The Week India – June 30, 2019

58 THE WEEK • JUNE 30, 2019

were open to everyone and where verses from dif-

ferent faiths were recited, became essential classes

in democracy and tolerance. Occasionally, in

Delhi, there were objections to the reading of lines

from the Qur’an. At times in Noakhali, Muslims

walked out when lines about Rama were chanted.

Most of the time, however, Hindus and Muslims

joined these multi-faith events, which helped

reverse the tide of polarisation. A four-word

sentence, Ishwar Allah Tere Naam, and two paired

phrases, Ram-Rahim and Krishna-Karim, became

well-known sounds that served to heal a wounded

nation.

I think it is impossible to separate Gandhi, the

public campaigner, from the inner Mohandas. We

cannot separate Gandhi, the leader of millions,

from the personal Gandhi who prayed, often

from a position of helplessness, for strength and

wisdom from God. Th ose who study his life will

inescapably confront both Gandhis.

Shortly after Gandhi’s 1924 arrest (which was

one of many in his lifetime), his son Devadas and

the Congress leader from the south, Rajaji, visited

him in Pune’s Yeravada prison. Learning that

Gandhi was sleeping on a fl imsy blanket in a

solitary cell, was locked in at night, using some

of his books as a pillow, and was being denied

newspapers and periodicals, Rajaji wrote in

Young India (April 6, 1922) that India’s white

rulers were unaware of their “privilege of being

custodians of a man greater than the Kaiser,

greater than Napoleon... greater than the big-

gest prisoners of war”.

Two years later, a released Gandhi referred

to the same historical personalities but in a

diff erent vein: “Man is nothing. Napoleon

planned much and found himself a prisoner

in St Helena. Th e mighty Kaiser aimed at the

crown of Europe and is reduced to the status of

a private gentleman. God had so willed it. Let

us contemplate such examples and be humble

(Young India, 9 Oct. 1924).”

Whether planning a national campaign, or

writing an article for his journal, or spinning

his charkha, or fasting, or speaking at his

prayer-meeting, Gandhi would pray silently or

openly for God’s strength.

And for wisdom from God. Th e second line

Gandhi chang-

ing clothes on

Dandi beach

after bathing

in the sea on

April 6,1930

NAKED

FAKIR

COURTESY:

GANDHI: AN ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY/ROLI BOOKS/ALAMY