'Gandhi is Defender of the Faith, and Hindus across India recognise him as such'

No such tangled analysis is necessary in respect to Gandhi's religious mission in East Bengal. Here he is Defender of the Faith, and Hindus across India recognise him as such. Witness the frequent references to the well-known reformer, Shankar Acharya. This Hindu saint of the eighth century reputedly walked barefooted to the four corners of India in a pilgrimage to free Brahmanism from the smothering embrace of Buddhism. When Hindus today draw analogies between his march and Gandhi's, they demonstrate their fear that Islam, too may be capable of a bear's hug.

To the relief of one Noakhali village Gandhi sent a Muslim member of his ashram, Miss Amtus Salam. She found the local Muslims still acting aggressively toward their neighbors. In the Gandhian tradition she decided not to eat until Muslims returned a sacrificial sword which during the October upheaval had been looted from a Hindu home. Now, a fast concentrates very heavy social pressure on its objects, as Indians have long since learned.

The sword was never found. Possibly it had been dropped into a pond. Whatever had happened, the nervous Muslim residents were almost ready to agree to anything when Gandhi arrived in that village on the 25th day of Miss Salam's fast. Her doctor reported that life was ebbing. After hours of discussion (which reporters said Gandhi took as seriously as the Cabinet Delegation negotiations) Gandhi persuaded the village leaders to sign a written promise that they would never molest Hindus again. Then he put the whole issue into a capsule.

According to a report which I believe is the self-written authorised version: "Gandhiji explained the significance underlying the demand for the return of the stolen sword. What was being demanded, he said, was freedom for the minority community to practice their religion and worship their gods in any manner usual with them, and freedom to pursue their normal avocations. Gandhiji laid special emphasis on religious toleration. The essence of Miss Salam's demand, he told the Muslims, was an assurance that they would use all their influence to see that no member of the Hindu community was obstructed from performing his religious rites and worship in any manner he liked."

In other prayer talks Gandhi returned frequently to this theme. People had told him, he stated one day, that if Muslims asked Hindus to accept Islam if they wanted to save themselves or their property, and if Hindus responded, there was no compulsion. What Gandhi wanted to say, according to the approved report, "was that this was acceptance of Islam under the threat of force. Conversion, Gandhiji held, was made of sterner stuff. The statement reminded him of the days when Christian missionaries, so called, used to buy children in days of famine and bring them up as Christians. This was surely no acceptance of Christianity. Similarly, the acceptance of Islam, to be real and valid, should be wholly voluntary and must be based on proper knowledge of two faiths: one's own and the one presented for acceptance. This was the view Gandhi had held all his life. He did not believe in conversion as an institution."

Sincerely yours

Phillips Talbot

Kind courtesy: New India Digest, a journal to promote a better understanding of modern India. Readers who wish to subscribe to New India Digest may write to India Digest Foundation, Sahaydri Sadan, Tilak Road, Pune 411030.