"Gandhi" The Movie and History, Part Four

Note: I omitted the fact that besides efforts on behalf of "untouchables," and India's poor in general, Gandhi also championed the cause of Indian women and he used women in his various campaigns, something that was relatively new in male dominated Indian society back then. 

The history of Hindu-Muslim conflict in India is complex. This article is simply an attempt to give readers basic information, but for those interested, there are many books and articles on the subject that can provide far more detail on this very hot issue, which still flares up in modern times. Remember, please support your local library.  

As noted in the previous segments, India was a much larger nation in the time of Mahatma Gandhi, with both Bangladesh and Pakistan comprising parts of the greater whole. The Hindu religion was the largest in India, but Islam held a substantial minority position among India's population, with some areas having Muslim majorities, especially in the northwestern and northeastern regions, but Muslims were essentially scattered throughout all parts of India, just as Hindus and Sikhs lived in Muslim majority areas. The desire of Indians to rule themselves and to end British colonial rule united Indians, no matter what their religious beliefs, and for a time, there was no desire by Indians to divide India into separate Muslim and Hindu majority nations. Muhammed Ali Jinnah, one of the main Indian Muslim leaders going back to the early part of the 20th Century, very much favored one India for quite some time, but his support waned over time. 

Jinnah was born in Karachi, a port city in then northwestern India, and now part of Pakistan. His father was a successful business man and Jinnah later studied law in England, a similarity he shared with Mohandas Gandhi.* Later Jinnah lived in Bombay (now called Mumbai), on the west coast of India, where he had a huge mansion built. Jinnah advocated Hindu-Muslim unity and was, for a time, not only one of the main leaders of the movement to bring varying degrees of independence to the country, but THE main leader; being highly regarded by both Hindus and Muslims. Jinnah's and Muslim ideas began to change as plans for future self-government began to be dominated by Hindu leaders, including Gandhi, who, in spite of his overt inclusive attitude towards Muslims and others, was a Hindu. Jinnah argued for certain protections for religious minorities, and especially for Muslims, but Hindu leaders, pressed by a fanatical Hindu element, did not respond favorably to Jinnah's proposals, which were defeated in a vote of the main Indian political organization, the Indian National Congress. Jinnah quit the organization and his proposals became the basis of Muslim demands from then on if Hindus wanted Muslim support for one independent Indian nation. After a period out of the political limelight, Jinnah became the head of the (Indian) Muslim League.

Gandhi continued to preach non violent resistance to British rule, always with the idea that he and others would suffer, and have to accept, the consequences of their attempts to free India. While Gandhi preached against British colonial rule, even calling it "evil," he refused to participate in any "war on the British." There is a scene in the movie "Gandhi," where he and others are sitting outside and he tells them, "We've come along way with the British. When they leave, we want to see them off as friends." This certainly represented Gandhi's basic real life feelings, not just something depicted in the movie. While certainly not all Indians agreed with him, his leadership, and the revered stature in which he was held, kept Indians from direct all out hostile conflict with the British.

Gandhi's inclusive behavior towards non Hindus, especially towards Muslims, brought an increasing disenchantment with him from fanatical Hindu elements. As India moved toward independence during World War Two,** Gandhi was confronted with the possible, and likely, division of his country into an independent Muslim nation, under the name Pakistan,*** and the majority Hindu state of India. His attempts to preserve one Indian nation only left Muslims dissatisfied and many Hindus angry that he was too considerate of Muslim demands. Gandhi and many Indians, but certainly not all, opposed helping the British during the war, and Gandhi's antiwar speeches and protests by Indians brought massive arrests by the British, including the arrest of Gandhi. During his imprisonment his wife died, and Gandhi was chronically ill (he was in his 70s). Fearing he would die while in their custody and that his death would then spark a violent uprising by Indians against Britain, the British released him from prison. 

Gandhi and other Indian leaders then faced the nasty divide between Hindus and Muslims. The war ended and Britain made it clear they would grant Indian independence, but the religious issue remained at the center of controversy, and, in spite of attempts by Gandhi, Jinnah, and others to work out a solution, the matter remained unresolved. Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, dissatisfied with efforts to keep Muslims within some sort of Indian state, announced he wanted a separate Muslim nation of Pakistan as the only acceptable solution to the religious divide between Indians.**** To put pressure on the Hindus and the British for the creation of an independent Pakistan, Jinnah called for a "direct action day" by Muslims set for mid August 1946, with strikes and protests seemingly meant as the definition of such "action." When the day arrived, events went awry, with some violence in various parts of India, but especially in and around the northeastern city of Calcutta, in the province of Bengal, an area of very mixed Hindu-Muslim population, but with an overall Muslim majority. Terrible violence erupted as Muslims rioted, and then Hindus rioted. As many as 10,000 people were killed, with many bodies horribly mutilated, as one side tried to get even with the other (remember folks, this was all in the name of "religion"). While the violence halted after a few days, periodic and terrible episodes of mass killings took place in the region for months, and Gandhi went there to try to stop the carnage, but he was unable to undo the mistrust that had by then developed between the religious sects. In August of 1947, India was formally given its independence, but without Pakistan, which was partitioned (there was about a thousand mile gap between Western Pakistan and Eastern Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh). All hell broke loose as millions of Muslims living outside of Pakistan picked up as many belongings as possible and headed for the new border, while Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan tried to reach India. Heavy fighting broke out and at least a half million people died. Gandhi, the father of the nation, was devastated that he couldn't achieve a peaceful unified country. Since those times and as a result of the partition and all the violence, India and Pakistan have led a very troubled existence as neighbors, a situation which continues to this day. 

On January 30, 1948, Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse shot Mohandas Gandhi three times in the chest, killing Gandhi as he walked to a prayer service. Godse hated Gandhi's non violent approach to politics and religion, and he resented Gandhi's close association with Muslims over the years. Hindu militants believed Pakistan should not have been granted a separate state from India. Godse was tried and executed by hanging. The trial demonstrated to Hindus that it was one of their own, not a Muslim, who killed Mahatma Gandhi.

Note: There are many books about the life of Gandhi, but to do these articles, I relied heavily upon notes I made a number of years ago from: "Gandhi: A Life," by Yogesh Chadha, published in New York by John Wiley and Sons, 1997. I once owned the book, and while I'm not certain, I believe I donated it to The Cleveland Public Library in about 2009. The movie "Gandhi" is available on DVD.

* Both Gandhi and Jinnah also came from rather well off families of business background, putting them into relatively high social position in Indian society. The movie "Gandhi" depicts the subject's social position early in his life when he mentions "I always travel first class." The movie also shows Jinnah's standing when several of the Indian leaders meet at his elaborate mansion, complete with servants. As the movie correctly shows, Gandhi eventually chose to associate himself with the poorer elements of Indian society, which was by far the majority of the population, and he arrives at Jinnah's mansion for the above mentioned meeting, having come by "THIRD CLASS." Gandhi could just as easily have lived a pretty comfortable life, with fine clothes and a nice residence. Jinnah, on the other hand, retained his wealth.

** There had also been proposals to create Pakistan as a state within a state; that is, Pakistan would have been a mainly self governing region, but would have remained a part of India. 

*** The war only helped Gandhi keep the moral high ground against British rule. Britain declared war on Germany, including in India's name, but the Indian leaders were never consulted beforehand. Gandhi pointed out that Britain wanted to fight "German" tyranny, while at the same time they continued to rule India.
  
**** This sounded easier than it was to accomplish, because while Muslims constituted large majorities in the northwest and northeast, millions of Muslims lived scattered throughout the rest of India, while Hindus and Sikhs lived within the majority Muslim regions in the northwest and northeast. Property also became a big issue later, including Jinnah's mansion, which was in Bombay, a part that remained in India.

Photo is of DVD edition released in 2001 by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.

WORD HISTORY:
Yoga-This word traces back to Indo European "yewg," which had the notion of  "join together, unite." This gave Sanskrit, an ancient Indo European language still used to some degree today, primarily in religion, "yoga," with the same basic meaning, but with the context of "joining with a great spirit, god." This then passed to Hindi, one of the main languages of India. By the 1800s the word began to be used by British military, governmental and civilians in India with the idea of "exercise and mediation used to control the body and mind as one." As interest in eastern religions grew by English speaking people, the use of "yoga" spread, as did the word itself.