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Once Gandhiji had an attack of giddiness. His hand and feet became cold. He was wet with perspiration. Manuben wrote a letter to call a doctor, but before she could send it, Gandhiji opened his eyes and said: 'Don't inform anybody about this. Rama alone is my true doctor. He will keep me alive so long as he wants to take work from me. I have been put to test today. If Rama is really firm in my heart I shall not die of illness.' Manuben tore up the slip. Gandhiji walked bare-footed in 56 villages in Bengal and covered distance of 116 miles. He had the zeal to learn the Bengali language. He said, he was in love with the huts of Bengal. He used to see the Muslims in their homes and as far as possible stayed with them in their houses. Once a Muslim brought to him a small twig of a tree and said: `See, Bapuji, this twig has two leaves and both of them are of a different type!' Gandhiji smile and said: `That's the play of God. It is the same with the Hindus and the Muslims. They are the leaves of the same twig. They share a common destiny.' Everybody was pleased to hear this. Gandhiji's feet often bled and had to be bandaged, but the march won't stop. Sometimes he was so weak and exhausted that he had to be carried in a chair slung over a pole and borne on the shoulders of volunteers. On Mondays, he observed silence and gave his message in writing mostly in these words: `Let us pray to God to purify the hearts of both the Hindus and the Muslims.' From Noakhali Gandhiji went to Bihar. He had seen the atrocities committed by the Muslims in Noakhali and now saw the doings of the Hindus in Bihar. Men, women and children were brutally done to death. Several villages were completely destroyed. Gandhiji moved with a heavy heart. He poured his heart in prayer meetings everyday. Like an oasis in a desert, he came across certain inspiring incidents of self sacrifice and courage. He paid glowing tributes to the brave men and women. In one village, a Hindu mob set a Muslim's house on fire. Suddenly a Rajput girl appeared on the scene. She persuaded the mob to disperse, but in vain. At last she threatened to jump into the burning house. Now the mob retreated. The Muslim lives and property were saved. Another instance of how Gandhiji's words had stirred up the hearts of the people. Once Gandhiji was returning from his morning walk when a blind Hindu beggar touched his feet and laid some small coins at his feet. He said: `Bapu, this is all I have got by begging. Please use this for the relief of the Muslim sufferers.' Gandhiji's heart was filled with joy. He accepted the money and said: `This donation of four annas (25 paisa) is worth more to me than four crores of rupees. For this poor man has given me all he had.' He affectionately patted the blind man on the back and told him to give up begging. He assured him that he will be provided with some work for his living. The leaders in villages presented purses to Gandhiji and gave him letters signed by them stating therein: `We are extremely sorry for what has happened. We assure you that such a thing will never happen again. We will hence forth regard the Muslims as our blood brothers. We beg your and God's pardon for our great sin.' The Muslim League had first refused to join the Interim National Government. Later on they joined it, but did not co-operate in the work. In March 1947, Lord Mountbatten became the Viceroy. He announced that he had come to India to end the British rule. He invited Gandhiji, so Gandhiji went to Delhi from Bihar to see him. Now Swaraj was knocking at the door and the situation in the country was so dangerous that Jawaharlalji, Sardar Patel and other leaders saw no way out but to accept the demand of the Muslim League for division of the country. Nehruji said to Gandhiji that unity was impossible and they had to accept the creation of Pakistan. Gandhiji asked: `Is there no way out? No hope of a united India?' Nehruji's voice was heavy with sadness. He said: `No, Bapuji, otherwise there will never be peace.' On 3-6-1947, The British Government announced the division of India. Though Gandhiji had not given his consent to it, he advised the country to accept it. On August 15, 1947, the struggle for independence was over. The British rule in India came to an end after nearly 200 years, and two sovereign states, India and Pakistan appeared on the map. Nehruji became the first Prime Minister of India and Sardar Patel the Deputy Prime Minister. The whole country celebrated the day. There were singing and dancing processions and parades everywhere. Free India's Tricolour flag fluttered proudly on the historical Red Fort in Delhi and the National Anthem was sung in chorus: JANA GANA MANA But where was Gandhiji in the midst of all these festivities? Was he in Delhi? No, he was in Calcutta striving for communal peace. Riots had again broken out there and he was in the midst of that fire. He stayed in a poor area in a poor hut and did his bed on the ground. He moved from street to street and house to house. There was no end to his suffering. At last he went on fast. This had a desired effect on the minds of the people. Now the leaders of both communities assured him that they would control the people. Gandhiji accepted that assurance and broke the fast. The Hindus, the Sikhs and the others found their lives unsafe in Pakistan. There was no end to their miseries. Their houses were looted, women were abducted; there were forced marriages and forced conversions. Thousands of men, women and children were killed. Millions of people left Pakistan on their way to India as refugees leaving behind all their possessions. Thousands died on the way out of starvation, disease and massacre. An equal number of the Muslims were fleeing into Pakistan from India on foot. Riots broke out in Delhi. Gandhiji saw that the Muslims in Delhi were inhumanly treated. He decided to fast unto death. He poured out his heart in the prayer-meetings: `This makes me hang my head in shame. Oh God, give me strength!' He commenced his fast on January 13, 1948. The fast at the age of 78! There was deep gloom all over the country. The whole world watched. Finally, on the sixth day, a pact was signed assuring peace between the two communities, and Gandhiji broke his fast. `Really?' said Gandhiji, `perhaps some poor fanatic threw it. Let no one look down on him! "Death is our true friend. It is our ignorance that makes us suffer." Ten days after this, Gandhiji was coming to his prayer-meeting at five in the evening on 30-1-1948. Suddenly a young man pretending to seek his blessings made a small bow, raised a pistol and shot at him thrice in quick succession. All the bullets hit him. Gandhiji fell uttering Rama! Rama! He was dead. The whole world experienced a big shock at the death of Gandhiji. The whole world mourned his death, paid him glowing tributes and hailed him as one who will never die. The dead body of Gandhiji was taken out in a five mile long funeral procession to the banks of the Yamuna and was cremated there. This place is known as Rajghat. There stands the Samadhi of Gandhiji. From all over the world, people come here to pay homage to Gandhiji. The ashes of Gandhiji's body were thrown in all the sacred rivers in India. Thousands of memorials are erected all over the country. Seldom there will be any town without having a road named after Gandhiji. But the message which Gandhiji wished to give to the world is ill-conveyed by these numerous memorials, because Gandhiji himself said: `My life is my message!' Let us always keep this in mind. Nehruji broadcast to the country, his voice choked with emotion: `The light has gone out and there is darkness everywhere. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the Nation, is no more. The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. That light will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later that light will still be seen in this country, and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts.' Albert Einstein, one of the world's greatest scientists paid a tribute to Gandhiji in these words: `Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.' |
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But some fanatic Hindus did not like this. They thought that Gandhiji was unjustly favoring the Muslims. One of these people threw a bomb at Gandhiji in his prayer meeting at Birla House, on January 20. The bomb missed the target and exploded on a garden-wall which was soon in ruins. Gandhiji was not the least disturbed. He continued his prayer-meeting as if nothing had happened. Somebody told him:`Bapuji, a bomb exploded!'