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Prophet of peace, not 'chaos and anarchy'

Prophet of peace, not 'chaos and anarchy'

Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Weekend Observer
Date: January 30, 1999
URL: http://www.secularindia.com/prophet_of_peace.htm

He is an "extraordinary casuist". Unless stopped, his views will become a "dangerous phenomenon of present day politics in India." His teachings can lead to "chaos and anarchy only". His politics will lead to "mischievous consequences".

All this could well have been the secularist brigade's criticism of Shri Ashok Singhal or Acharya Giriraj Kishore of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Or Congress president Sonia Gandhi berating leaders of the Sangh Parivar. Indeed, the outpouring of self-righteous indignation that we read in newspapers and hear on television today, the overflowing indignation of the Church and its newly sprung "human rights" activists, is replete with such words and phrases.

But these words have been taken from history. From cold print. From journals published by Christian missionaries. Journals that still exist as evidence of missionaries, especially of the Protestant variety, willingly allowing themselves to be used as instruments of British rule in India. And the man referred to is Mahatma Gandhi, that great apostle of peace and practitioner of Sanatan Dharma whose 50th death anniversary is being observed today.

Gandhi's arrival on the scene had greatly charged the nationalist movement and expanded the spread and scope of the struggle against British colonial rule. Gandhi's philosophy of peaceful resistance to colonial rule had found expression in the non-cooperation agitation. This in turn set alarm bells ringing - the colonial establishment, including the Church, was quick to realise Gandhi's potential. It retaliated in full force, using its arsenal, including missionaries and their publications.

In September 1919, the Christian Missionary Review fired the first salvo. A year later, the Christian Missionary Review dropped all niceties and described Gandhi as an "extraordinary casuist", an "unscrupulous and irresponsible demagogue" responsible for the disturbances in Punjab the previous year. Urging India's colonial masters to "adequately" deal with Gandhi's "egotistical mysticism," the Christian Missionary Review said that unless putdown, Gandhi and his nationalism would emerge as "one of the dangerous phenomena of present day politics in India."

In fact, the murderous attitude of the British in Punjab and the terrible fallout of the Rowlatt Act, found ample support among the missionaries. Bishop Henry Whitehead not only supported the Act but went on to denigrate the nationalist agitation against the Act as a "striking illustration of the incapacity of a large section of Indian politicians to face facts and realities, or to understand the first principles of civilised government." We all know of the action of the "civilised Government" so ardently backed by the missionaries - the massacre at Jallianwala Bag.

Indeed, Ms Marcella Sherwood, speaking on behalf of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society and Rev Canon Guildford, speaking on behalf of the Church Missionary Society, lauded Gen Dyer's brutality, saying it was "justified by its results". The Christian Missionary Review, describing Gen Dyer as a "brave man", said, absurdly though, that his action was "the only means of saving life".

Another missonary publication, rather disingenuously named The Young Men of India, heaped praise on Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the Lt Governor of Punjab during those terrible days of bloodshed and brutality by a ruthless colonial administration, saying that he was "the strongest and best ruler the country has had in modern times." The Harvest Field, also a missionary journal, was quick to point out that during the nationalist uprising against the Rowlatt Act, Indian Christians were not found "wanting in loyalty to the (British) Government." The International Review of Missions was clear in its pronouncement that the means and methods adopted by the British to put down the uprising in Punjab were neither un-Christian nor a blot on British rule.

It is important that we understand the import of the missionaries' view of the nationalist uprising against the Rowlatt Act, their justification of the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, their unrestrained praise for Gen Dyer. Those who saw nothing wrong with drenching the ground of Jallianwala Bagh with the blood of Indian nationalists, those who saw nothing "un-Christian" about the bloodshed, those who found "loyalty to the British" in the cowardice of Indian Christians, could not but have derided Gandhi and his non-violence.

For, Gandhi's unique contribution to India's freedom movement, as also to freedom struggles in oppressed nations across the world, Satyagraha, was considered "un-Christian" by a majority of Protestant missionaries. The Christian Missionary Review describing Gandhi's agenda as dangerous, predicted that it would lead to violence, chaos and anarchy.

This view was seconded by The Young Men of India. Commenting on Gandhi's freedom campaign fashioned around the philosophy of Satyagraha, in March 1920, The Young Men of India wrote: "Though Mr Gandhi may have satisfied his conscience as to its morality, to plain common sense it means playing with fire, with the certainty that if used with masses of Indian people, the fire will become a conflagration." .

The Harvest Field, yet another missionary journal, in its May 1921 issue, put on record its belief that "Mr Gandhi's teachings" would result in "chaos and anarchy only." Gandhi, it said, had brought a "sword to his beloved land."

"We have no animus against the man," said the Madras Christian College Magazine in October, 1921 - the best way to rubbish a person, to inflict the most grievous wound, is to preface the attack with "we have nothing against the man" - "but we have always regarded the doctrines he has been preaching and the policy he has advocated as pernicious." The Magazine, of course, had a pious purpose behind its attack: to save India from the mischievous consequences that must follow from their (Gandhi's doctrines) adoption." Such concern! Such piety!

But that was not all. The Madras Christian College Magazine went on to offer a homily. All those who want "peace and sobriety of life and progress," it urged, should reject the "sophistry of non-violence". Let us recall these words when the current president of the Congress today pays tribute to Gandhi as an apostle of non-violence.

By 1922, the Madras Christian College Magazine had dropped all pretensions. It declared that there was nothing "positive or constructive" about Gandhi's programme of Satyagraha and that his role till then had been "negative throughout". Gandhi, the Madras Christian College Magazine added with a sweeping flourish, was "an anarchist at heart. prone to mental confusion."

In her book, The Attitude of British Protestant Missionaries Towards Nationalism in India, Elizabeth Susan Alexander, offers an explanation for such vile diatribe against Gandhi as articulated by the missionary publications: "British officials came to accept missionaries as partners in the 'noble' task of shouldering the 'white man's burden.' British officials defended their support of Christian missionaries as being in the interest of their rule, for missionaries were used as instruments of their policies of reform. Missionary activities were seen to have lucrative results for British commercial interests."

On the 50th anniversary of the Mahatma's martyrdom, let us not be overwhelmed by the fulsome tribute that will be offered by our secular politicians who have discovered electoral merit in closing ranks with present day Christian missionaries. Let us remember the ignominy that was heaped on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the grievous wounds that were inflicted on the Mahatma, by the partners of British colonial rule.

India's colonial rulers have long departed. Their partners remain in business.

This article appeared in The Weekend Observer, published from New Delhi and Mumbai, on January 30, 1999, the 50th anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's assassination.
 


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