How 'old humbug' Mahatma Gandhi confounded the British

The meeting which resulted in the Pact was not the first meeting between Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin, but it was the first time that they had been in a position to talk freely.

Irwin described Gandhi to the king as "small, wizened, rather emaciated, no front teeth . . . [A] personality very poorly adorned with this world’s trimmings. And yet you cannot help feeling the force of character behind the sharp little eyes and immensely active and acutely working mind".

Gandhi wore only a loincloth and dhoti. His grin was as naked as his body: he only inserted his teeth in order to eat. What he ate was unusual. He extracted mixtures of dates and goat’s milk from the folds of his garment.

On one occasion a British representative, Sir Francis Humphrys, was present. He said, "I remember Gandhi squatting on the floor and after a while a girl coming in with some filthy yellow stuff which he started eating without so much as by-your-leave."

Humphrys amused himself by imagining what would have happened if this had taken place during the days of Curzon. The "girl" was a Miss Slade, a daughter of an English admiral and one of Gandhi’s devoted followers. 

After Gandhi’s release from prison. Irwin met him on no fewer than eight occasions. He wrote to his father, saying that, "It was rather like talking to someone who had stepped off another planet onto this for a short visit of a fortnight and whose whole mental outlook was quite other to that which was regulating most of the affairs on the planet to which he had descended." 

Gandhi was arrested, and he and his household were taken by special train to the Aga Khan’s palace in Poona. Their regime was very comfortable, and when his staff, concerned about his diet, discussed with the head jailer the fact that Gandhi was not eating much and might need goat’s milk, they were told that a team of goats was already on standby.

Despite the loyal goats, Gandhi’s health declined as he began a hunger strike. He looked as if he was going into a coma, Churchill wasn’t too concerned: he asked Linlithgow to make sure that he wasn’t getting glucose in his water, which he understood had happened on previous occasions.

Linlithgow had to advise him that that was not the case. Churchill was still far from sympathetic, calling Gandhi an "old humbug" and a "rascal". He told Field Marshal Smuts that he thought Gandhi had "been eating better meals than I have for the last week"! Soundings were made about the likely effect of Gandhi’s death and preparations were made.

If he died, the governor of Bombay was to telegraph the word EXTRA to Amery, which would trigger the release of a statement: "The government of India regret to announce that Mr Gandhi died while in detention at Poona at —— hours from collapse/heart failure following a self-imposed fast." 

He was attended by six doctors, three Indian and three British, including the Surgeon-General. They signed a daily bulletin. On 21 February his condition was critical and he was thought to be close to death.

But from that day he suddenly began to improve and by 25 February was out of danger. On 3 March, 1943, Gandhi took some fruit pulp mixed with goat’s milk and had an enema. That was the end of that fast.

The Surgeon-General, amongst others, thought that he was being fed glucose, possibly without being aware of it. At any rate, between 24 February and 2 March, the last day of his fast, his weight had increased by a pound. Perhaps Churchill’s suspicions were not all that wide of the mark.

(Reprinted with publisher's permission.)

Also read: What can we learn from Mahatma Gandhi today?