"And if my
countrymen believe in God and the existence of the soul, then, while
they may admit that their bodies belong to the State to be
imprisoned and deported, their minds, their wills and their souls
must remain free like the birds of the air, and are beyond the reach
of the swiftest arrow." Gandhi, 1908
"In South
Africa, I have only one duty: to bring the Hindus and the Muslims
together to serve them as a single community." Gandhi, 1908
"A man’s
duty is to worship God. Telling one's beads is no symbol of that
worship; neither is going to mosque or temple, nor is saying namaz
or the gayatri. These things are all right as far as they go.... He
alone truly adores God who finds his happiness is the happiness of
others, speaks evil of none, does not waste his time in the pursuit
of riches, does nothing immoral, who acquits himself with others as
with a friend, does not fear the plague or any human being." Gandhi,
1911
In seeking to get Hindus and Muslims
to work together closely, Gandhi drew upon the cultural and
religious traditions of the two communities. He recognized how
deeply both groups were invested in them, and urged them to grasp
the “real significance” of their religion in sacrifice, duty, and
fearlessness. Behavior that was not governed by these principles was
cowardice.
Gandhi’s repertoire was full of heroic
imagery during the satyagraha campaign, and he used it
especially during the periods when the campaign reached low points
in 1908 and 1909 when he hoped to tap into the religious traditions
of his supporters. By the end of 1910, there were only about 100
stalwarts who were prepared to make the kind of sacrifices Gandhi
required. He spent a great deal of time at the Tolstoy Farm
reaffirming his beliefs, and possibly rethinking his strategy. By
the middle of 1913, he was ready to move boldly to harness the
raging dissent among the indentured Indians relating to their work
conditions, and an unfair, unjust tax that sought to keep them
locked into the system.
In this chapter, we pay particular
attention to Gandhi's reliance on the cultural and religious
orientations of Indians in South Africa. Community organizations
rallied to his call for support, but he framed the discourse on his
own terms. He gave lead and direction to it through the Indian
Opinion, but always responded to opposition by revising
his strategy.
Religion for Gandhi formed the basis
of ethical behavior. When Gandhi translated parts of William
MacIntyre's Ethical Religion (1889, 1905) into Gujarati for
his readers, he used a quote that summed up his view, "So long as
the seed of morality is not watered by religion, it cannot sprout.”1
"And if my countrymen believe in God and the existence of the soul,
then, while they may admit that their bodies belong to the State to
be imprisoned and deported, their minds, their wills and their souls
must remain free like the birds of the air, and are beyond the reach
of the swiftest arrow." He likened the struggle to Rama's battle
with Ravana. The cause of the Indians "was God's own cause." He was
everywhere with them, and therefore there was no need to fear
defeat.2 But "suffering" was essential for "purification"
and humility, a process he explained by citing a Gujarati idiom,
"The more the mango tree flourishes, the more it droops."3
Gandhi drew upon the bravery of Prophet Mahomed to illustrate the
need for faith in God: when Mahomed and two others took refuge in a
cave from hostile forces, the Prophet reminded one of them that
there were not only three of them but four in the cave as God was
also there with them.4
Adherence to the truth was in itself a
victory. Truth as God was for him the essence of all religions.
Those who serve God never lose; that was divine law. Gandhi quoted
from the Bhagavad Gita, "Without even mind for happiness and
unhappiness, gain and loss, victory and defeat, and so join
battles..."5 After he was assaulted in January 1908, he
wrote, "We fear death needlessly; " "... there is suffering only as
long as the soul is in intimate union with the body." Some know only
"physical strength as a way of expressing disapproval;" it is the
“duty of the wise man to bear in suffering and patience."6
Socrates was a "great satyagrahi." In urging Indians to
"cleanse" themselves "within and without,” they could, like
Socrates, prove that truth was worth dying for. "We shall discover
that, if we do not fear our enemy and do not show temper with him,
he becomes our friend, for he then serves us like one."7
Satyagraha’s political and
social implications were clear to him. Politically, it inspired
Gandhi to think that imperial rule had to be based on equality
without the taint of racial discrimination. The British constitution
had taught him that every subject was to be treated equally
regardless of race, culture, or religion. This was the only thing
that bound the empire. It was flawed in its implementation, and he
did not hesitate to point out the weaknesses. He viewed the
anti-Asian policies in South Africa, Australia, and Canada as a
violation of that principle.8 Natal's anti-Indian bills
in 1908 drew this response from Gandhi, "Many imperialists in
England include India as part of the Imperial federation, and I do
not know that it is possible to have at all a British empire,
leaving India out, seeing that according to Lord Curzon, India is
the dome of the Imperial edifice and that it is India which makes
the Empire possible."9 For Gandhi, South Africa and
India were connected by empire. Hence, he never took his eyes off
India while he was in South Africa. In December 1907, he warned the
imperial government that it could not hold the affection of the
people of India "at the point of a bayonet.” And in 1908 he said,
"Our vigilance will serve India well." There was bound to be
indigenous response. England might have to choose between India and
the self-governing White colonies. It is in this context that the
discourse on swadeshi (patriotic self-reliance or promoting
indigenous values) took place in South Africa.10
Socially, satyagraha implied
working for the common good or sarvodaya. This
encompassed duty and service. Gandhi was influenced by the work of
Christian missionaries among the poor in India, Ruskin, and several
others. Gandhi came to the conclusion that the "exclusive quest for
physical and material happiness ... ha[d] no sanction in divine
law." He rejected the Western ideal of pursuing individual
self-interest. It was a great "delusion" to make laws that
disregarded their social impact. It was the duty of each -- soldier,
physician, pastor, lawyer, and merchant -- "on due occasion to die
[in service] for the people." Merchants should not only think about
profit; they should do with less and work for the welfare of the
people, bearing in mind that God lived in the home of the poor only.
The concentration of wealth in the hands of a few was undesirable.11
Whites in South Africa were selfish,
Gandhi said. They confused Western civilization with Christian
progress, and in their selfishness they overlooked that the colored
people were hard-working and that the Africans were here when they
came. Indeed, Blacks were an asset for the empire. If Indians and
Africans were to leave, he believed there would be a civil war among
the Whites.12 "If Jesus Christ came to Johannesburg and
Pretoria and examined the hearts of General Botha and General Smuts
and the others, he would notice something strange, something quite
strange in the Christian spirit."13 Gandhi said, “Treat
him [the Indian] as a real, live human being, and you will have no
such thing as the Indian question in this country."14
"... I refuse to believe in the
infallibility of legislators,” Gandhi said. ”I do believe that they
are not always guided by generous or even just sentiments in their
dealings with unrepresented classes." He continued, "I venture to
say that if passive resistance is generally accepted, it will once
and for ever avoid the contingency of a terrible death struggle and
bloodshed in the event (not impossible) of the natives [in South
Africa] being exasperated by a stupid mistake of our legislators."15
For Gandhi, duty and sacrifice were
the greatest of virtues in an individual. So he lauded people like
Thambi Naidoo whose bravery made up for those like Ramsunder, the
first satyagrahi prisoner who failed to live up to his
expectations. As Gandhi saw it, the “body of the community [was]
healthy enough to expel impurities from the system."
Gujarati-speaking Indians would have understood well the idioms he
used to describe people like Ramsunder: no one can divine what lies
in the heart of a man or in the hollow of a drum; the weak man will
not turn manly through pressure; and glass will not turn into
diamond.16
These basic ideas propelled much of
his actions. An examination of events up to 1912 shows how strongly
he relied for support on the Indian communities in their culturally
diverse forms. There was ebb and flow to the support he received
from the various community organizations. Often there were
disagreements, and he used culturally and religiously significant
symbols to appeal for unity.
There was strong support from the
various Indian communities in 1907 and 1908. Gandhi's arrest early
in 1908 sparked off wide protest activities among the Indians. The
NIC held a mass meeting in Durban at which 1500 were present at the
Grey Street Market Mosque. Numerous other organizations adopted
resolutions of support; Indian-owned shops closed in show of
support, and funds were collected for the Transvaal passive
resisters. There were mass meetings in other places like
Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, London, and cities in India.
The Surat Hindu Association in Durban adopted a resolution
condemning his arrest. Other organizations that did the same were:
East Rand Indians, Ladysmith Farmers Association, Durban Fruiterers
Association, Wakkerstroom's residents, Indians in Stellenbosch, and
N. N. Patel on behalf of Klerksdorp's Indians; the Natal Memon
Community fund contributed financially to the struggle; the Durban
Fruiterers Association sponsored a play "Dage Hajrat" in Hindi at
Victoria Theater, performed by the Easy Indian Theatrical Company,
while the Ladysmith Islamic Society met on January 11 to collect
funds for Transvaal passive resisters.17
Gandhi was also to discover how
quickly support could dissipate. He reached a compromise with Smuts
in January 1908 without adequately preparing those who might
disagree with him strategically. One individual assaulted him, while
others questioned his leadership and considered inviting Mahomed Ali
Jinnah, a Gujarati-speaking Muslim advocate from Mumbai who was then
in London, to come to South Africa.18 Indians needed to
show courage like the Spartans who held the pass at Thermopylae. In
idiomatic Gujarati, he explained that it was sheer ignorance to be
impatient like the dog under a moving cart which thinks it is
drawing the cart.19 Indian Opinion argued at
length that voluntary registration gave Indians "honour and
responsibility." Gandhi saw the compromise as victory for truth. He
used a Gujarati idiom to ask for unity: water cannot be cloven
asunder by hitting it with a stick; similarly we cannot be separated
from one another.20 An imaginary dialogue in the Gujarati
section explained the advantage of voluntary (marjyat)
over compulsory (farjyat) registration. The stigma of
registration by law had gone. The community was always in favor of
voluntary registration; and besides, it would be harmful if on
occasion the leaders were not allowed freedom of action. "Confidence
in the leaders is a sign of unity, of generosity, and an unflagging
spirit among the people."21
In an open letter dated
February 15, 1908, Gandhi pleaded for mittaas (sweetness) not
khataas (bitterness) between Hindus and Muslims. He advised
all Indians to give ten fingerprints. "I ask 'Khuda' to bless the
community; to take it onto the path of Truth; and let my blood bind
Hindu and Muslim." "What we have gained by satyagraha can be
retained only through satyagraha."22 But Gandhi
continued to receive abusive letters. He regretted that Haji O.
Ally could not trust him because he was a Hindu. Muslims, for their
part, argued that the compromise had ruined them -- they were all
traders while Hindus were mostly hawkers. They cabled complaints to
SABIC in London, and some openly supported inviting Jinnah to South
Africa. One Muslim suggested that HIS and the Pretoria Anjuman
should sponsor the Muslim advocate's visit. Gandhi countered by
warning his "Muslim brethren against those who are out to set people
at variance with each other by saying these things." "In South
Africa, I have only one duty: to
bring the Hindus and the Muslims
together to serve them as a single community."23
Leading Muslim leaders denied the
split. They insisted that except for a few, "Mahomedans as a body
have accepted it." That was the assertion by Muslim leaders like
Imam Abdul Kader Bawazeer, M.P. Fancy, Essop Ismail Mia, Syed
Mustafa, Allibhai Akoojee, and M. E. Nagdee, all of whom were
members of HIS and BIA. Gandhi continued to defend the compromise,
even invoking the authority of the Koran in the voluntary
giving of finger impressions so long as it was not compulsory.24
"Bhago athwa jago" (run or awaken) wrote one Muslim in support
of the compromise. However, the attack late in May on BIA's Essop
Mia by two Pathans suggested that the fallout from the compromise
was continuing.25
In Natal, the Hindu-Muslim question
surfaced in a different way. The split in the NIC came about
because colonial-born Indians felt excluded from a Muslim-dominated
NIC. Rumors of the split first surfaced in January 1907, and became
a reality when a new body, the Natal Indian Political Union (NIPU),
emerged a year later. It had branches in Durban, Isipingo, Sea Cow
Lake, Springfield, and Clare Estate. It sought to promote, as its
leader P.S. Aiyar wrote, the welfare of the poorer classes of
Indians in such matters as greater police protection against crime,
ownership of firearms, abolition of the £3 tax, licenses,
disfranchisement, and exclusion from civil service jobs.26
Even as Indian Opinion
proclaimed the success of voluntary registration,27 there
were signs that the compromise would not hold. By the end of May
1908, the breach became a reality. The Indian leaders publicly
called for the return of their certificates. Gandhi said in an open
letter that he felt no shame in asking them to resume the struggle
because he did not betray the cause. Those who blamed him, if they
were sincere, should join satyagraha; those who supported him
must redouble their efforts. He said, "... the more the other side
attempts foul play, the better to advantage will our truth be set
off." Mass meetings took place. One was under HIS's auspices in
Johannesburg. Resolutions were adopted. Rustenberg's United Assembly
called for resumption of the struggle.28 In Cape Town, E.
Noordien, president of the SAIA (South African Indian Association)
who had been actively seeking to bring local Indians together on
immigration and trade issues, organized a meeting of several bodies
on June 24 to call for support in the Transvaal fight.29
Smuts and Botha set out to foment
division by suggesting that Muslims were opposed to passive
resistance. The BIA was quick to respond by holding a mass meeting.
No, said the leaders, Hindus and Muslims were not divided. BIA
President Cachalia countered the charge that passive resistance was
agitating the "native minds." On the contrary, he said,
satyagraha was about self-control and patient suffering. If
Blacks were unhappy, it was the result of intolerable injustice as
in the case of the 1906 Zulu rebellion.30
The measure of support for
satyagraha for the six-month period after the campaign was
resumed can be found in the telegrams that were received from places
like Ventersdorp, Warmbaths, Volksrust, Vereeniniging, Pietersburg,
Lydenberg, Roodepoort, Standerton, Lichtenberg, Nylstroom,
Middleburg, Pretoria, Christiana, Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Zeerust,
Fortune, Boksburg, Heidelberg, Durban, Verulam, Cape Town, Port
Elizabeth, Kimberly, and even Rhodesian towns. Indian shops closed
to show support.31 The NIC donated £100, some of it
coming from proceeds of a play performed (“Dage Hajrat no khel”) by
the Grand Theatrical company.32 Other bodies that showed
support were the Durban Fruiterers Indian Association at a meeting
attended by 500 people, the Cape Town British India League, and
Ladysmith’s Indians.33 After the certificates were
burned at the famous mass meeting at Hamidia mosque,34
Indian organizations began preparing for the resumption of the
campaign. The South African Indian Association in Cape Town, NIC,
HIS, and the Cape Indian League organized mass meetings to show
support. The Tamil community showed great tenacity.35 In
Durban, Gandhi addressed an NIC gathering of 900 to 1000 people on
September 26.
On his return to Johannesburg, Gandhi
was arrested along with fifteen others. Prisoner Gandhi
called himself the "happiest man in the Transvaal" as he dug roads
in Johannesburg's Market Square.36 He was released in
December after seventy days in prison at Volksrust. En route to
Johannesburg, he was greeted by Indians in Standerton, Heidelberg,
and Germiston. Several hundred people enthusiastically received him
at the Johannesburg station. From there he was carried shoulder high
to the horse-driven cab that took him to the Hamidia mosque, where a
much larger crowd of supporters was waiting for him. Some of them
sang "Vande Materam."37
Important political developments
within South Africa overshadowed the campaign. Britain was
encouraging the unification of the four colonies. Indians had been
following the deliberations for closer union since 1908. They
rightly saw it as a consolidation of White interests, and as such
the issues that concerned them were sidelined. This protection of
White interests was seen as part of the same anti-Asian phenomenon
then prevailing in the United States, Canada, and Australia.38
Indian Opinion commented on the impending Union of South
Africa Draft Act. It was "a frank declaration of the White South
African policy ... to keep the native, the coloured, and the Asiatic
races in bondage if they cannot be exterminated or expelled." It
noted one nonracial response to these events. A meeting took
place in Kimberley among Africans, Indians, Coloreds, and Malays to
unite. It decided to send delegates to the
African conference
planned in Bloemfontein.39
Under the circumstances, Gandhi’s
endeavors to highlight the campaign’s importance fell on deaf ears
in official circles.40 Rumors of the tensions between
some Muslim traders and the mostly Hindu hawkers kept surfacing. The
Star reported that Pathans, unhappy with BIA leadership, had
broken away. They did not like the picket system. A person writing
to the Star called the picket volunteers "bullies," given to
making "derogatory remarks about our religion and pass[ing]
insulting remarks against our Prophet."41 The campaign
was losing steam early in 1909, and newspapers like the Star,
Rand Daily Mail, and the Sunday Times were quick to
point this out. Increasingly, Gandhi called for the need to make
sacrifices. He said, "No religion believes it possible to worship
God and Mammon at the same time." Devotion to God required giving up
wealth, he continued. He hoped that the battle could be widened to
include Natal. The January 23 issue of Indian Opinion
suggested that in Natal a passive resistance body should be formed
to oppose the payment of the £3 tax.42
In March and April of 1909, the BIA
and individuals connected to the movement hoped to rally the
Indians. They held a series of mass meetings and honored the
prisoners when they were released. God's name was invoked; there was
no honor, as Dildar Khan suggested, to walk around with certificates
"like Kaffirs."43 The support of leading Jewish
individuals was strong.44 The Indian Opinion
published poems in Gujarati and Urdu glorifying those who were
making sacrifices. A Muslim writer urged Indians to have faith in
God in the way Ebrahim had faith when he jumped into fire on the
advice of the angel Gabriel. Mahomed Khan wrote to say that he went
to jail rather than follow the advice of his parents who had ordered
him to flee to India; and fourteen-year old Mohanlal Manjee Ghelani
from Johannesburg informed the readers about his father's arrest.45
When Botha claimed that the Indians
were content with the state of affairs, BIA organized a response on
April 11. Some 1500 delegates from all parts of the Transvaal met to
refute the statement. While the meeting was intended to show Indian
support, it also revealed the weakness of the movement. For example,
Ali Mahomed Khamissa admitted that as a trustee of a company, his
first duty was to look after his business interests, and he had
therefore registered. Indians in positions of leadership secretly
applied for duplicates; traders especially were guilty of this.46
A group of seventy individuals in Standerton wrote to say that they
had taken out duplicate certificates although they fully sympathized
with the campaign. It was not because of weakness but because of
personal and business reasons, and they hoped to rejoin when
circumstances were different. And a supporter like Advocate James
Godfrey had applied for a permit to be sent to him at the height of
the campaign.47
Freed on May 24, 1909, Gandhi returned
to Johannesburg to a hero's welcome. Beyond the warm reception he
got, he was troubled by the absence of strong commitment, especially
on the part of the merchants who were more concerned about their
material interests. In "Who Can be a Satyagrahi," he spelled
out that commitment implied giving up even family attachment
if this became necessary. He used the Gujarati idiom he that a
supporter could not have one foot in curd and the other in milk;
words should match action; individuals could not have the name of
Rama on their lips and carry a dagger under their arm. In another
article, "Who Can Go to Jail," he listed six conditions that were
essential to be a satyagrahi: non-addiction to alcohol or
tobacco, disciplined body, disregard for comfort, simple diet,
humility, and patience. He drew upon heroic religious figures like
Prahlad, Sudhanva, Nala-Damayanti, and Harischandra to illustrate
the idea of selfless sacrifice. Gandhi stressed "soul force" as the
key ingredient of the campaign.48
Gandhi, however, realized that leaders
in the BIA and HIS were not prepared to make these kinds of
sacrifices. A British Indian Conciliation Committee was set up to
reach some kind of settlement. At the meeting in June 6, 1909, at
which Gandhi was present, Habib Motan criticized Gandhi for not
having the compromise with Smuts in writing. He also resented the
label "blacklegs" for people who refused to go to jail. Motan
accused Indian Opinion of often publishing "tendentious
articles and reports." Somebody like Khanderia, he said, did not go
to jail, but he encouraged others to do so. Hajee O. Ally was also
critical of Gandhi.49
Since the passive resistance campaign
had failed to yield the desired results, BIA leadership adopted a
more conciliatory approach, and fell back on organizing deputations.
Three of them came from among its own ranks; the fourth was from
Natal. That the Natal deputation should happen at the same time
suggests that there were individuals who also had doubts about
passive resistance. The first of the deputations was the British
Indian Conciliation Committee. George Godfrey, Gussub Ebrahim Gardee,
Habib Motan, Ali Mohamed, Khamissa, S. V. Thomas, H.O. Ally, Abdul Ganie, and Adam Desai met Smuts at the end of June 1909, but had no
success getting the law repealed.50 Two other deputations
were named at a BIA meeting to proceed to England and India. The
first consisted of Habib and Gandhi; two others who had been named,
Cachalia and Chettiar, were jailed by the Transvaal government. The
second was made up of Polak after three others, Nadir Ardeshir Cama,
Ebrahim Saleji Coovadia, and Gopal Naidoo, were arrested and thus
prevented from going. The Natal deputation to England consisted of
M. C. Anglia, Amod Bhayat, Hoosen Mahomed Badat, and Abdul Kadir who
was already in England.51
Unfortunately for them, the
deputations to London came about the time Sir Curzon Wylie was
murdered by an Indian militant. Many in the British government were
suspicious of the Indian delegates even though Gandhi and local
Indian groups such as BIA, Ved Dharma Sabha in Pietermaritzburg, and
Durban Hindu Temple condemned the assassination.52 Gandhi
was personally not very hopeful of achieving any success. He was
"disgusted" by the behavior of the so-called “big men.” “All such
efforts are no better than pounding chaff,” because those in power
showed "little inclination to do justice."53 He had even
less hope for the Natal deputation since it had come too late to
raise a “very old” issue, namely trade.54 Gandhi wrote
after September 3, 1909, "The more I observe things, the more I
realize that deputations, petitions, etc., are all in vain if there
are no real sanctions behind them." He quoted Meerabhen's song to
steel himself about the obstacles ahead. At the same time his
disillusionment with the West had deepened, "... unless its whole
machinery is thrown overboard, people will destroy themselves like
so many moths."55 Such changes in his thinking are
reflected in Hind Swaraj which Gandhi wrote in Gujarati on
board the Kildonan Castle between November 13 and 22, 1909,
on his return trip from England to South Africa. At the core of the
pamphlet, as discussed earlier, was the idea that true self-rule or
self-control required that
modern civilization’s values had to be
discarded.
The Polak deputation to India was
successful. Thanks to the support of Gopal K. Gokhale,56
the leading Indian nationalist within the INC who was also a member
of the Viceroy's Legislative Council from 1902, Polak was able to
excite great interest and support in India for the struggle in South
Africa. Chhaganlal Gandhi who comanaged the press at Phoenix joined
at some stage to help. Local and national politicians in such places
as Mumbai, Surat, Chennai (Madras), Ahmedabad, Poona, Navsari,
Kholvad, and Kathor organized meetings. In Kathor, the Mehfil Ronkul
Islam helped to organize the meeting. Polak also addressed
gatherings in Lucknow, Kanpur, and Agra. In Lahore he addressed the
INC. C. R. Naidu from Durban speaking as a special delegate
representing colonial-born Indians in South Africa described the
lives of Indians "hell upon earth." In his presentation, Latchman
Panday, who had served with Gandhi in the Ambulance Corps during the
South African War (1899-1902), focused on the Natal Government's
"deliberate attempt to crush Indian education out of existence."
Polak's visit also coincided with the widespread opposition to the
indentured labor system led by Gokhale. And Mir Alam Khan, who had
reconciled with Gandhi after assaulting him, and who had been
deported as a satyagrahi, worked actively to speak against
South Africa's racial policies when he was in India. He wrote
articles in newspapers and appeared at the Anjuman Islam in Lahore
to relate first hand his own experiences.57 Polak was
widely honored when he returned to South Africa after his
fifteen-month stay in India.58
With about 100 passive resisters in
jail at Diepkloof by January 1910 and 36 more awaiting deportation,
Gandhi's strategy was to keep the movement alive symbolically. He
hand-picked new resisters to court arrest by crossing into the
Transvaal from Natal.59 Bodies such as BIA, TBS, NIC, KAM,
DIS, Indian Farmers Association, Ved Dharma Sabha in Johannesburg
and Durban routinely organized mass meetings to pass resolutions
about a variety of emotive issues. One such issue was the death of
Naryansamy, a thirty-year old returning deportee who was not allowed
to land in Durban, Port Elizabeth, or Cape Town. He never got off
the boat, and died as it headed back to India via Delagoa Bay.60
Another revolved around the statement by Johannesburg’s Police
Superintendent Vernon who said that it was a White man's duty to
hunt Indians out of the country. A third issue was the refusal by
prison authorities to allow Muslim prisoners special arrangement
during the fasting month of Ramadan.61 A fourth
issue related to Rambhabai Sodha who was arrested when she crossed
the Natal border to join her passive resister husband who had been
in jail for eighteen months. She had no means of supporting herself
and planned to live on Tolstoy Farm where others like her were being
maintained from the Passive Resistance Fund.62 The case
involving the residency rights of A. E. Chotabhai's sixteen-year old
son, Mahomed, who was a legal resident of the Transvaal, got a
great deal of coverage because of its ominous implication, namely
that even individuals with valid registration certificates could be
deemed illegal under the 1908 law.63 Indian Opinion
kept up a steady stream of heroic poems and songs by people like
Ambaram Maharaj and Sheik Mehtab, while also highlighting the jail
experiences of passive resisters.64
While most Indians were ambivalent
about the newly created Union of South Africa, various groups were
probing the new system to see what rights and privileges they could
negotiate for the Indians. Such was the case of a Pietermaritzburg
deputation consisting of local leaders who went to see the
provincial administrator on such issues as care for the aged, £3 tax
on women, education, technical training, interprovincial
restrictions, uniform immigration requirements, indentured working
conditions, railway travel conditions (about "herding" them with
"raw natives"), trade licenses, firearm restrictions, liquor laws,
removal of farm land ownership restrictions, adequately trained
court interpreters, and the exclusion Indian children from the Union
Day celebration. A second deputation consisting of some of the same
people saw the mayor to raise issues such as municipal franchise,
need for public lighting, street repair, the provision of playground
and sports facilities, the city's nonhiring of Indians, and so on.65
The lack of enthusiasm for pushing on
with the campaign was evident. In April 1911, Smuts as
Minister of the Interior introduced a new immigration bill.
A literacy test was proposed without reference to race, but the bill
was ambiguous on domicile rights. While it was to replace Act 2 of
1907, the proposed new law did not spell out the rights of Indian
minors which the old law had done. Since the bill had no chance of
passage in the early 1911 session, it was to be re-introduced in the
parliamentary session in 1912. Gandhi saw in the bill some effort to
accommodate campaign demands, and believed that a dialogue could
resolve some of the issues by the time the bill was reintroduced.
He wrote to Smuts on April 19, 1912, asking for a truce. Gandhi met
Smuts in Cape Town and returned to Johannesburg on April 26 where he
persuaded Indian political bodies to agree to suspension of the
campaign.66 The second compromise was scrutinized by BIA
leaders in a meeting marked by “heated discussion.” Although there
were five dissenters, most of those present accepted the compromise.67
With the compromise in place, Gandhi
hoped to tap into the community’s connection with India. Most Indian
leaders were disillusioned by the British government's support of
White rule, but they retained faith in imperial politics. Gandhi’s
own faith in the empire was sustained by those who held the liberal
view that imperial interests bound Indians and Whites as equals.
Joseph Doke (1861-1913) is illustrative of the liberal White South
African view. As Gandhi’s first biographer, Doke’s persective
appealed to those in the colonies whose parochial views threatened
the larger imperial interests. He stressed Gandhi’s
refined character, his education, culture, and unfailing courtesy as
a fine example of the liberal impact of empire. The subtitle of
Doke’s book, An Indian Patriot, did not specify a country.68
Gandhi hoped to invite Gokhale to
South Africa as part of his strategy to get India more directly
involved in deliberations in South Africa. As we saw earlier,
Gokhale was a strong supporter of the rights of South Africa
Indians. He represented India symbolically as the champion of Indian
rights. The visit, announced in January 1912 and scheduled for the
second half of 1912, was not official, but it had the blessing of
the Government of India. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, born in 1866, rose
quickly to serve in important administrative positions. In 1895, he
became the secretary of the Mumbai Provincial Council. Two years
later, he was one of the secretaries of the INC, and in 1905 its
president. In 1900-1, he was elected to the Mumbai Legislative
Council. He became an influential member of the Imperial
Legislative Council from 1902. The Viceroy bestowed the CIE on him.
As a reformer, he hoped to break down caste distinctions among
Indians, and promote pure and selfless forms of livelihoods through
the Servants of India Society that he
had founded in 1905.69
The committees to welcome Gokhale came
into place by October 1912.70 He arrived in Cape Town on
October 26 and left from Johannesburg for Delagoa Bay on November
17. A special state railway saloon took him all over South Africa.
He visited Cape Town, Kimberley, Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp,
Krugersdorp, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg, and Durban.
He was honored with official addresses at each of the places he
visited. It was not unusual for one address to have multiple
sponsors across the language, religious, and cultural diversity of
South Africa’s Indians.71 While in Natal, Gokhale was
greeted on November 9 from his moving car by over 2500 people who
had assembled at Albert Park, among them many school children.72
The next morning, which happened to be a Sunday, he was met at the
Lord's sports ground by about 2000 ex-indentured Indians. He heard
complaints from 50 to 60 individuals about the £3 tax and other
issues. Gokhale visited St Aidan's College, made a trip to Isipingo
where he met with and heard the problems of indentured Indians,
drove to Mt. Edgecombe with Gandhi and Kallenbach where 10,000
indentured Indians were assembled, went to Phoenix and visited the
Ohlange Institute where he talked at length with John Dube.
Throughout the tour, Gokhale argued
for equality in the empire. He said that White fears about being
swamped by Indian immigrants were not justified since no Indian
leader wanted this to happen. Indeed, he expected Whites to be
dominant in South Africa. But if Whites insisted on reducing Indians
and other Blacks to “only hewers of wood and drawers of waters,”
then England would find it hard to hold India. South Africa’s
Indians could not go back to India. "Any policy which preferred the
interest of one section at the expense of another, however
convenient it might be temporarily to do otherwise, if it became a
permanent policy, would lead to disaster," he warned.73
The Gokhale tour established Gandhi's
name in India. Henry Polak’s endeavors in India from mid-November
1911 to August 1912 as a BIA representative helped to make Gandhi
known. Doke's biography on him had appeared in 1909 and was likely
circulated among influential individuals. P. J. Mehta had also
produced biography on Gandhi.74 Indian nationalists were
becoming alive to action against South Africa, and shortly after
Gokhale returned to India, some newspapers suggested that the
country should use its consumer power to get England’s attention.
Gandhi's strategy of using public opinion in India had succeeded,
and it would stand him in good stead in 1913 and 1914. In South
Africa, his reliance on the cultural and religious resources of
Indians had not been enough to make up for the divisions in the
movement. He would continue to use such resources in 1913 but
embarked upon a course that would see the kind of mass participation
that had escaped him until then.
References
-
Indian Opinion (IO),
1/5/1907, 2/2/1907; Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG),
vol. 6, p. 313.
-
IO 1/4/1908.
-
Ibid., 2/8/1908.
-
Ibid., 1/4/1908; CWMG,
vol. 7, pp. 448-49.
-
IO 2/8/1908; CWMG,
vol.8, pp.60-62.
-
IO 2/22/1908; CWMG,
vol. 7, pp. 93-97.
-
IO 4/4/1908, 4/11/1908,
4/25/1908, 5/2/1908, 5/9/1908, 5/3/1908, 4/18/1908, 5/16/1908.
He discounted four other terms, namely pratyupaya, kashtadhin
vartam, dridha pratipaksha, and satyanadar, IO
3/7/1908.
-
IO 9/12/1908, 9/14/1907.
-
Ibid., 5/16/1908.
-
Ibid., 4/25/1908.
-
Ibid., 4/25/1908,
5/16/1908, 6/6/1908, 6/13/1908, 6/20/1908.
-
Ibid.,7/18/1908
-
Ibid., 1/4/1908; CWMG,
vol. 7, pp. 448-49.
-
IO 5/23/1908, 6/13/1908;
CWMG, vol. 7, pp. 242-46.
-
IO 1/4/1908; CWMG,
vol. 7, pp.468-70; Star 12/30/1907.
-
IO 1/4/1908.
-
Ibid., 1/4/1908, 1/11/1908,
1/18/1908, 2/1/1908, 2/8/1908.
-
Ibid., 3/21/1908; CWMG,
vol. 8, pp.147-48.
-
IO 3/7/1908. The longest
chapter in Satyagraha in South Africa, published in 1928,
was on the opposition to the compromise.
-
Ibid., 2/8/1908.
-
Ibid., 2/15/1908.
-
Ibid., 2/22/1908; CWMG,
vol. 2, pp. 93-97.
-
IO 3/14/1908, 2/22/1908,
3/21/1908, 3/28/1908, 4/4/1908.
-
Ibid., 1/11/1908,
2/22/1908.
-
Ibid., 5/23/1908
-
NIPU's other leading members were:
Bernard Gabriel, S. E. Dahnookdharie, V. Lawrence, L. Gabriel,
A. D. Pillay, H. J. Joshi, R. Lungunberthy, Surendrai B. Medh,
J. M. Francis, T. C. Moodley, M. Bethasee Maharaj, Roopnarain
Singh, Lutchman Panday, K. R. Nayanah, U. M. Shelat, R. Bughwan,
Bryan Gabriel, A. Christopher, D. Stephens, Kaisavaloo, M. K.
Patel, Makanji Bros, John L. Roberts, G. M. Desai, Seunaik
Pundith, S. N. Richards, S. Gareeb Panday, Ibid.,
3/21/1908, 4/4/1908, 4/11/1908, 4/25/1908, 8/1/1908, 9/5/1908,
8/15/1908, 9/12/1908, 9/26/1908, 10/3/1908.
-
Ibid., 5/2/1908, 5/9/1908.
-
Ibid., 6/27/1908.
-
In London those who spoke in
support at a Caxton Hall meeting were: Mancherjee Bhownagree,
Lala Rajpat Rai, J. M. Parikh, Bipin Chandra Pal, G. S. Savakar,
and G. S. Khaparde. Ibid.,5/9/1908, 6/20/1908, 6/27/1908,
8/15/1908, 8/22/1908, 9/19/1908, 11/2/1908.
-
Ibid., 11/21/1908,
12/5/1908.
-
Ibid., 9/19/1908.
-
Ibid., 10/3/1908.
-
Ibid., 10/26/1908.
-
Among those present were: H. I.
Joshi, M. N. Goshalia, S. B. Medh. S. J. Randeria, M. P.
Killvala, U. M. Shelat, Omar Osman, Ebrahim Hoosen, Moosa Ahmed,
Suliman Ebrahim, Valli Amojee (hawker), Kajee Kalamia Dadamia (a
fruit agent), Diar Mawjee, Vallabh Bhula, Ismail Essop
(salesman), Makan Vallabh, and Moolji Ooka. Ooka was a fruiterer
who had been in Pietersburg, Johannesburg, and had a Dutch
registration certificate. These individuals took an active part
in the resumption of the struggle. Ibid., 8/22/1908,
8/29/1908.
-
Ibid., 7/11/1908, 8/1/1908,
7/18/1908, 7/25/1908.
-
Some of the others arrested were
Kothari, Sodha, Mehta, Talwantsing, Dulabh, Naidoo, Nath, Lala,
Rantanji, Makan, Mulji, Vartachalan, and Jogi. Ibid.,
9/12/1908, 10/3/1908, 10/10/1908, 10/17/1908.
-
Ibid., 12/19/1908,
12/26/1908.
-
Ibid., 2/6/1909, 2/13/1909,
2/27/1909, 3/6/1909.
-
Ibid., 9/18/1909,
3/20/1909, 2/13/1909, 5/8/1909.
-
Ibid., 1/5/1909; CWMG,
vol. 9, pp. 124-26.
-
IO 1/9/1909, 1/23/1909.
-
Ibid., 2/13/1909,
1/23/1909. See also CWMG, vol. 10, p. 160.
-
IO 3/6/1909, 3/20/1909.
-
Gandhi and his Jewish friends
enriched themselves through selective sharing. He and they
shared an immigrant status, and found common bonds in their
search for identity according to Margaret Chatterjee, Gandhi
and His Jewish Friends, London: Macmillan, 1992. Some other
White supporters were William Hosken, Chas Phillips, J. W.
Matthews, A. Cartwright, Edward Dallow, G. Isaac, William Morris
Vogel, Rev John Howard, M. Harris, David Pollock, C. E. Nelson,
Adv Leslie Blackwell, H. Kallenbach, Rev Joseph Doke, Rev
Phillips, Rev Canoner Berry, Podlashuk and Kaplan, E. C.
Griffin, Walter Evans, Lettmann and Brown, Thomas Perry, Frank
Stokes, Digby M. Berry, David Hunter, Arthur D. Home, C. H.
Leon, T. R Haddon, A. W. Baker, C. B. Hamilton, Robert
Sutherland, W. Kimberley, A. Beetles, M. Alexander. See IO
2/6/1909, 3/6/1909, 3/27/1909, 6/12/1909, 6/19/1909, 4/3/1909.
-
Ibid., 3/20/1909, 4/3/1909,
4/17/1909, 3/20/1909, 3/27/1909, 3/27/1909, 4/3/1909, 1/2/1909,
1/9/1909, 5/15/1909.
-
Ibid.,4/17/1909,
5/15/1909.
-
Ibid., 5/8/1909, 5/22/1909,
3/6/1909, 5/29/1909.
-
Ibid., 5/29/1909, 6/5/1909,
6/12/1909. CWMG, vol. 10, pp. 224-27, 236-38.
-
It is not clear whether
Hindu-Muslim tensions had any part in Habib Motan’s criticism of
Gandhi. In a letter Gandhi wrote to him, Motan had asked
Gandhi's position on a Muslim being appointed to the Viceroy's
Council as a representative of the Muslim League. Gandhi
response was typical, he made no distinction between Muslims and
Hindus and he would gladly support such a move in the interest
of unity. IO 6/26/1909, Sushila Nayar, Mahatama
Gandhi: Satyagraha at Work, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing
House, 1989, pp. 415-16. See also IO 6/12/1909.
-
Ibid., 6/26/1909.
-
Cama was born in 1870 in Mumbai,
Coovadia was born in 1878 in Surat District, and Naidoo was
born in 1873 in Tanjore District. Ibid.,6/19/1909,
6/26/1909, 7/3/1909, 7/10/1909, 7/24/1909. On board the ship
that took him to London, Gandhi read Kasssul Ambia in
which Azazil found that even after 600,000 years of worship, he
would fail if even once he did not bow before God. So it is with
the satyagrahis, he argued. IO 9/18/1909. CWMG,
vol. 9, pp. 364-65; IO 8/7/1909, CWMG, vol. 9, pp.
276-79.
-
IO 7/11/1909, 7/17/1909;
CWMG, vol. 9. pp. 319-21,328-30.
-
IO 9/21/1909; CWMG,
vol. 9, pp. 312-14.
-
IO 9/4/1909, 9/11/1909,
9/18/1909; CWMG, vol. 9, pp. 338-40, IO
9/25/1909.
-
IO 10/2/1909, CWMG,
vol. 9, pp. 386, 388-89.
-
Gokhale alone collected over £6666
for the Passive Resistance Fund. A Mumbai Funds Committee
included the Aga Khan, R. J. Tata, and Jehangir Bomanjee Petit.
Ratan J. Tata sent another Rs 25,000 in 1910. Of the
contribution received from India, two-fifths came from Tata. The
Madras Presidency contributed Rs 8334 towards the fund. The
Maharaja of Mysore donated Rs 2000. IO 2/12/1910,
6/4/1910, 9/3/1910, 5/7/1910, 8/27/1910, 10/29/1910, 12/17/1910,
12/4/1909, 11/25/1909; CWMG, vol. 10, pp. 229-33
-
IO 9/18/1909, 10/30/1909,
11/20/1909, 10/2/1909, 10/30/1909, 11/6/1909, 10/23/1909,
7/10/1909.
-
Ibid., 10/8/1910,
10/15/1910, 11/19/1910, 12/10/1910, 12/31/1910.
-
Of the six educated Indians who
entered the Transvaal from Natal on December 7, 1909, three were
Christians, namely Joseph Royeppen a barrister-at-law who had
also completed a B.A. degree at Cambridge; Samuel Joseph who was
the headmaster of an Indian school at Seaview near Durban; and
David Andrew who was a clerk and an interpreter. The other three
were Abdul Gafur Fajander, acting chairman of BIA, Ramlal Singh,
a clerk, and Gandhi's 17 years old son Manilal. Twelve new
border crossing passive resisters left the Durban station on
March 11, 1910. The Tamil Benefit Society honored Joseph
Royeppen, David Andrew, and Samuel Joseph at a special meeting.
Those present were V. Chettiar (president), Gandhi, K. K. Samy,
the Dokes and their daughter, Kallenbach, Sonja Schlesin, Issac,
Williams, Cachalia, Moosa Bhigjee, Maimee, Ebrahim Coovadia, Suj,
Shelat, Mulji Patel, and others. The passive resisters were Kaji
Dadamian, Subramaney Achary from Durban, Ramhory, (26,
ex-teacher who was a former Transavaal resident), Pragji
Khandubhai (25, bookkeeper), Tulsi Jutha Soni (30, former
Transvaal resident), Essop Moosa Kolia (35), Kara Nanji Soni
(35), Mahabeer Ramden (22), Barjor Sing (20), Mahomed Ebrahim
(47), Govindsamy Tommy (22), and Manikum Pillay (17). Bhana
Parshotam, an influential community leader, invited people to
his home in Tollgate Road to honor about 50 satygrahis.
Among his guests were Swami Shankeranand and NIC's Dawad Mahomed.
Ibid.,1/1/1910, 1/15/1910, 1/29/1910, 3/5/1910.
-
Ibid.,10/22/1910,
10/29/1910.
-
Ibid., 9/26/1909.
-
Ibid., 11/19/1910,
12/3/1910.
-
Chotabhai’s son had come to South
Africa as a minor on his father’s certificate. When the son
turned sixteen, he applied for registration, but he was refused
under the 1908 law and was deemed an illegal person. The family
appealed all the way to the Transvaal division of the Supreme
Court of South Africa. A split vote went against Chotabhai.
Chotabhai prevailed at the Appellate Court level, however.
Ibid., 11/19/1910, 1/28/1911.
-
Of the fifty-six Indians, only
four were women. Forty-five were South Indians. Tree were
Muslims, and eight were Christians. There were a few traders or
shopkeepers, but most were hawkers, laundrymen, store
assistants, drivers, cooks or waiters, cigar-makers, bottle
sellers, or barbers. One was a student. The oldest was Latchgadu,
a gardener over fifty, and the youngest was fourteen. The
majority fell between the ages of seventeen and forty. In the
group of twenty-four additional names were released, eight were
Christian Indians and eleven had South Indian names. Only one
was a Muslim. Two were Gujaratis, and two were Bhojpuri-speakers.
The oldest was sixty and the youngest was sixteen. One, Francis
Nyanah, was a cartage contractor, and another, Aaron John, was a
teacher. Ibid.,4/16/1910, 7/10/1909, 7/17/1909, 8/6/1910,
4/2/1910, 7/2/1910, 8/6/1910, 8/13/1910, 9/3/1910, 9/17/1910,
11/5/1910, 12/3/1910, 12/10/1910.
-
The first deputation consisted of
John L. Roberts, C. A. F. Peters, T. M. Naicker, R. G. M. Naidoo,
and M. Thomas. In addition to these five, the second group had
three more delegates, namely Charlie Nulliah, R. N. Moodley, and
Baboo Mahomed. Ibid.,2/26/1910, 6/4/1910, 6/11/1910,
8/13/1910, 7/9/1910.
-
At a KAM meeting Swami
Shankeranand suggested a compromise solution which displeased
Gandhi. Ibid.,11/19/1910, 12/17/1910, 10/22/1910,
12/10/1910, 3/19/1910, 7/2/1910, 4/24/1911, 3/18/1911, 4/8/1911,
4/1/1911; CWMG, vol. 10, pp. 339-40, 82-84, and vol. 11,
pp. 31-34.
-
In terms of the settlement, Act 2
of 1907 was to be repealed, and the proposed new law was to
restore legal equality to allow six educated Indians to enter
the Transvaal, seven educated Indians to settle in the province,
and recognize residence for those passive resisters who had lost
it (180 Indians and 30 Chinese). The settlement agreed to
discharge passive resisters still in jail, and release Mrs.
Sodha. The six educated Indians were Sodha, Royeppen, Sorabjee,
Medh, Desai, and Shelat. IO 4/29/1911, 6/3/1911; CWMG,
vol. 11, pp. 99-104.
-
IO 7/5/1913, 9/6/1913,
11/12/1913, 12/17/1913, 12/31/1913. Here I am borrowing
liberally from James D. Hunt’s book, Gandhi and the
Nonconformists: Encounters in South Africa, New
Delhi: Promilla & Co., 1986, pp. 116-17; Joseph J. Doke, M.
K. Gandhi: An Indian Patriot in South Africa, 1909.
-
Gokhale was born in Kohlapur,
obtained a BA degree at Elphinstone College in Mumbai, and went
on to Deccan College, Pune, in 1884. He was admitted to the
Deccan Education Society after his degree. Thereafter, he taught
English literature, mathematics at Ferguson College, and served
as chair of History and Political Economy. In 1887, Gokhale
became the editor of Quarterly Journal and Sudharak.
In 1897, he went to England to give evidence before the Welby
Commission. CIE stands for Companion of the Most Eminent Order
of the Indian Empire. IO 1/6/1912, 8/13/1912, 8/14/1912,
11/9/1912, 8/24/1912; CWMG, vol. 11, pp. 338-40.
-
The committees were carefully
balanced between Hindus and Muslims. The Johannesburg committee
of thirty-six members was chaired by Imam A. K. Bawazeer. The
Durban Reception Committee consisted of ninety-six members. Such
committees also came into being in Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town,
and many other towns and cities in South Africa. IO
9/14/1912, 8/31/1912, 9/21/1912, 9/28/1912, 9/21/1912.
-
The addresses contained the
signatures of the people who presented them. Cape Town's
addresses were by British Indian Committee, Kokney Moslem
League, United Hindu Association, Habibia Moslem Society, Mizan
of Afghan, Kanamia Anjuman Islam, Mahtab-i-Ikhias, and Madrass
Association. In Johannesburg, there were six addresses by BIA,
HIS, Johannesburg Hindus, Tamil Benefit Sociaty, Patidar
Association, and Indians in Pietersburg. In Pretoria, the
address was given by Arya Dharma Sabha. In Durban, the groups
were Indian Reception Committee, Durban Indian Women,
Colonial-born Indians, Mahomedan Committee, Brahman Mandal,
Mahomedan Mastik Society, Ottoman Cricket Club, South Coast
Indians, New Guelderland Indians, Hindi Sabha, Maharastrians,
and Zorastrian Anjuman. Others addresses were from Klerksdorp,
Bloemhof, Potchefstroom, Krugersdorp, and Pietersburg. In Natal
the messages sent to Gokhale were from Natal Gokhale Reception
Committee, Pietermaritzburg Reception Committee, Durban Ajuman
Islam, CBIA, Natal Zoroastrian Anjuman, Roman Catholic Indians,
NIC, Mafile Osmania Cricket Club, Surat Hindu Association,
Kathiawad Arya Mandal, Mahomedan Mastik Society, Durban Indian
Society, Isipingo, Tongaat, Verulam Indian Communities, and
Mahomedan Debating Society in Dundee.
-
The crowds came from St Aidans
College, Cato Manor, Clare Estate, Isipingo, Sea View, Stella
Hill, Springfiled, St. Anthony's, South Coast Junction, Newlands,
Verulam, and Tongaat.
-
IO 11/2/1911, 11/9/1912,
11/10/1912.
-
P.J. Mehta, M. K. Gandhi and
the South African Indian Problem, Madras: G. A. Natesan &
Co., 1911, 96 pages. A biography written by R. N. Iyer was not
available. Ibid., 9/21/1912.
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