Sunday 15 November 2015

13th NOV 1894 MAHATMA GANDHIJI LEAVES FOR SOUTH AFRICA

On January 28, 1948, two days before he was assassinated, he told a prayer meeting in New Delhi: "I have myself lived in South Africa for twenty years and I can therefore say that it is my country." (Item 244). Gandhiji reminisced on South Africa even in his last public speech, at the prayer meeting the day before he was assassinated. The South African experience left a deep and lasting impression on Gandhiji and influenced the Indian national movement that he was to lead. As he began to lead local and then national struggles in India, Gandhiji often recalled his South African experience as a frame of reference for the direction of the struggles in India. In South Africa, Gandhiji became convinced of the invincibility of non-violent resistance to evil, if properly led. He developed strong convictions on the need for the elimination of untouchability, Hindu-Muslim unity, national language, prohibition, respect for manual labour, promotion of spinning and cottage industries etc. He had encouraged the participation of women in the last decisive phase of the struggle in 1913 and was gratified by the way they had acquitted themselves and inspired others. He was so impressed by the heroism of the poor workers that he said in London on August 8, 1914: "These men and women are the salt of India; on them will be built the Indian nation that is to be." *** He continued to follow the situation in South Africa until the end of his life, and to respond to appeals from the Indian community as it faced ever new measures of discrimination and harassment. He wrote and spoke extensively on the plight of Indians in South Africa, built public opinion and promoted public and governmental action in support of their legitimate rights. Towards the end of his life, he gave guidance and support to the Indian passive resistance movement in South Africa (1946-48), which was to inspire all the oppressed people and lead to the emergence of the great national movement of that country. The time and effort that Gandhiji spent on support to the Indians in South Africa, and his views on developments in South Africa after his departure from that country, are, however, not sufficiently known, as no collection of the relevant speeches, articles and letters has been available. The present collection is being published on the eve of the centenary of his voyage to South Africa and at a time when we, in India, can look forward to fruitful and friendly relations with a new South Africa. It will, we hope, promote a greater understanding between the peoples of India and South Africa whose national movements have been intimately linked for almost a century. * * * The struggle for human dignity led by Gandhiji in South Africa may be briefly reviewed here as it had a lasting impact on South Africa and India and forms the background for this volume. A year after he arrived in South Africa as a 23-year-old barrister, Gandhiji decided to devote himself to serving the Indian community which was subjected to discrimination and humiliation by the white rulers. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 and the Transvaal British Indian Association in 1903. For over a decade, he prepared numerous petitions and memoranda, led deputations to the authorities, wrote letters to the press and tried to promote public understanding and support - in South Africa, as well as in India and Britain - for the cause of the Indians in South Africa. His professional practice also came to be largely devoted to the same cause. At that time, Gandhiji had entertained faith in the fairness of the British and in Imperial principles. But it became clear by 1906 that appeals and petitions had proved ineffective and promises had been betrayed. The Transvaal Asiatic Ordinance of 1906, requiring all Indians to register and carry passes, was the last straw. He decided not to submit to this unjust and evil measure. The Indian community in the province took a solemn pledge at a large meeting on July 31, 1906, to defy the law. The Ordinance was denied Royal assent after an Indian deputation (Gandhiji and Haji Ojer Ali) appealed to the Imperial authorities in London. But self-government was granted to the Transvaal at the beginning of 1907 and it enacted the terms of the Ordinance in the Asiatic Registration Act of 1907. The first Satyagraha, or the campaign of non-violent defiance, began in July 1907 when that Act came into force. About 150 persons courted imprisonment by defying the Act and picketing registration offices. This initial phase of the campaign ended at the end of January 1908 when General Smuts and Gandhiji reached a provisional settlement under which the Indians would register voluntarily and the Government would repeal the law. The satyagraha had to be resumed in July 1908 when the Government reneged on the promise to repeal the Act. Over two thousand people, from the small Indian population of less than ten thousand in the Transvaal, as well as some Indians from the Natal, went to prison defying the Registration Act and an immigration law which restricted interprovincial movement by Indians. The movement was suspended in 1911 during talks with the government of the newlyestablished Union of South Africa. But the talks proved fruitless. The Union Government repudiated a promise it made to Gopal Krishna Gokhale, in 1912, to abolish the £3 annual tax which Natal had imposed on indentured labourers who did not reindenture or return to India at the expiration of their contracts. And in 1913, the Cape Supreme Court declared virtually all Indian marriages invalid, by deciding that only marriages performed under Christian rites and duly registered were valid. The Government ignored appeals by the Indian community for legislation to validate the marriages. Gandhiji then decided on a resumption of the satyagraha, both in the Transvaal and in Natal. The abolition of the £3 tax and the validation of marriages were added to the demands of the satyagraha. During this last stage, the movement was joined by workers and women who were directly affected by the £3 tax and the judgment on marriages, and it became a mass movement. People of all religious persuasions - Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians - and of varied occupations - merchants, hawkers, professionals, workers and indentured labourers - came together in this righteous struggle. "The whole community rose like a surging wave. Without organisation, without propaganda, all - nearly 40,000 - courted imprisonment. Nearly ten thousand were actually imprisoned... A bloodless revolution was effected after strenuous discipline in self-suffering." (Gandhiji in Young India, April 20, 1921; Collected Works, Volume 20, page 15). Gandhiji and his colleagues were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. The strikers were rendered leaderless. The army, police and the employers were ruthless in attempts to coerce the workers and suppress the strike. The striking miners were confined in mine compounds turned into prisons and subjected to cruel assaults. Indentured labourers on sugar plantations were beaten and fired at. Several workers were killed. But the strikers remained firm and disciplined; equally significant, they did not deviate from non-violence. John Dube, the first President-General of the African National Congress, gave a moving eye-witness account of an incident in which 500 strikers at Phoenix would not move despite whipping, beating with sticks and rifle butts, running of horses over the crowd, torture and killing of their leader, and firing. (Raojibhai M. Patel, Gandhijiki Sadhana, 1939). A notable aspect of this phase of the campaign was the active participation of women. Gandhiji's wife Kasturba - who was then in poor health and living on a diet of fruit alone - led the way along with several relatives. Gandhiji wrote in Satyagraha in South Africa: "I knew that the step of sending women (from Phoenix settlement) to jail was fraught with serious risk. Most of the sisters in Phoenix spoke Gujarati. They had not had the training or experience of the Transvaal sisters. Moreover, most of them were related to me, and might think of going to jail only on account of my influence with them. If afterwards they flinched at the time of actual trial or could not stand the jail, they might be led to apologise, thus not only giving me a deep shock but also causing serious damage to the movement. I decided not to broach the subject to my wife, as she could not say no to any proposal I made, and if she said yes, I would not know what value to attach to her assent, and as I knew that in a serious matter like this the husband should leave the wife to take what step she liked on her own initiative, and should not be offended at all even if she did not take any step whatever. I talked to the other sisters who readily fell in with my proposal and expressed their readiness to go to jail. They assured me that they would complete their term in jail, come what might. My wife overheard my conversation with the sisters, and addressing me, said, 'I am sorry that you are not telling me about this. What defect is there in me which disqualifies me for jail? I also wish to take the path to which you are inviting the others.` I replied, 'there is no question of my distrust in you. I would be only too glad if you went to jail, but it should not appear at all as if you went at my instance. In matters like this every one should act relying solely upon one's own strength and courage. If I asked you, you might be inclined to go just for the sake of complying with my request. And then if you began to tremble in the law court or were terrified by hardships in jail, I could not find fault with you, but how would it stand with me? How could I then harbour you or look the world in the face? It is fears like these which have prevented me from asking you too to court jail.` 'You may have nothing to do with me`, she said, 'if being unable to stand jail I secure my release by an apology. If you can endure hardships and so can my boys, why cannot I? I am bound to join the struggle.` 'Then I am bound to admit you to it`, said I. 'You know my conditions and you know my temperament. Even now reconsider the matter if you like, and if after mature thought you deliberately come to the conclusion not to join the movement, you are free to withdraw. And you must understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of in changing your decision even now.` 'I have nothing to think about, I am fully determined`, she said..." The women from the Phoenix Settlement and those from the Transvaal were not arrested for several days and they travelled around, encouraging the workers to strike. Kasturba came out of prison emaciated. Valliamma, a 16-year-old girl, insisted on serving her full term in prison despite serious illness and died a few days after release. Public opinion all over India was aroused. The Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, expressed sympathy with the satyagrahis: the Indian and British Governments intervened and the South African Government was forced to negotiate. The satyagraha ended with the Smuts-Gandhi agreement of June 30, 1914, under which all the demands of the satyagraha were conceded.1 The concept of Satyagraha soon assumed world historic importance. *** In a letter to Indians in South Africa, which he wrote on the eve of his departure from that country and signed "the community's indentured labourer," Gandhiji said: "Though I am leaving for the motherland, I am not likely to forget South Africa. I should like friends who may have occasion to go to India to come and see me there. I do intend, of course, to work in India in regard to the disabilities here..." He kept his promise. While he was leading the Indian people in South Africa, their motherland and many of its leaders had lent support. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, in particular, had done much, with a "single-minded and selfless devotion," even to the detriment of his health. Gandhiji, after his return to India, took the mantle of Gokhale. His services proved essential as an antiAsiatic movement gained strength in South Africa. 1 The demands were: (1) Repeal of the Asiatic Act; (2) Removal of racial or colour disqualification from legislation on immigration; (3) Validation of Indian marriages; (4) Removal of annual poll tax of three pounds imposed by a Natal law in 1898 on ex-indentured labourers and their families; and (5) Just administration of existing laws with due regard to vested rights. Gandhiji had been encouraged by what he saw as a change in attitude of the South African Government during the negotiations in 1914. He understood that the settlement with General Smuts implied that no racial distinction would be made in any legislation affecting the Indian community. With the protection of vested rights, and the promise of generosity in administering existing laws, he hoped for a steady improvement of the position of the resident Indians, especially since the Europeans had no more reason to fear of unrestricted Indian immigration. The Smuts-Gandhi Agreement had dealt only with certain specific issues which hurt the self-respect of the Indian community and formed the points of the satyagraha. There remained numerous other discriminatory measures and grievances. Gandhiji had made it clear - in his letter of June 30, 1914, which forms part of the agreement - that Indians "could not be expected to rest content until full civil rights had been restored." But he believed that the objective could now be achieved by a process of education of European opinion and the intercession of Indian and British Governments which had participated in the negotiations of 1914. (Item 1). Gandhiji's hopes for an amelioration of the situation of Indians in South Africa were, however, short-lived. An anti-Asiatic agitation began within a few years after he left South Africa, and he received frequent appeals from the Indian community for help. He tried to do his best, despite his immense preoccupations in India, to publicise the situation, and persuade the Indian Government to act. He felt rather powerless and despondent after 1920 as he lost faith in the British Imperial professions and became a non-co-operator. As he wrote in Young India of March 20, 1924, he developed "utter distrust of the British Imperial system." "... I am able no longer to rely upon verbal or written promises made by persons working under that system and in their capacity as officials or supporters. The history of Indian emigrants to South Africa, East Africa and Fiji is a history of broken promises and of ignominious surrender of their trust by the Imperial Government and the Indian Government, whenever it has been a question of conflicting interests of Europeans against Indians." He could only try to exert some influence by promoting public agitation in India. In that situation, his valued friend, the Reverend C.F. Andrews, proved a great asset. The latter took special interest in the position of Indians overseas. He made several visits to South Africa at critical times and played a significant role in rallying support for the Indian cause from European churchmen, media and liberals. A visit to South Africa in 1924 by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, another close associate of Gandhiji, was also most helpful. After a round table conference in Cape Town in 1926-27, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, for whom Gandhiji had great respect, was appointed Agent of the Government of India in South Africa; he sought the advice of Gandhiji and helped persuade the South African Government to redress some grievances of the Indians. Gandhiji warned several times that the weapon of satyagraha had to be kept alive. It was only when the Indian community in South Africa was prepared to suffer and sacrifice that it could mould its own destiny. Mere diplomatic action could only obtain compromises mitigating new discriminatory measures, accepting what was feasible in the context of white racist opinion and agitation, but could not prevent a steady deterioration of the legal position of the Indians. By 1939 a new leadership emerged in South Africa with the conviction that the rights of the Indian community can only be defended by struggle and sacrifice. It pledged to emulate Gandhiji's own experience in South Africa and sacrifice for the honour and dignity of the Indian people. Dr. Yusuf M. Dadoo, who became chairman of a Council of Action in the Transvaal, appealed to Gandhiji for his blessings for a passive resistance campaign. Gandhiji was impressed by the sincerity Dr. Dadoo. While he advised postponement of passive resistance at that time, pending efforts by the Indian Government for an honourable compromise, he gave moral support to resistance. The passive resistance campaign had to be deferred, however, except for a token satyagraha in 1941, especially by persons who had been associated with Gandhiji and their descendants. A nation-wide passive resistance was launched in June 1946, under the leadership of Dr. Dadoo in the Transvaal and Dr. G. M. Naicker in Natal, when the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act - the "Ghetto Act" - came into force. Gandhiji lent them guidance and valuable support until the end of his life

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