Great Soul_ Mahatma Gandhi And His Struggle With India Part 22

68According to one account: Maksud, Gandhi, Nehru, and Noakhali Gandhi, Nehru, and Noakhali, p. 41.

69"I can never be disillusioned": Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi Gandhi, p. 554.

70"I feel a little out of my depth": Brown, Nehru Nehru, p. 169.

71"Jawaharlal is the only man": Hingorani, Gandhi on Nehru Gandhi on Nehru, pp. 1213.

72his heir would never score high: Gandhi and Nehru had exchanged letters laying out their differences in October and November 1945. See Nehru, Bunch of Old Letters Bunch of Old Letters, pp. 50916. Also see Tendulkar, Mahatma Mahatma, vol. 8, pp. 3026.

73"He says what is uppermost": Hingorani, Gandhi on Nehru Gandhi on Nehru, p. 12.

74"He has made me captive": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 251.

75"My voice": CWMG CWMG, vol. 86, p. 295.

76Basically, it said Gandhi: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 483.

77When a member asked: See Amrita Bazar Patrika Amrita Bazar Patrika, Jan. 6, 1946.

78"I suggest frequent consultations": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 482; CWMG CWMG, vol. 86, p. 286.

79"Remember Bihar": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 1, p. 557.

80"You don't know the joy": Ibid., p. 509.

81"It failed miserably": From the diary of Nirmal k.u.mar Bose, p. 991, archive of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

82"What in your opinion": Fischer, Life of Mahatma Gandhi Life of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 451.

83Twice in nine weeks: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 1, p. 380.

84He could only demonstrate: From the diary of Nirmal k.u.mar Bose, p. 887, archive of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

85"Our community today suffers": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 1, pp. 518, 520.

86Early on he talked: Ibid., pp. 386, 372.

87"There will be no tears": Ibid., p. 321.

88"If some ruffian": Ibid., p. 505.

89Speaking to dispossessed: CWMG CWMG, vol. 86, p. 305.

90"He had told us": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 1, p. 417.

91"Giving equality": Fischer, Life of Mahatma Gandhi Life of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 436.

92"If they still went on": CWMG CWMG, vol. 86, p. 305.

93The next week he twice urges: Ibid., pp. 34850, 459.

94"He has not always held": From the diary of Nirmal k.u.mar Bose, p. 1251, archive of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

95"listened quietly": Talbot, American Witness to India's Part.i.tion American Witness to India's Part.i.tion, p. 202.

96There Gandhi stayed: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 1, p. 559.

97In Haimchar, which turned out: CWMG CWMG, vol. 87, p. 17.

98Though little was said in public: Tidrick, Gandhi Gandhi, p. 315.

99Thakkar is finally persuaded: CWMG CWMG, vol. 87, p. 63.

100According to a less: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 1, p. 587.

101He'd said he was prepared: Ibid., p. 356.

102Nehru had been so appalled: Fischer, Life of Mahatma Gandhi Life of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 445.

103"But if I leave": Manubehn Gandhi, Lonely Pilgrim Lonely Pilgrim, p. 157, cited by Narayan Desai, My Life Is My Message My Life Is My Message, vol. 4, Svarpan Svarpan, p. 287. Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu, and the hero of the Ramayana Ramayana, the Hindu epic. Gandhi takes his name as a synonym for "G.o.d."

104By June 1948: Chatterji, Spoils of Part.i.tion Spoils of Part.i.tion, pp. 11219.

105The gathering ended: The song they sang was a variation on an old devotional hymn, "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram," often described as Gandhi's favorite hymn. Routinely, he would attach a line that proclaimed: "G.o.d or Allah is your name / Lord, bless everyone with this wisdom." The words continue to recite many names for G.o.d, ending in a call for unity. On this occasion the improvised lyric included references to Buddhists and Christians. The song they sang was a variation on an old devotional hymn, "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram," often described as Gandhi's favorite hymn. Routinely, he would attach a line that proclaimed: "G.o.d or Allah is your name / Lord, bless everyone with this wisdom." The words continue to recite many names for G.o.d, ending in a call for unity. On this occasion the improvised lyric included references to Buddhists and Christians.

CHAPTER 12: DO OR DIE.

1"The rest of my life": CWMG CWMG, vol. 89, pp. 1011.

2The only way he could cling: Ibid., p. 21.

3"Today he himself": Narayan Desai, My Life Is My Message My Life Is My Message, vol. 4, Svarpan Svarpan, p. 393.

4By then, hundreds of thousands: The influx of refugees is well described by Guha in India After Gandhi India After Gandhi, pp. 97108.

5"The country was part.i.tioned": Lohia, Guilty Men of India's Part.i.tion Guilty Men of India's Part.i.tion, p. 44.

6An impatient Nehru said: Tunzelmann, Indian Summer Indian Summer, p. 388.

7A pressing invitation: Tendulkar, Mahatma Mahatma, vol. 7, p. 162. He had also proposed giving the Viceregal Lodge to the Harijans.

8Since Hindus and Muslims: Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten Mission with Mountbatten, p. 110.

9It was part of Gandhi's proposal: Collins and Lapierre, Mountbatten and the Part.i.tion of India Mountbatten and the Part.i.tion of India, pp. 3435.

10Mountbatten, understandably, declined: Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten Mission with Mountbatten, p. 55.

11"Thus I have to ask you": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 85.

12When the viceroy first heard: Campbell-Johnson, Mission with Mountbatten Mission with Mountbatten, p. 52.

13"Jinnah won't be able": Collins and Lapierre, Mountbatten and the Part.i.tion of India Mountbatten and the Part.i.tion of India, p. 33.

14Often the killings: CWMG CWMG, vol. 87, p. 52.

15"I hate to hear": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 52.

16"spent bullet": Ibid., p. 309; Nirmal k.u.mar Bose, My Days with Gandhi My Days with Gandhi, p. 208; see also M. K. Gandhi, Delhi Diary Delhi Diary, p. 147.

17"It is just possible": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 85.

18"He realized that if his vision": CWMG CWMG, vol. 89, p. 62.

19"I do not like much": Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 329.

20"We have as much claim": Ibid., p. 363.

21"I am quite willing": Ibid., p. 183.

22"We don't need your sermons": Ibid., p. 367.

23"Can't you understand": Ibid., p. 365.

24When the BBC asked: Nirmal k.u.mar Bose, My Days with Gandhi My Days with Gandhi, p. 224.

25"I've run dry": Tendulkar, vol. 8, Mahatma Mahatma, p. 80.

26"What if this is just": CWMG CWMG, vol. 89, p. 55.

27"One might almost say": Ibid., p. 49.

28"All this is due": Gopalkrishna Gandhi, A Frank Friendship A Frank Friendship, p. 501.

29"In the Punjab": Ibid., p. 517.

30"What is all this?": Narayan Desai, My Life Is My Message My Life Is My Message, vol. 4, Svarpan Svarpan, pp. 42223.

31"The Calcutta bubble": CWMG CWMG, vol. 89, p. 131.

32"fiery weapon": Ibid., p. 134.

33The day after the attack: Dalton, Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi, p. 154.

34"When the heart is hard": Narayan Desai, My Life Is My Message My Life Is My Message, vol. 4, Svarpan Svarpan, p. 434.

35His old comrade: Dalton, Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi, p. 158.

36"This sudden upheaval": CWMG CWMG, vol. 89, p. 49.

37wonderfully dry description: Bourke-White, Halfway to Freedom Halfway to Freedom, pp. 8182.

38When he had to leave: Ibid., p. 90.

39But rowdy Hindu hecklers: CWMG CWMG, vol. 89, p. 195.

40"Anger is short madness": Ibid., p. 167.

41"Why do [the authorities] tolerate": Ibid., p. 184.

42"They are all mine": Ibid., p. 480.

43"These days, who listens to me?": Ibid., p. 237.

44"Ever since I came to India": Ibid., p. 275. See also p. 524.

45"What sin must I": Ibid., p. 525.

46"On the surface things": Ibid., p. 483.

47"Misdeeds of the Hindus": Ibid., vol. 90, p. 228.

48No single catastrophe: Some say it was his fifteenth or sixteenth fast. Narayan Desai makes it thirty. Narayan Desai, My Life Is My Message My Life Is My Message, vol. 4, Svarpan Svarpan, pp. 47273.

49Mountbatten, now the governor-general: Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi Gandhi, p. 612; Suhrawardy, Memoirs Memoirs, p. 34; Ziegler, Mountbatten Mountbatten, p. 462; CWMG CWMG, vol. 96, p. 568.

50"For some time my helplessness": Manubehn Gandhi, Last Glimpses of Bapu Last Glimpses of Bapu, p. 108.

51"Gandhiji is not prepared": Azad, India Wins Freedom India Wins Freedom, p. 236.

52"All his life he had stood": M. K. Gandhi, Delhi Diary Delhi Diary, p. 336.

53By his a.s.sa.s.sin's own testimony: Malgonkar, Men Who Killed Gandhi Men Who Killed Gandhi, p. 344; Tushar A. Gandhi, "Let's Kill Gandhi!" p. 58.

54Patel's absence from Delhi: The home minister left Delhi to travel to Gandhi's native Kathiawad region to bring the holdout princely states there into the Indian Union, a mission in which Gandhi had a personal interest. But he was also stung by the decision of the cabinet, under the pressure of Gandhi's fast, to release the reserves he had only just frozen. Before leaving Delhi, he wrote to Gandhi asking that he be allowed to resign. Rajmohan Gandhi, Patel Patel, pp. 46263.

55Of the unfreezing of the a.s.sets: Malgonkar, Men Who Killed Gandhi Men Who Killed Gandhi, p. 341, reproduction of paragraph 126 of G.o.dse's statement.

56A few days earlier: Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase Mahatma Gandhi: Last Phase, vol. 2, p. 711.

57"Listen! Listen!": Tendulkar, Mahatma Mahatma, vol. 8, p. 273.