(When the Great War I was over, a Turkish Peace Treaty was signed at Paris, whereby Turkey was to be dismembered and only Constantinople with a fringe of territory for defence purposes was conceded to the Sultan. During the course of the War, Lloyd George the then British Prime Minister had assured the Muslim world that Turkey would not be deprived of the rich lands of Asia Minor and Thrace, and the above treaty was a cruel violation of these assurances and promises. The Mussalmans of India were therefore enraged at this ‘twist’ of the British diplomacy. Mahatma Gandhi at that time gave his full support to the Muslim cause and advised the Mussalmans of India to withdraw their support from the Viceroy’s Government. Protesting against the cruel violence that had been done to the Muslim sentiments he sent the following letter to Lord Chelmsford advising him to represent the Muslim cause to the Allies and in default thereof he told the Viceroy, that non-co-operation was the only course for the Indians.)
WE HAVE LOST FAITH IN BRITISH JUSTICE!
Your Excellency,
As one who has enjoyed a certain measure of Your Excellency’s confidence and as one who claims to be a devoted well wisher of the British Empire, I owe it to Your Excellency and through Your Excellency to His Majesty’s ministers to explain my connection with and my conduct in the Khilafat question.
At the very earliest stage of the War, even while I was in London organising the Indian Volunteer Ambulance Corps, I began to interest myself in the Khilafat question. I perceived how deeply moved the Mussalman world in London was when Turkey decided to throw in her lot with Germany. On my arrival in January of 1915 I found the same anxiousness and earnestness among the Mussalmans with whom I came in contact. Their anxiety became intense when the information about the secret treaties leaked out. Distrust of British intentions filled their minds and despair took possession of them. Even at that moment I advised my Mussalman friends not to give way to despair but to express their fears and their hopes in a disciplined manner. It will be admitted that the whole of the Mussalman India has behaved in a singularly restrained manner during the past five years and that the leaders have been able to keep the turbulent sections of their community under complete control.
The peace terms and Your Excellency’s defence of them have given the Mussalmans of India a shock from which it will be difficult for them to recover. The terms violate the ministerial pledges and utterly disregard Mussalman’s sentiments. I consider that, as a staunch Hindu wishing to live on terms of the closest friendship with my Mussalman countrymen, I should be an unworthy son of India if I did not stand by them in their hour of trial. In my humble opinion their cause is just. They claim that Turkey must not be punished if their sentiment is to be respected. Muslim soldier did not fight to inflict punishment on their own Khalifa or to deprive him of his territories. The Mussalman attitude has been consistent throughout these five years.
My duty to the Empire, to which I owe my loyalty, requires me to resist the cruel violence that has been done to the Mussalman sentiment so far as I am aware. Mussalmans and Hindus have, as a whole, lost faith in British justice and honour. The report of the majority of the Hunter Committee, Your Excellency’s despatch thereon and Mr. Montagu’s reply have only aggravated the distrust. In these circumstances, the only course open to one like me is either in despair to sever all connections with British rule or, if I still retained faith in the inherent superiority of the British constitution to all others at present in vogue, to adopt such means as will rectify the wrong done and thus restore confidence.
I have not lost faith in such superiority and I am not without hope that somehow or other justice will yet be rendered if we show the requisite capacity for suffering. Indeed, my conception of that constitution is that it helps only those who are ready to help themselves. I do not believe that it protects the weak. It gives free scope to the strong to maintain their strength and develop it. The weak under it go to the wall. It is then because I believe in the British constitution that I have advised my Mussalman friends to withdraw their support from Your Excellency’s Government and the Hindus to join them should the peace terms not be revised in accordance with the solemn pledges of ministers and the Muslim sentiment.
Three courses were open to the Mohammedans in order to mark their emphatic disapproval of the utter injustice to which His Majesty’s ministers have become a party if they have not actually been the prime perpetrators of it. They are:
- To resort to violence.
- To advise emigration on a wholesale scale.
- Not to be a party to the injustice by ceasing to co-operate with the Government.
Your Excellency must be aware that there was a time when the boldest, though also the most thoughtless among the Mussalmans favoured violence and that Hijrat (emigration) has not yet ceased to be a battle-cry. I venture to claim that I have succeeded by patient reasoning in weaning the party of violence from its ways. I confess that I did not—I did not attempt to succeed in weaning them from violence on moral grounds but purely on utilitarian grounds. The result for the time being at any rate has, however, been to stop violence. The school of Hijrat has received a check if it has not stopped its activity entirely.
I hold that no repression could have prevented a violent eruption if the people had presented to them a form of direct action involving considerable sacrifice and ensuing success if such direct action was largely taken up by the public. Non-co-operation was the only dignified and constitutional form of such direct action, for it is the right recognised from times immemorial of the subject to refuse to assist a ruler who misrules. At the same time I admit the non-co-operation practised by the mass of people is attended with grave risks. But in a crisis such as has overtaken the Mussalmans of India no step that is unattended with large risks can possibly bring about the desired change. Not to run some risks will be to court much greater risks if not virtual destruction of law and order.
But there is yet an escape from non-co-operation. The Mussalman representation has requested Your Excellency to lead the agitation yourself as did your distinguished predecessor at the time of the South African trouble. But if you cannot see your way to do so, non-co-operation becames a dire necessity. I hope Your Excellency will give those who have accepted my advice and myself the credit for being actuated by nothing less than a stern sense of duty.
I have the honour to remain, Your Excellency’s obdt. servant. (Sd.) M. K. GANDHI. Laburnum Road, Gamdevi, Bombay.