JUNE 18

Humans, or Animals?

Gandhiji started his campaign of service to his countrymen in the city of Ahmedabad. It is one of history’s great ironies that as this centenary was being celebrated all over the country in 1969, that very same city became the scene of communal riots.

Shree Bishambhar Nath Pandey, an MP and an eminent historian, commented on these shocking events in an article entitled, ‘Traditions of National Integration in India’ (published in the Journal of the Khuda Bakhsh Library, Patna, and read out in Lucknow on the occasion of the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Memorial Lecture in 1986):

In 1969 this state was not under central rule, but under the rule of the regional party. Miscreants went on the rampage, looting and burning shops and houses, killing innocent people. It seemed as if this city, long associated with Gandhi’s selfless devotion, had bade good-bye to humanity. The then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, said to me, “Many delegates have gone to the city to bring reports, but I am not satisfied with their report. I would like you to visit the city and see for yourself whether humanity still survives there in the midst of animality.”

I left for Ahmedabad and stayed there for about one month. I visited hospitals to see the injured. I consoled people who told me heart-rending tales of destruction of their property. About six thousand houses had been burnt. According to the government report 350 people, (but according to the military intelligence about 2000 people) had lost their lives in this communal riot. The majority of the casualties belonged to the minority community. One day I was patrolling past Memobai Chal, and about 150 people gathered around me as I reached there. All the houses of that locality had been burnt to ashes. From some of them smoke was still coming out. I asked them, “Brothers, did all the homes belong to Muslims?” A person aged about 40-45 said, “No, there were 35 Muslim houses and 120 Hindu houses in this Chal.” Then I asked him his name. He told me that his name was Kalyan Singh. Then I asked again: “Does that mean that first a Muslim mob came here and burned all the Hindu houses and then a Hindu mob came here and burnt all the Muslim houses? ”He said, “No, only a mob of Hindus had come here.” Then I was all the more astonished, “Then does that mean the Hindus had burnt Hindu homes?” Kalyan Singh replied in the affirmative. Then I asked which was his house. He pointed to his house, which was  still smouldering. He told me also that this was his shop as well as his house. “I used to make tyres for motors and cycles. That is why it is still smouldering.” Then I asked him, “Kalyan Singh, what would have been its  cost?” He replied, “The house was valued about one lakh and the shop too.” My astonishment went on increasing. “Then why on earth did the Hindus burn the Hindu houses?”

Kalyan Singh said, “The mob came and asked us to tell them which houses belonged to Hindus and which belonged to Muslims, as they wanted to burn only Muslim houses. We refused to comply. They got enraged. They inquired from others. Others too refused to do so. Then they shouted, ‘Then we will burn all the houses!’ We replied, ‘Do as you want.’ Then they sprinkled petrol on the houses and set all of them on fire. Only when the fire had engulfed all the houses did they leave the place.’

I asked, “Kalyan Singh, why did you allow your two-lakh worth of property to be burnt to ashes? Perhaps it was your lifetime’s savings? Why did you not tell them you were a Hindu.”

Kalyan Singh introduced me to some Muslims standing there saying, “We are both from the same village in Sikar, Rajasthan. First we Hindus came here and settled and did good business. Then we invited our Muslim neighbours to follow us and earn their livelihood in the city. They trusted us and followed us. They were good craftsmen. Soon they succeeded in their business and established their shops and houses. Now, those who have been our acquaintances for hundreds of years, who belong to the same village, who came here on trust, whom we call uncle, how could we allow their houses to be burnt? How could we have shown our faces to the Lord above?”

I was so moved, I could not control myself. I said, “Kalyan Singh so long as people like you survive in India, no one can shake the foundations of mutual love and unity in this country.”

Human Nature

Whatever Kalyan Singh did was at the dictates of his own nature. Everyone is born with an upright nature, and everyone is initially under its influence. But when a man is provoked, the uprightness of his nature is then submerged and his animal instincts come to the surface. That is why all incidents of barbarism take place only when man has been constrained by provocation to deviate from his inborn nature.

So long as you avoid provoking the other person, he remains a human being. But no sooner do you provoke him than that very same person will descend to the level of animals. Now his nature has been derailed. A train that derails will not only destroy itself, but will cause destruction to others as well.

Awaken human nature in others. Let the animal nature remain dormant. This is the only certain formula for a harmonious social existence.