This is the speech written by Gandhi, read out by his associate in his presence(as Gandhi was observing silence day)on Jan 12,1948 after the prayer meeting at Birla house,New Delhi.
One fasts for health’s sake under laws governing health or fasts as a penance for a wrong done and felt as such.In these fasts,the fasting one need not believe in ahimsa.There is ,however, a fast which a votary of non-violence sometimes feels impelled to undertake by
way of protest against some wrong done by society and this he does when he,as a votary of ahimsa,has no other remedy left.
Such an occasion has come my way.When on September 9 I returned to Delhi from Calcutta,I was to proceed to West Punjab.But that was not to be.Gay Delhi looked a city of the dead. As I alighted from the train I observed gloom on every face.I saw even the Sardar, whom humour and the joy that humour gives never desert,was no exception this time.The cause of it I did not know. He was on the platform to receive me.He lost no time in giving me the sad news of the disturbances that had taken place in the metropolis of the Union.At once I saw that I had to be in Delhi and do or die.
There is apparent calm brought about by prompt military and police action.But there is storm within the breast.It may burst forth any day.This I count as no fulfilment of the vow to “do” which alone can keep me from death,the incomparable friend.I yearn for heart friendship between Hindus,Sikhs and Muslims.It subsisted between them the other day.Today it is non-existent.It is a state that no Indian patriot worthy of the name can contemplate with equanimity.
Though the voice within has been beckoning for a long time,I have been shutting my ears to it lest it might be the voice of Satan,otherwise called my weakness.I never like to feel resourceless;a satyagrahi never should.Fasting is his last resort in the place of the sword—his or others.
I have no answer to return to the Muslim friends who see me from day to day as to what they should do.My impotence has been gnawing at me of late.It will go immediately the fast is undertaken.I have been brooding over it for the last three days.The final conclusion has flashed upon me and it makes me happy.No man,if he is pure,has anything more precious to give than his life.I hope and pray that I have that purity in me to justify the step.I ask you all to bless the effort and to pray for me and with me.
The fast begins from the first meal tomorrow(Tuesday).The period is indefinite and I may drink water with or without salts and sour limes.It will end when and if I am satisfied that there is a reunion of hearts of all communities brought about without any outside pressure,but from an awakened sense of duty.
The reward will be the regaining of India’s dwindling prestige and her fast-fading sovereignty over the heart of Asia and therethrough the world.I latter myself with the belief that the loss of her soul by India will mean the loss of the hope of the aching,storm-tossed and hungry world.Let no friend or foe,if there be one,be angry with me.There are friends who do not believe in the method of the fast for reclamation of the human mind.They will bear with me and extend to me the same liberty of action that they claim for themselves.
With God as my supreme and sole counsellor,I felt that I must take the decision without any other adviser.If I have made a mistake and discover it,I shall have no hesitation in proclaiming it from the house-top and retracing my faulty step.There is little chance of my
making such a discovery.If there is a clear indication,as I claim there is,of the Inner Voice,it will not be gainsaid. I plead for all absence of argument and inevitable endorsement of the step.If the whole of India responds or at least Delhi does,the fast might be soon ended.
But whether it ends soon or late or never,let there be no softness in dealing with what may be termed as a crisis.Critics have regarded some of my previous fasts as coercive and held that on merits the verdict would have gone against my stand but for the pressure exercised by the fasts.
What value can an adverse verdict have when the purpose is demonstrably sound?A pure fast,like duty,is its own reward.I do not embark upon it for the sake of the result it may bring.I do so because I must.Hence I urge everybody dispassionately to examine the purpose and let me die,if I must,in peace which I hope is ensured.Death for me would be a glorious deliverance rather than that I should be a helpless witness of the destruction of India, Hinduism,Sikhism and Islam.That destruction is certain if Pakistan does not ensure equality of status and security of life and property for all professing the various faiths of the world and if India copies her.Only then Islam dies in the two Indias,not in the world.But Hinduism and Sikhism have no world outside India.Those who differ from me will be honoured by me for their resistance however implacable. Let my fast quicken conscience, not deaden it.
Just contemplate the rot that has set in in beloved India and you will rejoice to think that there is an humble son of hers who is strong enough and possibly pure enough to take the happy step. If he is neither, he is a burden on earth. The sooner he disappears and clears the Indian atmosphere of the burden,the better for him and all concerned.
I would beg of all friends not to rush to Birla House nor try to dissuade me or be anxious for me. I am in God’s hands. Rather they should turn the searchlight inwards,for this is essentially a testing time for all of us.Those who remain at their post of duty and perform it diligently and well,now more so than hitherto, will help me and the cause in every way.The fast is a process of self- purification.
The Hindustan Times, 13-1-1948, and Harijan, 18-1-1948.
Source:Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi
http://www.gandhiserve.
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