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J.T.F. Jordens in Swami Shraddhananda insists that there was also no causal relation between Gandhi’s attack and the murder, which was apparently triggered by the Swami’s acquittal in a court case for alleged abduction brought by a Muslim whose wife and children had run away from his home and sought conversion from the Swami... Nonetheless, the allegation that Gandhi was less than even-handed in his criticism of Hindu preachers of conversion and Muslim preachers of murder of converts was supported by many. One of these was Ambedkar, who held it against Gandhi that he had not even condemned the murder of Swami Shraddhananda and other Arya Samaj leaders. One of Ambedkar’s many criticisms of Gandhiji was this: ‘He has never called the Muslims to account even when they have been guilty of gross crimes against Hindus.’ He cites, among other examples , the series of murders of people who had criticized Mohammed and the Quran: Swami Shraddhananda, ‘who was shot by Abdul Rashid on 23 December 1926 when he was lying in his sick bed’; Lala Nanak Chand, a prominent Arya Samajist; Rajpal, the editor of the book Rangeela Rasool , ‘stabbed by Ilamdin on 6 April 1929 while sitting in his shop’; Nathuramal Sharma, ‘murdered by Abdul Qayum in September 1934 in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sind where he was seated while awaiting the hearing of his appeal against his conviction under Section 195, Indian Penal Code, for the publication of a pamphlet on the history of Islam.’ That is ‘only a short list, and could easily be expanded.’ Dr Ambedkar points out that, while the murderers were tried by British judges, the Muslim leadership gave its full moral support to the murderers: ‘The leading Muslims, however, never condemned these criminals. On the contrary, they were hailed as religious martyrs Mr Barkat Ali, a barrister of Lahore, who argued the appeal of Abdul Qayum went to the length of saying that Qayum was not guilty of murder of Nathuramal because his act was justifiable by the law of the Koran. This attitude of the Muslims is quite understandable. What is not understandable is the attitude of Mr Gandhi.’... Note also how Gandhi clean forgot his earlier closeness to Swami Shraddhananda. It was Shraddhananda to whom he had sent his two sons to be looked after and educated at Gurukula Kangri near Haridwar, when he was in South Africa. It was Shraddhananda whom he had met at the Gurukul soon after his return to India. And it was Shraddhananda who was the first to decorate him with the honorific of ‘Mahatma’, which he wore throughout his life. The least he should have done was to renounce the title bestowed on him by the Swami when he felt so estranged with the latter as to embrace his murderer as brother. (en) |
