In the Shadow of the Mahatma
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Foreword
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hen I was approached to write a foreword to this
book, I readily accepted the invitation. Apart from
my long and intimate association with Shri Ghanshyamdas
Birla as a friend who always stood by us during the days of
our struggle for freedom and helped us, whenever required,
with contribution, I found on reading the book in proof that
it was going to be a valuable addition to the literature on an
important subject. The period of fight for freedom constitutes an important epoch in the history of India as it was the
time which saw the non-violent struggle of India led by Mahatma Gandhi against the British rule and its successful termination. What happened in the country in those eventful
years is well known and newspaper files contain ample description of the events that took place.
Little, however, is known of what was passing behind the
scenes both in Mahatma Gandhi’s camp and the Government’s. This volume to an extent fills this gap. It contains
correspondence that passed between Ghanshyamdasji and
Mahatmaji and also other political leaders of the country over
a quarter of a century. It also contains reports of interviews
and the substance of conversations which Ghanshyamdasji
In the Shadow of the Mahatma
Foreword
Introduction
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Contents
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1. I Was an Outcast
2. Lala Lajpat Rai
3. Off to London
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4. Constitutional Safeguards
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5. Lord Lothian in India
6. Safeguards Again
7. The Harijans
8. Birth of a Magazine
9. More About the Harijans
10. Political Interlude
11. The Government of India Bill
12. A Critical Period
13. Hindus and Muslims
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Foreword
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14. Pilani
15. London Contacts
16. High Hopes in England
17. Return to India
18. The Linlithgow Regime
19. Congress Takes Office
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20. 1937
21. Some Inner History
22. New Ministers’ Difficulties
23. Wartime Episodes
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24. India in the War
25. Friends of India
26. Deadlock
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27. The Rajkot Episode
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28. Some Crossword Puzzles
and Solutions
29. A Personal Explanation
30. Bapu as Correspondent
31. The Coming of Independence
32. After Independence
Appendix
Index of Proper Names
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Introduction
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o choose a title for this book was the most puzzling task I have had to encounter. ‘My Correspondence with Gandhiji’ was a proposal which I did not like. True,
this is substantially a compilation of my correspondence with
Gandhiji and his Secretary Mahadev Desai who, under the
direction of the Master, wrote to me at length when Gandhiji
was too busy to write himself and kept me well informed of
the events in his camp. But mere correspondence would not
tell the whole story.
I therefore deliberately decided to include also in this book
the records of the various interviews that I have had from
time to time with the British Viceroys, British statesmen and
others. To have excluded them would have left a blank patch
in the picture.
I have also included in the book a few other letters from
different political leaders which I thought would be relevant
to the subject. After the inclusion of all this material, a title
confined to narrow boundaries would have been a misnomer. I therefore decided to choose the title In the Shadow of the
Mahatma: A Personal Memoir, for in all my actions I felt he was
close beside me, and I was his shadow.
From the day on which Gandhiji landed in India from
In the Shadow of the Mahatma
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I Was An Outcast
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his is a book about the importance of knowing
people, about the value of personal contact. I have
compiled it from my files of the correspondence between
myself and others covering more than a quarter of a century,
and from copies of documents sent me by Gandhiji and others in this critical period of our history.
In India we are emotional. We respond to friendship; we
are moved by love and sympathy; we feel pity. We are also
capable of strong hatreds, but these are generally against aggregates and systems; if they are against individuals, they are
as often as not against those whom we have not met or seen,
and more often than not they are against those whose names
are made odious to us by propaganda concerning them.
Contact reveals truth, and sometimes even unpleasant
truths, as supposed swans may turn out to be geese. In his
penetrating letter on the misdeeds of some comrades who
gave up their professions to take up the national cause and
were then forced to make a living in devious ways, the late
Mahadev Desai gave a prophetic warning of danger in this
respect. But in the main the good we discover in others by
knowing them better far outweighs the evil, as my story shows.
Lala Lajpatrai
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Lala Lajpat Rai
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mong my earliest mentors were Pandit Madan
Mohan Malaviya and Lala Lajpat Rai. Malaviyaji
was a man of great learning and completely devoted to the
country, but his views were extremely orthodox on all social
matters. Lala Lajpat Rai on the other hand was not orthodox
in his outlook, but was very impulsive and short-tempered,
and he preceded Gandhiji in rousing my interest in the ‘untouchables’. ‘Harijan’ and ‘scheduled castes’ were then unknown words. Writing to me on December 30, 1923, he said:
I have been very anxious to meet you ever since I came
out of jail. My illness however prevented me from coming to Calcutta, and I had not the courage to ask one of
you to come over to see me. I wish to discuss with you
the problem of Hindu Unity and how to reclaim the Hindu
untouchables.
I am afraid the Hindus and the various Hindu organisations make much noise but do very little substantial work.
There are some who are fond of collecting funds for posterity, but are not interested in using them to the best
advantage at the present time. There are others again who
In the Shadow of the Mahatma
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Off to London
ere is the programme that Gandhiji laid down for
me in a letter dated Monday, 16th March, 1927:
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MY DEAR GHANSHYAMDASJI,
In my opinion the following rules of conduct must be
offered to safeguard one’s health while staying in Europe:
1 We should not take much diet to which we are not
accustomed:
2. They eat six to seven times in Europe, but you must
not eat more than three times. Do not get accustomed
to taking chocolate and such like things during intervals.
3. They eat even at 1 o’clock at night. But we must not
eat anything after 8 o’clock. When visiting people and
places, we are expected to take tea, etc. This is entirely
wrong.
4. One should go out for a walk every day and cover a
distance of at least six miles. One should be accustomed to walk both morning and evening.
5. You should wear only a limited amount of clothing,
the secret being that one must not feel cold. Walking
Constitutional Safegaurds
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Constitutional Safeguards
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went so far as to urge the setting up of a special
committee to consider the financial safeguards. The
conference broke up and I returned to India, where I received a letter from Sir Samuel turning down my suggestion
and inviting me instead to join a different committee:
India Office, Whitehall,
27th January, 1932.
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DEAR MR. BIRLA,
I promised to let you know what I thought of your
suggestion that the question of financial safeguards might
be referred to a special committee which would include
members with financial qualifications who are not members of the Round Table Conference Consultative Committee. On the whole I have come to the conclusion that
it would be a mistake now that we have set up the Consultative Committee which is to act in pursuance of the
general policy indicated at the Round Table Conference,
if we were to graft on to it a system of subcommittees
with members drawn from outside. I feel that such a sys-
Lord Lothian in India
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Lord Lothian In India
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ord Lothian, who was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the India Office and very sympathetic to
India’s aspirations, came out to India as Chairman of the
India Franchise Committee in 1932. We had interesting discussions together and before the report of his Committee
was published I wrote to him as follows in a vain endeavour,
as it turned out, to secure a practical victory for Gandhiji,
who was then in prison, and thus prevent the necessity for
the future non-co-operation campaign:
Calcutta,
4th May, 1932.
DEAR LORD LOTHIAN,
The newspapers report that your mission is completed
and that you are flying back to England on the 11th. The
report of your Committee will shortly be published and
from what I hear I hope it will be satisfactory. You have
been able to create a friendly impression on India and this
is another gain. Let me pray that your association with
India may be helpful in bringing about happy relations
between the two countries.
In the Shadow of the Mahatma
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I do not wish to write to you anything just now about
the present situation. With your keen sense of observation and friendly appreciation you know the situation as
well as any Indian. Why I am writing to you is that I feel
that at this critical time when many important issues are
to be decided I should again express my grave doubts about
the success of the present dual policy as it is called. When
we discussed the matter at the Calcutta Club you were
convinced when you said that the best method to help
India was to rush the reforms with the utmost speed. I
raised the point as to what would be the use of reforms
which may not be worked by the nationalists, and the same
question has been rising again and again in my mind. I am
afraid I can say almost with certainty that no reforms could
be successful unless these have a backing behind them of
progressive Indian opinion. I admit that it may not be at
present possible to bring about a compromise between a
radical India and a reactionary Parliament, but on further
thinking I feel that it is not impossible to introduce a Constitution which may have the tacit consent of Gandhiji
and men of his school. This at least would give some peace
to India and I am convinced that it is possible to find a
method of achieving at least this last object.
I think there are two methods of achieving this object:
either by securing the direct co-operation of Gandhiji or
his indirect co-operation. The correspondence at present
passing between Gandhiji and Sir Samuel Hoare encourages me to take a more cheerful view. The disadvantage
of 1930 was that Gandhiji was not in touch with the rulers. That disadvantage fortunately this time does not exist. With goodwill on both sides, therefore, I think a way
could be found.