Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/553

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

others of your Presidency with whom I was privileged to work in South Africa will not quail in the presence of sacrifice demanded of us all* I am convinced that reforms will be of no avail, unless our would-be partners respect us. And we know that they only respect those who are capable of sacrificing for ideals, as themselves. See how unstintingly they poured out treasure and blood during the War. Ours is a nobler cause and out means infinitely superior, in that we refrain from shedding blood, other than our own.

MESSAGE TO THE BOMBAY CITIZENS

At the Satyagraha Demonstrations in Bombay on 6th April, Mr. M. K. Gandhi referred to the Delhi incident and pointed out :

We have two authoritative versions of the episode. One was Swami Shradhanandji's stating the peoples' version, and the other was Government's, justifying the action of the local authorities. The two did not tally; they differed as to some mam particulars. An impartial observer will regard both as partial statements. I beg of the popular party to assume for purposes of criticism the truth of the official narrative, but there are remark- able gaps in it amounting to the evasion of charges made against the local authorities by Sanyasi Shradha- nandji. His statement was the first in the field, and he was on the scene immediately after the shooting incident near the Railway Station. If the Government have sought the co-operation of the National Leaders to regulate the crowd, there would not have been any need for the display or use of military force. Even if the official version was correct, there was no justification to

�� �