Gandhi’s Views on Communal Unity: 2020

Gandhi was one of the greatest champions of communal unity 1 in India. He lived his whole life
striving for it, ensuring it, and finally attained martyrdom at the altar of communal harmony.

Childhood Experiences: Gandhi’s views on communal unity were largely influenced by his
family background and upbringing. Gandhi’s father, Karamchand Gandhi, was a
VallabhacharyaVaishnav, a community generally very strict about inter-dining with other
communities, but being the diwan of Rajkot he had to interact with people of different faiths.
Gandhi was, however, more influenced by his mother. 2 His mother, Putlibai, belonged to
Parnami sect which was founded in the early 18 th century by Prannath who preached that the
Puranas, the Koran and the Bible represented merely alternative paths to One God. No images
were allowed in Parnami temples where scriptures of different religions were placed. Apart from
his mother’s influence, being a precocious and sensitive child, Gandhi was deeply moved by the
stories of Raja Harischandra who sacrificed his all for truth, and the story of Shravan Kumar who
was a devoted son. Thus, Gandhi grew up in an environment of composite culture, representing
different religions except Christianity, which did not have much favour with the upper sections
of the community in Gujarat because of the activities of some of the missionaries in converting
tribals to their faith, particularly in the Saurashtra region. The influences in these formative years
were largely responsible for his religious and spiritual views later. He affirmed his childhood
impressions during a speech in 1947 where he asserted that his belief in complete brotherhood
among Hindus, Muslims and Parsis dated back to before 1885 when he was barely 12 years old.3

Experiences in London: In 1888 Gandhi left for England to study law. In England, being viewed
as an Indian and a Hindu, Gandhi was expected to be conversant with the Hindu religious
scriptures. He had not read any of these and therefore diligently set himself to study them. He
read the Gita, translated as The Celestial Song by Edwin Arnold and also read the biography of
Buddha, entitled The Light of Asia written by the same author. He read Carlyle’s Prophet
Mohammad, the New Testament and books on Zoarashtrianism. Combined with these readings,
his exposure to liberal thought in Britain formed his views on the relation between religion and
state. In London, in those days it was almost impossible to get vegetarian food, a promise that he
had made to his mother, which made him come into contact with the Vegetarian Society of
London. In this connection, the noted historian, IrfanHabib observes:

On the one hand, Gandhi tried to remain loyal to his traditional background, which for him took the form of
semi-fanatical belief in vegetarianism. On the other hand, he met through the vegetarian movement itself,
earnest Christians as well as liberals, contacts that began to kindle in him a humanism which he tended to
treat as message of true religion.4

Experiences in South Africa: Gandhi came into contact with missionaries and Christian religious
literature and practices in a big way while he was in South Africa for fighting a lawsuit there. At
one point of time there was a pressure on him to convert to Christianity because he was
impressed by the sense of service and suffering in the Christian faith. There is a correspondence
between him and a fellow Gujarati,RajaRajchandra, a kind of mentor to Gandhi in spiritual
matters and finally Gandhi did not convert. Apart from Rajchandra’s insistence that all roads
lead to one goal of moksha, one reason for not converting to Christianity was that he found the
concept of a person being God or the idea that God revealed the true religion to a chosen person,
problematic. Even in his own faith he did not believe in Rama or Krishna as historical
persons.His idea of Rama was that of the supreme God and who represented the Truth. Later on,
he dispensed with even the name and declared that Truth itself was God.

It is interesting to recall that in South Africa Gandhi was considered a representative of Indian
community and when he was to go to England as the head of a delegation to represent the case of
Indians, some Hindus in Transvaal wanted the deputation to include an additional Hindu ‘to
balance Ali’ a Muslim member of the delegation, underlining the non-communal standing of
Gandhi. The idea of multi-faith prayers that Gandhi was to follow later in life also was born in
South Africa where in his settlements like the Phoenix farm, people belonging to all faiths lived.

Gandhi’s Religion: Gleaning good points from different religions, Gandhi had formed his own
conception of religion which did not correspond fully with any one religion. J.T.F. Jordans
therefore aptly titles his book describing Gandhi’s faith as Gandhi’s Religion:A Homespun
Shawl. Gandhi believed in the ‘religion which was above all religions’ (Hind Swaraj).
Compassion for all sentient beings was the hallmark of this religion. Therefore his
favouritebhajan was Vaishnavajana to tenekahiye je peed parayijane re—he is a true vaishnava,
who empathizes with the suffering of others.’ According to Gandhi one should not abandon
compassion even if his or her religious scriptures said so. One should not follow one’s religious
books blindly because though all religions proceed from the same God ‘all are imperfect because
they have come down to us through imperfect human instrumentality.’ 5

As a seeker of truth, Gandhi was constantly examining his beliefs and ideas and this sometimes
led to confusion in the minds of the people. For insistence, his statement not to separate religion
from politics, by which he meant ‘the ordered moral government of the universe’, 6 or his use of
idioms like ’Ramrajya’ were misconstrued by both fanatical Hindus and fanatical Muslims as
plea for ‘Hindu rashtra’ and Gandhi had to finally pay a heavy price for this in the agony of
communal riots, partition and finally his own martyrdom. In 1940s when communalism took
hold of India, Gandhi in his speeches started asserting that organized religion should be kept
separate from politics. Similarly, his equating Ramrajya with just state is also ignored whereas as
early as in 1925 in his address at the Kathiawar Political Conference he had stated:
Such Ramrajya is possible even today. The race of Rama is not extinct. In modern times
the first Caliphs may be said to have established RamrajyaAbubaker and Hazrat Umar
collected revenue running into crores and yet personally they were as good as fakirs.7

Gandhi’s Writings on Communal Unity:

Hind Swaraj:
His earliest writings on the communal question are found in his book Hind Swaraj. In this
booklet a full chapter is devoted to it (Chapter X). As is already discussed, one of the reasons for
writing Hind Swarajwas to address the question of violence that had crept into the freedom
struggle of India. This violence was largely attributed to the provocation by the British
government’s act of Partitioning the province of Bengal, the centre of nationalist sentiments,
along communal lines with the intention of dividing the people. The swadeshimovement which
was launched to undo this Partition unwittingly divided the people along communal lines
because of some of its leaders, unmindful of the Muslims sensitivities, followed practices with
which Muslims were not very comfortable. Though Gandhi was in South Africa when this
movement was going on in India he was aware of the developments. Against this background,
Gandhi brought in the question of Indian nation with reference to Hindus and Muslims in Hind
Swaraj.

As is already mentioned the Hind Swaraj is written in the form of a dialogue between an ‘editor’
and a ‘reader’. The former represents Gandhi’s views whereas the latter represents the views of
the youth in India generally. During the discussion with the As the ‘editor’ when Gandhi says
that India has been a nation even before the advent of the British rule, and cites the example of
four centres of Hindu holy places, mathas, in four corners of India as a proof, the ‘reader’
enquires whether India continued to remain a nation when Muslims came to India. The ‘reader’,
by implication, meant that Hindus and Muslims had such irreconcilable differences that they
could not be part of one nation.

Gandhi rejects the stand and states in unequivocal terms that the Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and
Christians who have made India their country are fellow-countrymen and they will have to live
in unity, for their own interest. He further questioned the ‘one-religion one state’ theory by
stating: ‘In no part of the world are one nationality and one religion synonymous terms; nor has
it ever been so in India.’ 8 He also takes up the issue of cow–slaughter that was the reason behind
the animosity between the two communities sometimes even leading to killings of members of
the both communities. He advised the Hindus to try to explain to their Muslim brothers the
significance of cow in their religion and persuade them not to kill the animal. If the latter did not
listen, Gandhi wrote ‘If I were overfull of pity for the cow, I should sacrifice my life to save her
but not take my brother’s.’9 He also criticized the cow–protection societies that had cropped up
because these societies did not care for the cows when they are alive and allowed them to be
mistreated but came into action only when Muslims slaughtered them. Lastly, he argued, if
Hindus say that they believe in the principle of non-killing, how come they kill a fellow man?
Besides, some Hindus also partake of meat and are not excluded from India because of that.

Gandhi concedes that the animosity between the two communities is largely the doing of the
British who project Hindus and Muslims as separate nations. He emphasizes the fact that good
relations between the two communities can be built only if both make sincere efforts to
understand each other’s religions. ‘Those who do not wish to misunderstand things may read up
the Koran, and they will find therein hundreds of passages acceptable to the Hindus; and the
Bhagwadgita contains passages to which not a Mahomedan can take exception.’ 10 When the two
communities do so, the British will not be able to sow dissensions. Using a commonplace
imagery Gandhi further reinforces his argument: ‘The way to save the pot is not to keep it away
from the danger point but to bake it so that no stone would break it.’ 11 He asks the Hindus to take
the first step in the direction of communal unity since they are in majority. He also refers to the
sense of insecurity among the Muslims which has made them ask for special concessions from
Lord Morley in the form of Separate Electorate for Muslims. Therefore it is necessary that the
Hindus should make all efforts to ‘inspire confidence’ among the Muslims.

Other Writings:
Later on in many of his writings Gandhi came back to the issue of communal harmony. This
became frequent when the communal situation became volatile after the sudden suspension of
the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922.The Moplah rebellion in the south, which was basically
a fight between the tillers and landlords, took a communal colour as the farmers were mainly
poor Muslims whereas the landlords were Hindus. The great Hindu-Muslim unity that was seen
during the Non-Cooperation Movement vanished. Gandhi and Ali Brothers, the architects of this
unity, also parted ways. Fifteen to twenty riots a year became the order of the day for almost a
decade following the suspension. Gandhi was constrained to write a series of articles in his
newspaper Young India in May 1924 which were later published in the form of a pamphlet
entitled Hindu-Muslim Tension: its Cause and Cure. This article did not help the situation. Some
of the remarks made by him about Muslims, irked the community and distanced them from him.
Despite his clarifications and apologies the rift continued to widen. At this point he also took up
cudgels against the AryaSamajis who had become very active in Punjab. There was a virulent
propaganda conducted between the fundamentalists among the AryaSamajis and Muslims
against each other, further worsening the communal situation. In order to assuage the feelings of
Hindus, Gandhi also entered into dialogue with Christian missionaries because of the tension
over conversions of tribals to Christianity and some questionable missionary activities in some
parts of India.

In a desperate attempt to forge the heart unity, which according to him was at the center of
communal unity in India Gandhi wrote extensively in the columns of his newspapers Navajivan,
Harijanbandhu (Gujarati),Young India, Harijan (English) and HarijanSewak (Hindi)about the
good points of all religions--- Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Gandhi could
discern noble principles in all religions and asked Indians not only to show toleration and respect
to faiths other than their own, instead have genuine ‘goodwill’ for different religions. He was of
the opinion that there was a religion above all religions that was to be followed by followers of
all faiths. He appreciated Hinduism for its ‘tolerance’ and Buddhism for giving Hinduism a ‘new
life and a new interpretation’ by rejecting the idea that God needed animal sacrifice to be pleased
and also for emphasizing and re-declaring the ‘eternal and unalterable existence of the moral
government of this universe’. Gandhi appreciated Islam for its uncompromising belief in the
oneness of God and brotherhood of man. Though he did not believe in ascribing exclusive
divinity to Jesus, he appreciated and respected the principles of suffering and service in the
Christian faith.

On Conversion from one religion to another:

Since all religions had something good to offer to humanity, Gandhi did not approve of forced
conversions from one religion to another. He wanted men and women to be a good Hindu or a
good Muslim or a good Christian rather than looking for redemption in a religion in which they
are not born. Speaking against the Shuddhi movement launched by the AryaSamajists for
reconverting people from other faiths to Hinduism, or the Muslim version of Shuddhimovement,
the Tabligh movement, he wrote:
The real Shuddhimovement should consist in each one trying to arrive at perfection in his or her own faith.
In such a plan character would be the only test. What is the use of crossing from one compartment to
another, if does not mean a moral rise?12
 As referred to earlier, he also entered into dialogue with Christian missionaries because of the
tension over conversion of tribals to Christianity and some questionable missionary activities in
some parts of India.

Gandhi’s Actions for Communal Unity:

Gandhi was a man of action. Not only did he believe in and write on communal unity but
practised it in real life as well. He encouraged his associates and people in general to do the
same. To bring about a ‘heart unity’ was one of the projects of his Constructive Programme13.
The inmates of the ashrams that he established in South Africa and India were under pledge to
promote and practise communal unity. The members of the Congress Party were expected to be
respectful to all religions. The constitution of the party contained this clause and no one could
become a member until he/ she took an oath to the effect. When with the announcement of the
partition of the India into two countries, India and Pakistan was announced and there were wide
spread communal riots across the length and breadth of the nation, Gandhi carried forward his
message of love and respect for all communities in his prayer meetings. These meetings were
described as solitary beacon of light and hope in the otherwise hate-ridden atmosphere of the
time. The government decided to broadcast the speeches given by Gandhi at these meetings live
on the All India Radio so that his message reached the maximum number of people.

In spite of these efforts when violence did not stop, as a real satyagrahi, Gandhi travelled on foot
in the riot affected areas at great personal risk. When there was rioting in Noakhali(now in
Bangladesh) in 1946 Gandhi met the victims and took steps to bring about communal harmony
by organizing peace councils. His Bengali interpreter has giving a graphic account of his journey
where people insulted him, littered his path with night soil and threatened to kill him but Gandhi
was undeterred. He carried on with his mission. Finally he managed to bring about love and
understanding among the warring parties. Lord Mountbatten hailed Gandhi as a ‘one man
boundary force’ because of this feat. He clearly achieved peace in Bengal while fifty thousand
soldiers could not do so in Punjab that saw the bloodiest rioting.

In his last days in Delhi, Gandhi agonized over the sufferings of refugees. He complained about
the lack of efforts on the part of Jinnah’s government in protecting the lives of Hindus and Sikhs
in Pakistan. When these refugees came to Delhi with their horror stories, the already fragile
communal peace was disturbed and the Muslims in India felt insecure. Gandhi tried to put a stop
to his madness by offering the supreme sacrifice of going on fast unto death till the leaders of
both communities assured him of putting a stop to all bloodshed. Initially the response was tepid
but soon when it became clear that Gandhi was very serious in his intention, people started
coming in hordes asking forgiveness from him for their conduct and assuring him of good
behavior.

Gandhi’s last fast was undertaken to press the government to release the funds meant for
Pakistan which had been held up because Pakistan had failed to honour its commitment of
providing safe passage to refugees who wanted to come to India. This was seen by some as an
act of appeasement to Pakistan on the part of Gandhi. He felt that the financial issues need not
be mixed up with political ones. The rightists groups in India criticized Gandhi for this. They felt
that he was a great impediment in not letting them teach the wrongdoers a lesson. Instead of
fighting Gandhi on principles, they chose to eliminate him physically. An attempt on his life was
made twice in the month of January 1948 in which the second attempt proved to be fatal. Gandhi
was shot dead on 30 January 1948when he was going for his prayer meeting by Nathu Ram
Godse an ex-member of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RastriyaSwayamSewakSangh. Although
pleas for commutation ofGodse’s sentence of death were made by India's prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru and by Gandhi's two sons on the grounds that a death sentence would
dishonour the legacy of a man opposed to all forms of violence, he was hanged. The trial speech
delivered by Godse won him many followers at the time of his death and many admire him even
today. But if one thinks of the whole issue where was the bravery in killing a 78 year old
unarmed man whose words were so powerful that one was threatened by them and did not have
the courage or confidence to argue with the person who would have very much appreciated to
engage in an argument with someone like Godse, the editor of a newspaper in Pune. The news
of Gandhi’s death spread like wild fire across the country and the world. All rioting stopped
immediately and Gandhi seemed to have achieved in his death temporarily what he could not
achieve while alive.

Gandhi has been criticized by a section of Indians as being soft on the Muslims at the expense of
his co-religionists. He is also accused of being an accomplice in the vivisection of the country
which some believe, he could have prevented by going on fast unto death. In answer to the first
accusation of appeasement one can say that Gandhi did not spare the Muslims when he felt that
they were in the wrong. He was bold enough to present a report with entirely opposite
conclusions from those of Shaukat Ali when the two examined a case of communal tension in
Kohat in 1928 which put an end to the friendship between the two. 14 Many a time he had earned
the ire of the Muslims when he commented on street punishments handed out by the Maulavis. 15
Gandhi believed that being a member of the majority community in India it was expected of him
to treat the Muslims with extra care. The second accusation as to why he did not stop Partition,
Gandhi has stated in so many words that the ‘hymn of hate’ that had been started by fanatics in
both the communities had rendered it difficult to stop the surge towards partition. He agreed to it
in the hope that like in families when there is partition of ancestral property the siblings live in
harmony, India and Pakistan would also do the same. Besides, he did not want to impose his will
when majority of the population wanted partition. In a public statement he conceded: ‘When I
said that the country should not be divided I was confident that I had the support of the masses.
But when the popular view is contrary to mine, should I force my own view on the people?16

In retrospect when one examines Gandhi’s position on communal unity it becomes clear that he
was a pragmatist. He could foresee that with all its diversities, communal unity was absolutely
essential for the survival of India as a country. According to the 2001 census there are 4599
religious sects and 325 languages and dialects in India. Almost all the major religions in India
have many sub-sects. Under the circumstances, imposing one religious ideology as state ideology
would have not only been against the democratic structure of India but also would have engulfed
her in unending communal strife. Pakistan that was formed in 1947 on the basis of religion could
not keep its eastern wing that split away as Bangladesh in 1971. Even later, Islam has not proved
a binding force in Pakistan. As the famous human rights activist in Pakistan, AsmaJehangir,
pointed out, if India today suffers from communalism of the middle class, Pakistan suffers from
sectarianism in Islam. This only shows that it is easier to dwell on differences than to identify the
commonalities. Therefore, only through conscious and concerted effort can communal harmony
be fully restored in India. And this is essential to its survival as well as progress. The philosophy
of heart unity and of understanding the religion of others as advocated by Gandhi seems to be the
only way out.
1
The word’communal’ is generically a value neutral term meaning a sense of commonality among the members of a community but over
the years it has come to acquire a pejorative meaning—a sense of belonging to one’s community coupled with hatred towards the other. In
India because of the Partition of the subcontinent along religious lines, the word is usually come to be limited to the reference to Hindus
and Muslims—only at times including the Sikhs, Christians and other minorities. In the present times with the rise of Dalit assertion, the
followers of Buddhism are also referred to in the communal parlance because of the fact of Dr. Ambedkar and his followers conversion to
Buddhism in 1957. Gandhi being an icon in India, his views, actions and successes or failures are continuously examined with different
sides, especially the Right and the Left, using his statements for their benefit. It, therefore, becomes an imperative need to reexamine or
present the views of Gandhi on the ‘communal’ question or secularism afresh.

2
the fourth wife of his father, and being the youngest in the family, he was very close to her.Gandhi had three siblings --two brothers,
Laxmidas and Karsandas, and one sister, Raliatbehn.
3
CWMG Vol.XCVI,p.330
4
IrfanHabib, “Gandhiji”, Towards a Secular and Modern India:Gandhi Reconsidered,SAHMAT,2004,p.28
5
Young India, 29-5-24
6
Harijan,10.2.40,CWMG, LXI,p.441
7
Young India,18.1.1925, CWMG, XXV,p.558-9
8
MK Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, p.43
9
ibid.,p.44
10
ibid., p.46
11
ibid.
12
Young India, 29.5.24

13
See Appendix-II
14
Letter to Shaukat Ali, CWMG.,XXXVII,pp.129-32
15
‘Stoning to Death’, Young India, 26.03.1925,CWMG,XXVI,p.415
16
PrarthanaPravachan-I, LXXXVIII, p.118