Wishesh June 2015 Online E-Magazine

66
Indian HISTORY
juggery. The latter may even cause jaundice, whereas
a pinch of salt adds flavour to the meal. If Anand gives
up its savour of courage and such other virtues which
have been attributed to the Patidars are not displayed
in Anand at this juncture, where else can one see
them?.’24
The students’ services to the national cause were
also applauded. They were advised to suspend their
studies for as long as this struggle continued. Formerly,
Gandhi had asked his students to leave schools and to
set up national schools25 But this time he asked them
to leave schools and come out on the ‘battle-field’
and become ‘mendicants’ for the sake of the country.
But he did not ask them to give up their studies for
good, but only to give up book-learning so long as the
struggle lasted26
At Borsad, the reception of Gandhi and his satyagrahis
was celebrated with the immediate announcement of
the resignations of headmen, matadars and ravanias
of twenty villages of the taluka. Over one hundred
village officers of twenty-five villages submitted their
resignations27 The government sources commented,
‘Gandhi’s attention is directed on two points i.e.
resignations of patels and enrolling volunteers. Under
his instructions local workers are trying to get more
resignations under the threat of social boycott.’28
They were warmly received by the village folk. They
were keen to listen to Gandhi’s discourse. He explained
to them, ‘Our patience has been severely tried. We
must free ourselves from the yoke of this Government
and we are prepared to undergo any hardships that
we may have to suffer in order to secure swaraj. It is
our duty as well as our right to secure swraj.’29
‘Today we are defying the salt law. Tomorrow we shall
have to consign other laws to the waste-paper basket.
Doing so we shall practise such severe non-cooperation
that finally it will not be possible for the administration
to be carried on at all. Let the Government then, to
carry on its rule, use guns against us, send us to prison,
hang us. But how many can be given such punishment?
Try and calculate how much time it will take a lakh of
Britishers to hang thirty crores of persons.’30
Gandhi once again exhorted the students to leave their
institutions and join the struggle for independence.
He desired that all students studying in the local high
school and who were above the age of fifteen, and all
teachers too, should enroll themselves. He pleaded
that wherever revolutions had taken place, that is, in
Japan, China, Egypt, Ireland and in England, students
and teachers had played a prominent role. In Europe,
war broke out on 4 August 1914, and when Gandhi
reached England on the 6th of the same month, he
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found that students had left colleges and marched out
with arms31
Gandhi further explained that his prostrating himself
on the ground for the sake of removing the hardships
of crores of people was of no avail. He had spared no
efforts in drafting appeals.
He became a revolutionary when politeness and
persuasion proved infructious. He indeed found peace
in describing himself as a revolutionary and appealed
that in a revolution of that nature which was calm,
peaceful and truthful, people should get themselves
enrolled regardless of the religious faith to which
they belonged. He was confident that if they enlisted
themselves with sincerity and if they could keep up
their courage, the salt tax would have been abolished,
this administration would have come to an end and all
the hardships enumerated in the letter to the Viceroy
as well as those which had not been enumerated
would have to cease.
On 19 March, the party of satyagrahis reached
Ras Taluka where Sardar Patel was arrested and
sentenced to prison and in which he had carried on
such a vigorous struggle in 1924 that the Government
had finally to admit its ‘error and mete out justice that
should not have required a struggle. It is as if Sardar
was sentenced to prison as a reward for having served
you’32
During the short stay of Gandhi, some of the headmen
and matadars had handed in their resignations. But
Gandhi expressed unhappiness on the small number
of resignations at Ras. In fact, the headman, talati and
revania were the representatives of the government
in the villages and it was through these persons that
the latter carried on its administration. A village which
was afraid of a handful of men and continued to act in a
manner contrary to its own wishes, neither enhanced
the prestige of the headman, the talati or the revania
nor that of the villagers themselves. Sardar Patel had
been making great effort to end this indignity33
Gandhi praised the services rendered by Sardar
Patel. He also apprised the villagers of his mission.
He explained ‘Sardar neither made speeches nor
came here to foment trouble. Neither the Magistrate
nor you had acted any sort of trouble. The task for
which Sardar had approached you was not a secret
to anyone. A satyagrahi has no secrets..... What
secret can a satyagrahi like Sardar have?’ He had
come there to clear the way for Gandhi and he had
not come there to convey the message regarding
salt. Gandhi was at a loss to know about the offence
committed by Sardar Patel and wondered that a man
of his stature should have been awarded a sentence