Remembering Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary

SUN declined and beacon light of humanity declined too. Is it darkness then? Light and darkness, darkness and light; night comes after day and day chases the night." Tajuddin Ahmad, 1948.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, of whom the world knows much about, was born in Porbandar (otherwise called Sudamapuri) Gujarat, India, in 1869 to Karamchand (alias Kaba Gandhi) and his fourth wife Putlibai. The family was Vaishnava, having a very conservative attitude toward many things. M. K. Gandhi was a rare combination of a number of laudable characteristics like simplicity, frankness, truthfulness, firmness and perseverance.
He was instrumental in realising the freedom of the entire Indian subcontinent from about 190 years of British colonial rule. That is why he is regarded as the father of Indian nationhood. But an assassin killed this great man on January 30, 1948, while going for evening prayer.
I learned about M. K. Gandhi's autobiography, The story of my experiments with truth, in my adolescence, and the term "experiments with truth" attracted me much, but I could not find this book in Bangladesh. I have only recently found this 505-page book, published in 1957 by Beacon Press, Boston, USA. It is a document of his candid expression of truth.
Although born to a state minister of India, Mohandas led a very simple life all through. He used to take bread and vegetables, even when studying for Matriculation and Law in England. He used to walk 8-10 miles daily, both for keeping spending to a minimum and for keeping his body fit. During the climax of his social movement (called non-violent non-cooperation), he wore a dhoti, and was ready to have even a short one (of 30 inches width, if the weavers failed to make a required 45 inches Khadi cloth for him). One would be amazed to see most of the photos of this great leader bare-bodied!
As a member of Vaishnava family, Mohandas was a vegetarian. His school friends used to eat meat and even tried to convince him of the "goodness" of a carnivorous diet. Once in his high school days, he tried to reform one friend towards vegetarianism, but instead he and his elder brother themselves started eating meat. This event he termed a "tragedy," and could come out of this having the conviction that he should not tell a lie to his parents.
If eating meat was really essential to have enough strength to fight the English to have Swaraj, he had to do it openly. Even in England, where most people around him (including his mother) thought that he could not avoid meat (and even wine), he not only lived without these but also organised a Vegetarian Society there and campaigned for vegetarianism. This was possible mostly because he felt that he could not break the vow he made to his mother.
In his early days of practicing law in South Africa, he discovered that his client was hiding a truth; he expressed his firmness against this and lastly won the case, though he paid a minimal amount of fine for his client's misdeed.
If any type of illness attacked him, he used indigenous treatment like water therapy and fasting. Once in South Africa, he was attacked by diarrhea and was about to die. But no physician could convince him of the need for a carnivorous diet. He treated himself with fasting and vegetarianism.
During his London days, M. K. Gandhi tried to be a perfect Englishman in dressing. This habit he brought to South Africa as well. He used to wear an Indian turban that the white people there did not like. But he continued with that for more than a decade of his South African life.
Being a Barrister, he liked to travel by train in the first class. But the white British rail officers did not let a "coolie Barrister" (the word "coolie" was used for Indians in South Africa because most of them worked as labourers there) travel by the first class. While traveling from Durban to Pretoria, he had a first class ticket, but the officer in-charge asked him to get out and board a van compartment. At one point, the officer tried to push him out of the train, but he firmly clung to the brass rails of the coachbox. He was determined to keep the hold even at the risk of breaking his wrist bone.
He practiced perseverance throughout his life. But this virtue was more expressed in advising and practicing it during his movement against obligatory indigo cultivation and the less than adequate wages for mill workers. The downtrodden masses were on strike, and he put the condition that under no circumstances should they break strike before realisation of the legitimate demands. But at one point, the strikers grew impatient. Then he went on a hunger strike until their firmness on the demand came back.
He knew well of the white peoples' prejudice towards the darker Indians and also of the economic injustice done by the Britishers to them. Yet, he helped the Britishers in WW-1 by collecting volunteers from both Africans (while he was in Africa) and Indians to fight against the enemies.
Although he had firm belief in Hinduism, he always respected others' beliefs. At the time of the War Conference arranged by the Britishers, the Ali brothers (Maolana Mohammad Ali and Shawkat Ali) were in jail. He raised the question to the Viceroy several times for their release. Lastly, it was his greatness in convincing the Muslim community (about Hindu-Muslim brotherhood) that was said to be the alleged reason for the assassination of this great leader.
In short, Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, his belief in truth, and the passion for independence began a drive for freedom that doomed British colonialism.
The quotation with which I started this write-up is from Bangladesh's first Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad's diary. Here our "star politician" termed Gandhi as the "Sun." The sun "declined," but day really chased the night in India through establishment of functional democracy and human rights.

M. A .S. Molla is a freelance contributor on social issues.