'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎22r] (43/118)

danger of death. He also had goats milk and orange juice. He is in a mess
again now as he had promised the minority communities, i.e. the Mohammedans
and landowners (Bhayats) that their representatives would be included
amongst those nominated by Vallabhai Patel to the Reform Committee and he
is now unwilling to implement his promises. This will possibly lead to
communal trouble, and if that starts all India may be affected”.
mixed " Gandhl (thiS tinle) 1133 113(1 3 ^
mixed reception, for the first time in his life a black flar orocession
and demonstration were made against him and it has shaken hif a lot! There
representatives L° 0k and State, MuslimJand lanLJrs
representatives and he may possibly fast again to try to get his own wav
He 11 be entirely m the wrong if he does and I don't think anyone but his
own immediate followers will have much sympathy with him. He is supposed
27th Ap^fbut he 8 doesn^ S “Tt’ ^ C ° nSress President, in Calcutta on the
d/th April but he doesn t want to go, and he may stage another fast as an
to C cry off J " USt 33 hy Stasins his last fast he *as able
j ^ J Congress Meeting at Tripura. He realises he has
lost his grip and is afraid of meeting Bhose.
He came here again on Thursday 20th April '39 and once more I had
p easur^ o shaking him by the hand and wishing him good afternoon The
SVhe fo/^ 3 ^ Stat ! a « th ° rities 33 crooked as he is C-Ibson
f f ? u tira ! tryin ^ to make each side see sense, and Delhi aren’t
elpful. ^hen they do interfere (vide the Viceroy’s so-called ’’statesmanlike
action which ended Gandhi’s last fast) they do much more harm than good”.
K Gan dhi himself was born in the State of Porbander, one of the smaller
Kathiawar States, and within a hundred miles of Rajkot. This was perhaps
why he was so concerned with what was happening in that part of India.
Creagh Coen describes in ’’The Indian Political Service” (Chanter 1 S ’’Tidying:
Up ) the problem of dealing with the smaller States and estates in Western
India and Gujerat and the efforts at trying to persuade them to improve
their administration and fiscal systems, without the Political Officers
concerned being given the power to enforce reforms. What was happening in
ajkot in 1939 was really the beginning of that process, which was
interrupted by the outbreak of the War in September 1939, and resumed some
four years later.
In the fourth week of April 1939 Gandhi finally decided he had had
enough of Rajkot and the black flags and went off, after all, to Tripura.
There to his disgust Bhose was re-elected as President of Congress, and
thereafter their paths parted, Bhose towards increasing militancy and
eventual rebellion against the British, and Gandhi to continue on the way
of passive resistance and peaceful persuasion. I am grateful that I had
the opportunity of meeting Gandhi and talking to him however briefly. He
was a great man, with considerable charm, but by no means the Saint he has
often been depicted. His wife, poor woman, knew that.