Hindu-Muslim Unity

— Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi_with Khan Abdul Ghaffer Khan

Everybody knows that with- out unity between Hindus and Mussalmans, no certain progress can be made by the nation. There is no doubt that the cement binding the two is yet loose and wet. There is still mutual distrust. The leaders have come to recognise that India can make no advance without both feeling the need of trust and common action. But though there is a vast change among the masses, it is still not a permanent quantity. The Mussalman masses do not still recognise the same necessity for swaraj as the Hindus do. The Musslamans do not flock to public meetings in the same numbers as the Hindus. This process cannot be forced. Sufficient time has not passed for the national interest to be awakened among the Mussalmans. Indeed it is a marvel that whereas but a year ago the Mussalmans as a body hardly took any interest in Congress affairs, all over India thousands have registered themselves as members. This in itself is an immense gain.

But much more yet remains to be done. It is essentially the work of the Hindus. Wherever the Mussalmans are still found to be apathetic, they should be invited to come in. One often hears from Hindu quarters the complaint that Mussalmans do not join the Congress organisations or do not pay to the Swaraj Fund. The natural question is, have they been invited? In every district Hindus must make special efforts to draw out their Mussalman neighbours. There will never be real equality so long as one feels inferior or superior to the other. There is no room for patronage among equals. Mussalmans must not feel the lack of education or numbers where they are in a minority. Deficiency in education must be corrected by taking edu
cation. To be in minority is often a blessing. Superiority in numbers has frequently proved a hindrance. It is character that counts in the end. But I have not commenced this article to lay down counsels of perfection or to state the course of conduct in the distant future.

My main purpose is to think of the immediate task lying before us. Bakr-i-Id will be soon upon us. What are we to do to frustrate the attempts that will then be made to foment quarrels between us — Hindus and Mussalmans? Though the situation has improved considerably in Bihar, it is not yet free from anxiety. Over-zealous and impatient Hindus are trying to force matters. They lend themselves an easy prey to the machinations of mischief-makers not always prompted by the Government side. Protection of the cow is the nearest to the Hindu heart. We are therefore apt to lose our heads over it, and thus be unconsciously instrumental in doing an injury to the very cause we seek to spouse. Let us recognise that our Mussalman brethren have made great efforts to save the cow for the sake of their Hindu brethren. It would be a grave mistake to undertake them. But immediately we become assertive, we make all effort on their part nugatory. We have throughout all these many years put up with cow slaughter either without a murmur of under ineffective and violent protest. We have never tried to deserve self-imposed restraint on the part of our Mussalman countrymen by going out of our way to cultivate friendly relations with them. We have more or less gratuitously assumed the impossibility of the task.

But we are now making a deliberate and conscious attempt in standing by their side in the hour of their need. Let us not spoil the good effect by making our free offering a matter of bargain. Friendship can now be a contract. It is a status carrying no consideration with it. Service is a duty, and duty is a debt which it is a sin not to discharge. If we would prove our friendship, we must help our brethren whether they save the cow or not. We throw the responsibility for their conduct towards us on their own shoulders. We dare not dictate it to them as consideration for our help. Such help will be hired service, which the Mussalmans can not be blamed if they summarily reject. I hope, therefore, that the Hindus of Bihar and indeed all the parts of India will realise the importance of observing the strictest forbearance, no matter what the Musslamans do on Bakr-i-Id. We must leave them to take what course they chose. What Hakim Ajmal Khan did in one hour at Amritsar, Hindus could not have done by years of effort. The cows that Messrs Chhotas and Khatri saved last Bakr-i-Id day, the Hindu millionaires of Bombay could not have saved if they had given the
whole of their fortunes. The greater the pressure put upon the Mussalmans the greater must be the slaughter of the cow. We must leave them to their own sense of honour and duty. And we shall have done the greatest service to the cow.

The way to save the cow is not to kill or quarrel with the Mussalmans; the way to save the cow is to die in the act of saving the Khilafat without mentioning the cow. Cow protection is a process of purification. It is tapasya, i.e.., self-suffering. When we suffer voluntarily, and, therefore, without expectation of reward, the cry of suffering (one might say) literally ascends to heaven, and God above hears it and responds. There is the path of religion, and it has answered even if one man has adopted it in its entirety. I make bold to assert without fear of contradiction that it is not Hinduism to kill a fellowman even to save the cow. Hinduism requires its votaries to immolate themselves for the sake of their religion, i.e. for the sake of saving the cow. The question is how many Hindus are ready without bargaining with the Mussalmans to die for them and for their religion? If the Hindus can answer it in the religious spirit, they will not only have secured Mussalman friendship for eternity, but they will have saved the cow for all time from the Mussalmans. Let us not swear even by the greatest among them. They can but help. They cannot undertake to change the hearts of millions of men who have hitherto given no thought to the feelings of their Hindu neighbours when they slaughter the cow. But God Almighty can in a moment change them and move them to pity. Prayer accompanied by adequate suffering is a prayer of the heart. That alone counts with God. To my Mussalman friends I would but say one word. They must not be irritated by the acts of irresponsible or ignorant but fanatical Hindus. He
who exercises restraint under provocation wins the battle. Let them know and feel sure that responsible Hindus are not on their side in their trial in any bargaining spirit. They are helping because they know that the Khilafat is a just cause and that to help them in a good cause is to serve India, for they are even as blood-brothers, born of the same mother — Bharat Mata.

— July 28, 1921.

Other Articles from Desh-Videsh vol. 4 Number 6

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