BOMBAY
June 28, 1919
DEAR MR. JINNAH,
I was delighted to receive your letter. I shall certainly keep you informed of the doings here. I cannot say anything about the Reforms Bill. I have hardly studied it. My preoccupation is Rowlatt legislation; add to that the Punjab, Kalinath Roy, Transvaal and Swadeshi and I have more hay on my work than I can carry. Our Reforms will be practically worthless, if we cannot repeal Rowlatt legislation, if a strong committee of enquiry is not appointed to investigate the Punjab affairs and to revise what appear to be excessive sentences, if the glaring wrong done to Kalinath Roy is not redressed and the Transvaal Indians not protected from further encroachments on their liberty, and if India does not take up and appreciate the work of Swadeshi. The first four are needed as much to test our strength as to test the measure of the goodwill of Englishmen, and the last, viz., Swadeshi, is an earnest of our love for our country, and I am, therefore, concentrating all my energy upon these things. And as I can imagine no form of resistance to the Government than civil disobedience, I propose, God willing, to resume it next week. I have taken all precautions, that are humanly possible to take, against recrudescence of violence. I have duly informed the authorities of my intentions and I have even sent a cable to Mr. Montagu.
I enclose proof copy of the instructions I shall be leaving behind. They will give you the further information I should like you to possess. Pray tell Mrs. Jinnah that I shall expect her on her return to join the hand-spinning class that Mrs. Banker Senior and Mrs. Ramabai, a Punjabi lady, are conducting. And, of course, I have your promise that you would take up Gujarati and Hindi as quickly as possible. May I then suggest that like Macaulay you learn at least one of these languages on your return voyage ? You will not have Macaulay’s time during the voyage, i.e., six months, but then you have not the same difficulty that Macaulay had. I hope you will both keep well during your stay.
If you get the time, please turn over the pages of Young India sent under separate cover. It is wretchedly printed because I have no kained help yet, and I am training helpers at the expense of indulgent subscribers.
Yours sincerely,
M. K. GANDHI
From a photostat: S.N. 6698
Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876-1948); Muslim leader; founder and first Governor- General of Pakistan