Word: gandhis
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Disrespect in the Soles. Two of the chief mourners on the duck which bore Gandhi's ashes were Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, both clad in white dhotis, both barefoot. The two men on whom India's hopes were now pinned-the gentle, philosophical Nehru, who agreed with Gandhi's policy of conciliation toward Moslems, and the hard man of action Patel, no conciliator-seemed united in grief and respect for Gandhi's wishes. Their first step had been to strike at the extremist communal organizations, Hindu and Moslem, which had been fomenting religious hatred...
First they banned the Rashtriya Sway-am Sewak Sangh (Organization for Service to the Nation), militant Hindu youth organization of which Gandhi's assassin, Nathu Ram Vinayak Godse, was a member. Some 1,200 leaders and members were arrested for questioning. The secret R.S.S.S., which had mushroomed to a membership of about 2,000,000 since the communal riots began last year, drew most of its strength from the warlike Mahratta people of western India, who have always regarded the Moslems as invading interlopers...
...India a Hindu state, with rule based on Hindu customs and scriptures, where Moslems and other non-Hindus would be at best tolerated strangers. In recent months R.S.S.S. recruits (beginning at eight years of age) have been drilled to hate Congress leaders. One exercise was to smash pictures of Gandhi. Another: to wear pictures of Gandhi and Nehru on the inner soles of their shoes, a supreme mark of disrespect...
Probing deeper for the roots of violence, the government reached into two Hindu princely states, Alwar and Bharatpur. The two Maharajas, suspected of encouraging extremists, were deposed. During communal riots last year, every Moslem in Alwar was either killed or driven out of the state. When Gandhi's death was announced, saffron-robed holy men had distributed sweets, shouting "Gandhi mar; bhagwa jhenda zindabad!" ("Gandhi is dead; long live the Hindu flag...
...same day, at 50 other spots throughout India, portions of Gandhi's ashes were immersed amid ceremonies watched by 50 million Indians. From the India League of America came a request for ashes to be enshrined in a proposed Gandhi memorial in Washington...