Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present SituationGandhi, Mahatma
Religion
Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Gandhi, Mahatma
British -- India; India -- Politics and government -- 1919-1947; Nonviolence
It is insufferable
therefore when the Viceroy feels confident that with the conclusion of
this new treaty that friendship will quickly take life again and a
Turkey regenerate full of hope and strength, will stand forth in the
future as in the past a pillar of the Islamic faith. The Viceregal
message audaciously concludes, "This thought will I trust strengthen you
to accept the peace terms with resignation, courage and fortitude and to
keep your loyalty towards the Crown bright and untarnished as it has
been for so many generations." If Muslim loyalty remains untarnished it
will certainly not be for want of effort on the part of the Government
of India to put the heaviest strain upon it, but it will remain so
because the Mahomedans realise their own strength--the strength in the
knowledge that their cause is just and that they have got the power to
vindicate justice in spite of the aberration suffered by Great Britain
under a Prime Minister whom continued power has made as reckless in
making promises as in breaking them.
Whilst therefore I admit that there is nothing either in the peace terms
or in the Viceregal message covering them to inspire the Mahomedans and
Indians in general with confidence or hope, I venture to suggest that
there is no cause for despair and anger. Now is the time for Mahomedans
to retain absolute self-control, to unite their forces and, weak though
they are, with firm faith in God to carry on the struggle with redoubled
vigour till justice is done. If India--both Hindu and Mahomedan--can act
as one man and can withdraw her partnership in this crime against
humanity which the peace terms represent, she will soon secure a
revision of the treaty and give herself and the Empire at least, if not
the world, a lasting peace. There is no doubt that the struggle would be
bitter sharp and possibly prolonged, but it is worth all the sacrifice
that it is likely to call forth. Both the Mussalmans and the Hindus are
on their trial. Is the humiliation of the Khilafat a matter of concern
to the former? And if it is, are they prepared to exercise restraint,
religiously refrain from violence and practise non-co-operation without
counting the material loss it may entail upon the community? Do the
Hindus honestly feel for their Mahomedan brethren to the extent of
sharing their sufferings to the fullest extent? The answer to these
questions and not the peace terms, will finally decide the fate of
the Khilafat.
MORE OBJECTIONS ANSWERED
_Swadeshmitran_ is one of the most influential Tamil dailies of Madras.
It is widely read. Everything appearing in its columns is entitled to
respect. The Editor has suggested some practical difficulty in the way
of non-co-operation. I would therefore like, to the best of my ability,
to deal with them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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