Word: gandhis
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Gandhi is still one of Nehru's heroes, even though he has split with him on tactics and methods...
...Gandhi added: "I do not want to help the Japs, even in order to free India. India, during the past 50 years' struggle for freedom, has learned not to bow to any foreign power. The moment my demands are complied with, India, instead of being sullen, becomes an ally. Remember, I am more interested than the British in keeping the Japs out. For Britain, defeat in Indian waters may mean only the loss of India, but if Japan wins, India loses everything...
...free India, said Gandhi, would not necessarily declare war against Japan, but it "becomes an ally of the Allied powers simply out of gratefulness in payment of debt, however overdue. Human nature thanks a debt or when he discharges a debt. All I have done is make this appeal [for independence] on bare and inherent justice and hope to find an echo in the British heart. Britons play desperately on the physical field. Let them play desperately on the moral field and declare that India's independence is fair, irrespective of India's demands...
...Gandhi brushed aside the objection that a free India would mean nothing if India's Moslems did not accept Hindu rule. "I have not asked the British to hand over India to Congress or to the Hindus. Let them entrust India to God or, in modern parlance, to anarchy. Then all parties will fight one another like dogs, or will, when real responsibility comes, reach a reasonable agreement. But I expect nonviolence to arise out of that agreement...
...Said Gandhi: "It is a bad job because it is an imposition on India. It is not at India's request or consent that they are here. It is enough irritation that we were not consulted before being dragged into war-that is our original complaint-but to have brought American forces here is to tighten the stranglehold on us. I am not prejudiced against Americans and my thousands of friends in America, but it is my point that all these things are not happening at the invitation of India...