‘From today, you have to wear crown of thorns’: Mahatma Gandhi told West Bengal ministers in Kolkata on August 15, 1947 – Hindustan Times

When members of the West Bengal cabinet came to seek Mahatma Gandhi’s blessings in Kolkata (then Calcutta) on August 15, 1947, he said they (ministers) now wore a crown of thorns and should remain humble and be forbearing.

“From today, you have to wear the crown of thorns. Strive ceaselessly to cultivate truth and non-violence. Be humble. Be forbearing. The British rule no doubt put you on the mettle. But you will be tested through and through. Beware of power; power corrupts. Do not let yourself be entrapped by its pomp and pageantry. Remember, you are in office to serve the poor in India’s villages. May God help you,” said the Mahatma to the ministers (Mahatma Gandhi – The Last Phase Volume-II, Page 370).

Mahatma Gandhi, whose leadership brought freedom, was in Kolkata, spinning and fasting as India celebrated its first Independence Day on August 15, 1947. India had become free at the stroke of midnight and first Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru delivered his famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech, sending the whole nation into the mood of celebrations. Gandhi was well aware of the importance of the day.

This has been recorded in a letter that Mahatma Gandhi wrote from Beliaghata, Calcutta, (now Kolkata) to Agatha Harrison (an English industrial welfare reformer and unofficial diplomat) on August 15, 1947.

“My Dear Agatha, This letter I am dictating whilst I am spinning. You know, my way of celebrating great events, such as today’s, is to thank God for it and, therefore, to pray. This prayer must be accompanied by a fast, if the taking of fruit juices may be so described. And then as a mark of identification with the poor and dedication there must be spinning. Hence I must not be satisfied with the spinning I do every day, but I must do as much as is possible in consistence with my other appointments……” wrote Mahatma in his letter to Agatha Harrison (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi).

Mahatma Gandhi woke up at 2am, an hour earlier than usual, and began performing prayers there.

“….. A batch of girls singing Rabindranath Tagore’s beautiful songs of freedom approached the house thereafter. They came and stopped outside the window of Gandhi Ji’s room where the prayer was still on. Reverently they stopped their singing, joined the prayers, afterwards sang again, took darshan and departed. A little later, another batch of girls came and sang songs likewise and so it continued till dawn….”

“Men, women and children were waiting for his (Mahatma’s) darshan as he went out for his morning walk. Eager crowds besieged the mansion the whole day. Every half an hour he had to come out to give Darshan.”

Hindus and Muslims were intermingling till late in the night in many areas where only till the previous day Hindus dared not walk through Muslim areas even in day time and vice versa. Gandhi was seriously concerned about the growing tension between the Hindus and Muslims. He had reached Kolkata about a week ago.

When the then governor of West Bengal C Rajagopalachari met Gandhi and congratulated him on the “miracle which he had wrought”, Gandhi told the governor that he could not be satisfied until Hindus and Muslims felt safe in one another’s company. (My Days With Gandhi as quoted in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi).

At a prayer speech at Beliaghata, on August 14, 1947 he spoke about the reasons for being in Calcutta instead of taking part in celebrations. He said that the next day was the day fixed for deliverance from the foreign yoke. “It was, therefore, a great day. They were bound to celebrate it.”