(In the following letter addressed to Americans and written on August 3, 1942, sometime before the fateful August Disturbances started, Gandhiji asked the inhabitants of America not to be misled by the vilifying propaganda of Britain against Indian national leaders including himself. He in due humility called upon them to sift the truth from the chaff and to give moral support to India’s demand for freedom.)
INTERESTED PROPAGANDA HAS BEGUILED YOU.
I claim to be a votary of truth from my childhood. It was the most natural thing to me. My prayerful search gave me the revealing maxim “Truth is God” instead of the usual one “God is Truth”. That maxim enables me to see God face to face as it were. I feel Him pervade every fibre of my being. With this truth as witness between you and me, I assert that I would not have asked my country to invite Great Britain to withdraw her rule over India, irrespective of any demand to the contrary, if I had not seen at once that for the sake of Great Britain and the Allied cause, it was necessary for Britain boldly to perform the duty of freeing India from bondage.
By that supreme act of justice Britain would have taken away all cause for the seething discontent of India. She will turn the growing ill-will into goodwill. I submit that it is worth all the battleships and airships that your wonder working engineers and financial resources can produce.
I know that interested propaganda has filled your ears and eyes with distorted visions of the Congress position. I have been painted as a hypocrite and enemy of Britain under disguise. My demonstrable spirit of accommodation has been described as my inconsistency, proving me to be an utterly unreliable man. I am not going to burden this letter with proof in support of my assertions. I know the credit I have enjoyed in America will not stand me in good stead, nothing I may argue in self-defence will carry conviction.
You have made common cause with Great Britain. You cannot therefore disown responsibility for anything that her representatives do in India. You will do a grievous wrong to the Allied cause if you do not sift the truth from the chaff whilst there is yet time. Just think of it. Is there anything wrong in the Congress demanding unconditional recognition of India’s independence? It is being said but this is not the time. We say this is the psychological moment for that recognition. For then and then only can there be irresistible opposition to Japanese aggression. It is of immense value to the Allied cause if it is also of equal value to India. The Congress has anticipated and provided for every possible difficulty in the way of recognition. I want you to look upon the immediate recognition of India’s independence as a war measure of first class magnitude.