Courtesy: https://twitter.com/sheshapatangi1/status/1620966372728786944?s=46&t=S06o4I_B4BHkL-oSv_lpcA
Contd from yesterday…..
“Even should the British leave in consequence of such murderous acts, who will rule in their place? The only answer is: the murderers”.
According to Gandhi, British were fit to rule India and those who took up armed resistance against British were Murderers.
Remember that this statement was done in 1909, where there was no connection between Gandhi & Freedom Struggle.
“India can gain nothing from the rule of murderers-no matter whether they are black or white. Under such a rule, India will be utterly ruined & laid waste. This train of thought leads to a host of reflections, but I have no time to set them down here. I’m afraid some Indians will commend this murder. I believe they will be guilty of a heinous sin. We ought to abandon such fanciful ideas.” (Ref: Gandhi – Hind Swaraj)
Within a decade, Gandhi would seek to enlist Lakhs of soldiers from India for the British during the WW-1, 12000 from Kheda alone.
British army employed deception as a military strategy big time. But, he could only look upon his compatriot Dhingra who sought to liberate India
from the British, as traitor, murderer not as a soldier. Madanlal Dhingra was put up for trial on July 23, 1909. In the trial he said:
And I maintain that if it is patriotic in an Englishman to fight against the Germans if they were to occupy this country, it is much more justifiable & patriotic in my case to fight against the English. I hold the English people responsible for the murder of 80 millions of Indian people in the last fifty years, and they are also responsible for taking away? 100,000,000 every year from India to this country.
I also hold them responsible for the hanging and deportation of my patriotic countrymen, who did just the same as the English people here are advising their countrymen to do.
Since Dhingra did not put up a defense, he was sentenced to death on the day of his trial. The apostle of peace did not condemn the death sentence issued… Instead his response on the day of the sentence: “Madanlal Dhingra’s case came up for hearing today (the 23rd). We were not permitted to be present in the court. Since Dhingra did not put up any defence, the case did not take much time. He only stated that he had done the deed for the good of his country & that he did not regard it as a crime. The presiding judge sentenced him to death. I have already given my views about this assassination.
Mr. Dhingra’s statement, according to me, argues mere childishness or mental derangement. Those who incited him to this act will be called to account in God’s court, and are also guilty in the eyes of the world. (Read Savarkar)
Dhingra’s case has led to Govt action against The Indian Sociologist.(Read Shyamaji Krishna Varma)
The journal had published a categorical statement that homicide for the good of one’s country was no murder. The printer, poor man, has been sentenced to four months’ imprisonment for printing such a violent article. The man who has been sentenced is a poor, innocent Englishman who was entirely ignorant [of what he was printing]. The authors are in Paris, and hence the Govt is unable to get at them. Such acts will not advance the progress of the nation. So long as the people do not throw up men who will be prepared to invite the utmost suffering on themselves, India will never prosper.”
Dhingra in his final statement before his execution had said, “My only prayer to God is that I may be re-born of the same mother & may re-die in the same sacred cause, till the cause is successful. Vande Mataram!”
which made even Churchil say, Dhingra’s last words as the finest ever made in the name of patriotism. Irish were naturally more appreciative. ‘Huge placards from Irish papers paid glowing tributes, Ireland honours Madanlal Dhingra who was proud to lay down his life for the sake of his country.’
Gandhi remained unmoved.
On 19-11-1909, he wrote as an editor responding to an imaginary reader:
Reader: You are over-stating the facts. All need not be armed. At first, we shall assassinate a few Englishmen & strike terror; then, a few men who will have been armed will fight openly. We may have to lose a quarter of a million men, more or less, but we shall regain our land. We shall undertake guerilla warfare & defeat the English.
Editor [Gandhi]: That is to say, you want to make the holy land of India unholy. Do you not tremble to think of freeing India by assassination? What we need to do is to sacrifice ourselves. It is a cowardly thought, that of killing others. Whom do you suppose to free by assassination? The millions of India do not desire it. Those who are intoxicated by the wretched modern civilization think these things. Those who will rise to power by murder will certainly not make the nation happy. Those who believe that India has gained by Dhingra’s act & other similar acts in India make a serious mistake. Dhingra was a patriot, but his love was blind.
(Refhttps://www.mkgandhi.orgchap15_italyandindia.htm)
Whom do you suppose to free by assassination? The millions of India do not desire it.
How could Gandhi decide what Millions of Indians want, that too sitting at South Africa?
Think About It.
