“Double,
double toil and trouble,
Fire
burn and cauldron bubble.”
Hi, Everyone! In 1939 Gandhi was not a member of the
Congress. As we shall see in the passage from Keer’s biography given below,
that did not prevent him from drawing resolutions for the A.I.C.C. and throwing
tantrums if they were not passed as is!
“Dr. Rammanohar Lohia had a tussle
with the Mahatma on the South Africa resolution at the All-India Congress Committee
in Bombay in June 1939. Dr. Lohia suggested two amendments to Gandhi’s draft
resolution. One described Indians in South Africa not as “British Indians” but
as “Indians” and the other recommended that Indians had better make a common
front with the oppressed communities like the Negroes, the Zulus, and the Arabs
and even the poor whites.
This enraged Gandhi and he said he
would have the All-India Congress Committee pass his resolution without
amendments or not at all. Nehru who had supported Dr. Lohia’s amendments
faltered at this stage. He persuaded Dr. Lohia to respect the opinion of Gandhi
and withdraw his amendments which had been duly passed! . . .
Gandhi vetoed a resolution of the
Congress which it had passed four hours earlier!
When it suited his views Gandhi
upheld democratic ideals and when the democratic vote of the Congress went
against him he flew into a fury!”[1]
Gandhi’s issues in South
Africa were all about getting the Indians there recognized as citizens of the
British Empire. Apparently, so many years later in 1939, that had remained
unchanged!
Anurupa
Mahatma Gandhi Facts:
Gandhi Revealed
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