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Reminiscences
Of Gandhi
Since 1915
- Hansa Mehta
THE first glimpse I had of Gandhiji was in December
1915 when he attended the session of the Indian National Congress held in
Bombay:' He had returned from South Africa in the beginning of that year, and
gave an account of the position of Indians in that country and the battles he
had waged to improve it. He was hardly audible. Clad in his Kathiawadi dress he
looked unimpressive and out of place in the midst of the frock-coated and top-hatted
gentry who formed the bulk of the Congress members in those days.
Years passed. I went" abroad, and as students we discussed the happenings in
India. The non-cooperation movement launched by Gandhiji in 1920-21, came in
for, much.' criticism, in particular Gandhiji's appeal to students to leave
colleges. Some of the students who had left colleges in India came to England to
join the universities there, and we could not understand this action on their
part. In 1921, I returned home and landed the very next day after the Prince of
Wales, later King Edward VIII, had reached Bombay. At Gandhiji's bidding this
visit of the Prince of Wales was to be boycotted. The boycott. resulted in a
terrible clash in Bombay 'between the loyalists, mostly Parsis, and the Congress
people. The Government of India was very much annoyed with Gandhiji, I, .
.especially as the boycott was a great success., They waited for the Prince Of
Wales to leave the shores of India before they arrested Gandhiji. When the news
spread about his arrest there was. terrible tension in the country. I remember
to have written an article later f-or a paper in England under the caption
"Peace of the Grave!" Gandhiji was removed to the Sabarmati Jail, and people
from all parts of the country poured in Ahmedabad to have a last darshan of him
before he was thrown into prison or transported. I remember to have joined a
batch of women from Bombay. We were taken inside the prison walls where Gandhiji
was sitting. Shrimati Sarojini Naidu was there and introduced me to Gandhiji.
This was the first time I met him face to face. He sat talking and laughing
while all those around him looked sad and miserable. Nobody knew when we would
see him again. It I was a most pathetic scene. I was moved to tears and could
hardly speak or reply to questions he was asking. There must have been something
terribly pathetic about him, for I always felt deeply moved .in his Reference
whenever I was with him.
In 1930 his march to Dandi made history. Every day during the march he held
crowded meetings of men and women to whom he explained the meaning of his
movement. I t was at one of his halts in a village that he called a special
meeting of women whom he wished to harness in the service of the country. He had
different plans for women, and called this special meeting to explain them to
those who were anxious to I serve. Women from all over the country were invited.
Some of us had gone from Bombay. He sat on a raised platform under a huge tree
bunyan or mango tree I forget which-and we all sat round him. His face was I
exultant with the joy of action. He spoke for an hour asking women to take up
the picketing of foreign cloth shops and of liquor shops. After his speech he
invited questions in order to clarify and solve our difficulties if any. We had
many questions to ask. Why boycott all foreign cloth and not British cloth
only-that was a question in the minds of most of us. Gandhiji explained that our
fight was for principles. Swadeshi Dharma meant encouragement of all indigenous
products and boycott of I foreign goods. We were asked to begin with foreign
cloth . first as much money violated the very principle of ahimsa on which our
fight was passed. British goods and other foreign goods came under the same
category, and we should not single out British goods only. Then came questions
about picketing liquor shops. How could women do it? These liquor shops were
frequented by low people, They might insult women, they might attack them. How
could women talk to such ruffians and persuade them not to drink? Gandhiji
smiled his bewitching smile, He had a way with women and knew how to handle
them. He desired women to be brave and face all these difficulties., He gave
examples of women, who had done heroic deeds in the past and asked us to emulate
them. Did not women wish to see India free? How could they daunted by such
imaginary fears? He won in the end as usual. His persuasive powers were
wonderful, and we agreed to do the picketing. I remember when we had promised to
do!
He always attracted large crowd wherever he went. It was obvious to most of us
that these men and women who came for his darshan came only to satisfy their
religious hankering or out of curiosity. There were few among them who really
understood his message or what he stood for. I wished to know how he felt about
these crowds. We were travelling in the same compartment from Poona to Bombay.
He had come down from Panchagani, and on his way had met with such big crowds at
Wai that it was with great difficulty that he could get away. To my question as
to what he felt about this madness on the part of the people he said that he was
not at all happy about it. He deplored the lack of discipline and lack of
consideration shown by the people. He confessed to the failure of the Congress
to instil this very essential quality into the people. I then asked him if the
Congress was not responsible for encouraging indiscipline among the young
people. I told him what had happened in 1942 when even school-children were
asked to leave schools and engage themselves in activities like stone- throwing
etc. Gandhiji could not approve of these activities, and felt hurt at what had
happened. However, he pointed out that it was not the Congress who was
responsible but those persons who in the name of the Congress were carrying on
such activities. He agreed that they were exploiting the name of the Congress to
achieve their own end. At Kalyan where we got down there was a large crowd
waiting, and in spite of all precautions Gandhiji was nearly crushed that day
and was rescued from his worshippers and admirers with great difficulty.
The last time I saw Gandhiji alive was on the day he broke his last fast, i.e.
20th January 1948. I expected to see him resting in bed after his ordeal but was
very much surprised to see him sitting and spinning. He looked tired and
exhausted and had to stop now and again for breath, and yet he insisted on
finishing his allotted work. We all tried to persuade him to rest and put aside
this I self-imposed task in view of his utter exhaustion. But he was adamant. In
reply to our importunities he merely I smiled the smile of a naughty child as
much as to say that we were wasting our breath. He propounded the theory that a
man must work in order to earn his food. And since he had started taking his
food that day he must also start working!
A few days later when I entered that same room again I saw him lying in bed
taking his last rest. His face did not betray the violent end he had met with.
It was I beautifully calm and serene. After the fitful fever of life I he slept
well. What could one feel but moved to the very depths of one's heart in the
presence of such peace, the supreme triumph of an enlightened soul?
Baroda, 14-9-1948.
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