sons. Also in that light must be taken my criticism of my dear friends, who played an important role at great sacrifice and with much ability in the glorious freedom fight of our country. It must be understood that my criticism does not take away anything from my great admiration and even respect for them. I believe that Gandhiji today is regarded by many the world over as one of the Great Teachers, whose thought is for the whole of humanity and for all time to come, so far as one can see. Though he believed that "truth and non-violence are as old as the hills", yet even so a world teacher, when he keeps old values before humanity, gives them a new significance and a new depth of meaning. Christ said that he had come to "fulfil the law and not to destroy it'*. But the law can be truly fulfilled only when its scope is deepened and widened to meet new situa- tions. I believe that is the real contribution of Gandhiji. He has re-stated truth and non-violence to cover new ground, for X GANDHI t HIS LIFE AND THOUGHT which there are only slight hints in the old dispensations of the world. May I request the reader to be a little indulgent to the present writer ? My power to interpret correctly Gandhiji's thought is strictly limited. I might have made great blunders. But I can assure him that I have written as I have felt. I have also described events as they occurred according to my knowledge* I have tried to be as objective as possible. I have not consciously twisted facts to suit any purpose. It is possible that my com- ments have been unconsciously coloured by my personal opinions and even prejudices about men aad events.