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Begins..., Clip no. 001
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On
Gandhi’s seventy-fifth birthday, Sevagram ashram bore a festive
appearance… Greetings poured in on October 2, from all over the
World …Albert Einstein asserted, “generations to come, It may
be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh
and blood walked upon this earth…” |
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002 |
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Accepting
a cheque for eighty lakhs of rupees for the Kasturba Gandhi
National Memorial Trust, Gandhi suggested that the memorial
should take the form of a movement for the education and
economic betterment of women and children in the rural areas in
India… |
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003 |
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The war
was drawing to a close… The members of the congress Working
Committee were released… They journeyed to Simla at lord
Wavell’s invitation to attend a conference of India’s
outstanding politicians and party leaders for considering
constitutional changes in India…
Though
Gandhi was not a delegate, he came to Simla as an observer in
response to the Viceroy's persistent request… |
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004 |
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On June 25
the invitees assembled at Simla…
Vindicating its claim to be a truly national organisation, the
congress did not subscribe to communal parity… On this rock the
conference foundered on July 14… |
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Gandhi
wrote to lord wavell, “ I must not hide from you the suspicion
that the deeper cause is, perhaps, the reluctance of the
official world to part with power…
Gandhi
recorded his convictions on the draft united Nations Charter. “
The exploitation and domination of one nation over another can
have no place in a world striving to put an end to all war…
“The peace
must be just and neither punitive nor vindictive.” |
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006 |
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In August
1945, the horror of the Atom Bomb was loosed on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki… The Second World War was over…
Drawing a
moral from the supreme tragedy of the atom-bomb, Gandhi
reiterated his faith in non-violence. “The atom-bomb had
deadened the finest feeling that has sustained mankind for ages.
It will not be destroyed by counter-bombs even as violence
cannot be by counter-violence”. |
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007 |
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In
December 1945, when the country was busy preparing for the
general elections, Gandhi set out on his tour of Bengal, ravaged
by famine and cyclone. His mind was filled with the grim spectre. |
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008 |
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People
crowded the canal bank to narrate their tales of woes to Gandhi…
He
prescribed to them the spinning wheel, the symbol of the
constructive programme, as a panacea. |
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009 |
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Gandhi
arrived at Madras in January 1946 to attend the silver jubilee
celebrations of the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha.
He
presided over its convocation and distributed certificated to
successful candidates…
He
observed, “It is your dharma to learn Hindustani for the sake of
India’s Swaraj and for the good and welfare of the people of
India…” |
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Throughout
his sojourn in Madras, Gandhi harped on the need for a national
language to achieve unity.
“Only that
language,” he asserted, “which the people of the country will
themselves adopt can become the national language.” |
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In between
the heavy round of engagements, Gandhi laid the foundation stone
of the Harijan industrial School in true mason’s style… and
visited the Constructive Programme exhibition…
He
reiterated that Swaraj could be achieved if people accepted the
constructive Programme.
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012 |
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A special
train carried Gandhi to Madurai… He was on a pilgrimage in the
cause of Untouchability…
On the
way, he addressed the people from the coach and asked for their
prayers and blessings for his mission. |
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013 |
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On
February 3, Gandhi visited the ancient Meenakshi temple at
Madurai which was thrown open to the untouchables as a result of
his long crusade against untouchability…
He was
glad that the desire which he had entertained for years was
fulfilled at last… |
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014 |
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Crowds
continued to surge at all the stoppages during the journey to
Palni…
Unstinted,
they poured their coppers into Gandhi’s beggar’s bowl in the
service of the Harijans. |
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015 |
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At the
vast meeting held at Palni under the shadow of the temple,
strongly condemning the ulcer of untouchability that pervaded
national life, Gandhi argued, “Why should we not all be children
of one Indian family, and further, of one human family?
“When
untouchability is rooted out, no one will consider himself
superior to any other…” |
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On
February 10, 1946 the weekly “Harijan” was revived after a lapse
of three years and a half…
“It is the
fashion”, wrote Gandhi, “to blame nature for famine. Scarcity of
rain is by no means a monopoly of India…
“Everything possible should be done to draw water from the
bowels of the earth… and food should be grown on all cultivable
areas… Dealers must not hoard, nor speculate…
“Cloth
famine can be averted by telling the millions to spin and weave
in their own villages” |
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017 |
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Gandhi
subscribed to the view that all ailments are due to the
violation of nature’s laws and that return to nature is the road
to health…
He opened
the Nature Cure Clinic at Uruli Kanchan, a village near Poona
and examined the patients…
His
prescriptions emphasized use of the five elements of
nature-earth, water, air sun and sky, for he believed that in
simple natural remedies lies the villager’s hope.
Gandhi’s
outlook on nature cure was essentially spiritual. |
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It was
India's hour of destiny…
The
British Labour Government’s delegation consisting of Lord
Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and Mr. A. V. Alexander
arrived in India in March, 1946 to discuss terms for the
transfer of power… |
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019 |
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The
Cabinet Mission began its work by interviewing leading
representatives of the main political parties.
Interviews
followed interviews to arrive at the greatest common measure of
agreement among the different parties… |
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Gandhi
came to Delhi to meet the British Delegation at the request of
Lord Pethick-Lawrence, and lived at the sweepers’ slum…
Day after
day and week after week, the representatives of India poured in
to meet Gandhi, and the obscure little sweepers’ colony became
the venue of many important meetings… |
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Gandhi
remained in touch with the Mission during the progress of the
constitutional negotiation. He declared that he was opposed to
the two-nation theory and made it clear that he was speaking
entirely for himself… |
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In a
discourse Gandhi said, “There is little doubt that India is
about to reach her cherished goal of political independence…Let
the entrance be prayerful…
“Independence of my dream”, wrote Gandhi, “means the kingdom of
God on Earth…” |
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“In
concrete terms, Independence should be political economic and
moral, standing for the removal of the control of the British
army, freedom form the capitalists and capital ensuring equality
between the humblest and the tallest and freedom from armed
defense forces…” |
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Free
India, he hoped, would continue her non-violent policy and
deliver the earth from the burden that was crushing her… |
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Simla was
fixed as the venue for further talks. Abul Kalam Azad…
Jawaharlal Nehru… Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan… and Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel arrived in the first week of May to represent
the Congress viewpoint in the conference.
Gandhi
accepted the delicate role of adviser to the Cabinet Mission and
came to Simla having full faith in the Mission’s intention… |
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The
pourpariers continued at the Viceregal Lodge but the conference
could not achieve an agreement between the Indian National
Congress and the Muslim League and broke up on May 12… |
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After the
failure of the Simla Conference, the Cabinet Mission set forth
its own plan on May 16, rejecting the partition of India on
defense, economic and administrative grounds.
As the
crux of the solution, they recommended a united India and the
setting up of an interim Government to be followed by the
constituent Assembly… |
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Gandhi
compared the Mission’s plan to a promissory note… despite some
vital defects, he saw in it the germs of the realization of his
ideal of ‘a land without sorrow and suffering’ provided it was
genuine and appealed to the people to think of the country and
not of their petty selves, groups or communities. |
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029 |
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A meeting
of the All India Congress Committee was held in July to consider
and ratify the Working Committee decision “that the Congress
should join the proposed Constituent Assembly, with a view to
framing the constitution of a free, united and democratic
India”.
Gandhi
came to guide the committee’s deliberations. |
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030 |
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President
Jawaharlal Nehru urged the people to be united and strong so as
to prepared to face the new problems arising out of the ending
of the foreign regime…
Persuading
the Congress to join the Constituent Assembly, Gandhi asserted,
“It should be a challenge to combat and not a ground for
rejection…” |
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031 |
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Giving a
picture of Independent India of his conception, Gandhi wrote,
“Every village will have to be a republic or ‘Panchayat’ having
full powers… in this non-violent society, life will not be a
pyramid but an oceanic circle whose center will be the
individual always ready to perish for the village…”
He made it
clear that in such a society, every religion would have its full
and equal place… |
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032 |
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A call by
the Muslim League to observe August 16, 1946 as the “Direct
action Day” to protest against the proposed formation of the
interim Government let loose an orgy of violence at Calcutta…
Madness
seized a section of humanity which killed, maimed, and burnt…
The fury
spread burning its way into Noakhali and Tripura-rural areas of
East Bengal…
Then began
an increasing migration of refugees…
Communal
hatred spread to adjoining Bihar and other parts of the country… |
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033 |
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Gandhi
explained their duty to the Ashram inmates. “We should have
rushed into the blaze and offered the purest sacrifice to quench
the flames of the conflagration.” With these words he took their
leave and left for Delhi…
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034 |
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After
prolonged controversy, the Interim Government came into being
with Jawaharlal Nehru as the de facto Prime Minister on
September 2, 1946…
The
Ministers and the members of the Working Committee assembled at
the Sweepers’ slum to seek guidance from Gandhi…] |
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035 |
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Greeting
the new Government, Gandhi described the day as a step towards
full independence and fervently hoped that the salt-tax would be
annulled, that the ministers would live and die for communal
unity, and lead India on the road to truth and purity, and that
the people would cooperate with them in this endeavor… |
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036 |
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Pouring
out his soul’s agony over the dark happenings in the country,
Gandhi bemoaned, “The springs of life in India appear to be dry
today…
The cry of
blood for blood is barbarous…
“Independence of India is today at stake in Bengal and Bihar…
Unless I can stem the violence, life has no attraction for me…”
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037 |
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The cry of
outraged womanhood called him to Bengal and he came to wipe
their tears and put heart into them… |
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038 |
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Gandhi was
on the way to Noakhali “in search of the divine in the maddened
man…” His mission was to establish heart unity between the
sister communities for he regarded all mankind as his kith and
kin and dreaded the consequences of the bisection of India…
To justify
his inheritance man had to return good for evil, he declared and
added, “Love and tolerance between the unlike are greater
virtues than between the likes…” |
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