The stated purpose for Mr. Pennington's letter is to seek the truth from Gandhi about what happened at the Jallianwalla massacre. Choose one of the following statements that expresses an implied purposes for Mr. Pennington's letter to Gandhi.
A to attack Gandhi's credibility as a non-violent leader
B to entertain Gandhi through a detailed description of events
C to inform Gandhi that the massacre was General Dyer's fault
D to elicit Gandhi's sympathy for General Dyer's situation
Answers
Explanation:
This line means that the servants of Rajendra Prasad did not allow Gandhiji to draw water from the well in case that one drop of water from his bucket pollutes the entire well. They could not identify him with his status from his outer appearance. There was no sign from which they could recognise that he was not an untouchable.
Once, Gandhiji went to meet Rajendra Prasad along with a peasant called Shukla. Rajendra Prasad was out of town and his servants did not recognize Gandhiji, from his simple dress, plain living manner and also his poor companion Shukla. They thought him to be an untouchable. They took Gandhiji to be another peasant. So, they did not allow him to draw water from the well as they thought that one drop of water from his container would damage the whole well.
Answer:
ong Indians, but Mahatma Gandhi forgave General Dyer again and again, even as he warned people against ‘Dyerism’.
At that time, Mahatma Gandhi was trying to show the country a different path – a path of non-violence and forgiveness.
Gandhi said that “it would be sin for me to serve General Dyer and co-operate with him to shoot innocent men. But it will be an exercise of forgiveness or love for me to nurse him back to life, if he was suffering from a physical malady (sic)”. (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) Vol 18, P195, ‘Religious Authority for Non-Cooperation’, Young India, 25 August 1920
Explanation:
Gandhi even wrote that Dyer “merely destroyed a few bodies but the others tried to kill the soul of a nation”. He said that “the fury that has been spent upon General Dyer is, I am sure, largely misdirected”. (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 18, P46, Young India, 14 July 1920)
When Dyer suffered from paralysis in the last phase of his life, a friend wrote to Gandhi blaming the Jallianwala Bagh massacre for his ill-health.
Gandhi, a staunch believer of Bhagavad Gita, had a rational response to this. “I do not think that his paralysis has any necessary connection with his action in Jallianwala Bagh. Have you considered the implications of such beliefs?… My dysentery, appendicitis and this time a mild attack of paralysis must have been known to you. I should be very sorry if some good Englishmen were to think that these diseases were due to my fierce opposition, as it must appear in their estimation, to the English Government.” (CWMG Volume 34, P229 ‘A Letter’, 24 July 1927)
Then he forgave Dyer again, nearly two decades after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
“Who could be more cruel or blood-thirsty than the late Gen. Dyer?” asked Gandhi, “Yet the Jallianwala Bagh Congress Inquiry Committee, on my advice, had refused to ask for his prosecution. I had no trace of ill will against him in my heart. I would have also liked to meet him personally and reach his heart, but that was to remain a mere aspiration.” (CWMG Volume 68, P83, ‘Talk to Khudai Khidmatgars’, 1 November 1938)