02-01-2005, 11:59 AM
"Gandhi is often criticised for his support to the Khilafat movement, but we ignore that it had the support of other leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal and Madan Mohan Malviya as well. Such was the consensus that even Swami Sraddhananda spoke in favour of the Khilafat movement, whereas CR Das signed a pact permitting Muslims to kill cows during their festivals while forbidding Hindus from playing music before mosques."
Poor argument. This is the "I know he did but so did other people" logic. The author is indirectly admitting that Gandhi made a mistake in support of the Khilafat movement. Not only that, but bringing up the names of Lajpat Rai, C.R Das and Bipin Chandra Paul is underhand, because any serious student of history ought to know that these were men who had previously been ardent revolutinaries, and -for some- and were under constant watch and -important of all - had little of their previous power. (BTW now that I come to think of it, Lajpat Rai had some sort of disagreement during the time period, maybe even a direct disagreement over the appeasement of Muslims, i need to go and relook this up because it may directly negate the authors argument)
It was during this time period that Gandhi had the most power he was ever to have, because he really did have an influence on the masses (later, his power would be limited to Congress actions). But even then, he had strong control over Congress actions, and since some of these men were in the Congress they were bound to do as he said, and sign what he wanted.
****NOTE: I am reading that Bipin Chandra Pal opposed Gandhi's non-cooperation movement - this makes a lot of sense considering that Chandra Pal was part of the initial revolutionary movement. This completely negates the authors argument, leaving it as a bold-faced lie.***
http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/23.html
Poor argument. This is the "I know he did but so did other people" logic. The author is indirectly admitting that Gandhi made a mistake in support of the Khilafat movement. Not only that, but bringing up the names of Lajpat Rai, C.R Das and Bipin Chandra Paul is underhand, because any serious student of history ought to know that these were men who had previously been ardent revolutinaries, and -for some- and were under constant watch and -important of all - had little of their previous power. (BTW now that I come to think of it, Lajpat Rai had some sort of disagreement during the time period, maybe even a direct disagreement over the appeasement of Muslims, i need to go and relook this up because it may directly negate the authors argument)
It was during this time period that Gandhi had the most power he was ever to have, because he really did have an influence on the masses (later, his power would be limited to Congress actions). But even then, he had strong control over Congress actions, and since some of these men were in the Congress they were bound to do as he said, and sign what he wanted.
****NOTE: I am reading that Bipin Chandra Pal opposed Gandhi's non-cooperation movement - this makes a lot of sense considering that Chandra Pal was part of the initial revolutionary movement. This completely negates the authors argument, leaving it as a bold-faced lie.***
http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/23.html