Page 41 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

He had hardly settled down in Calcutta when South Africa summoned him

again, to lead a delegation of Indians to meet Chamberlain, the British

Secretary of State for Colonies. Great hopes were entertained from the visit.
Gandhi (and the Indians) believed that the Imperial Government would be more

responsive and fair to the Indians because of the service that Indians had

rendered in the cause of the Crown, and because Transvaal had now become a

Crown colony after the defeat of the Boers. But they were shocked and sorely
disappointed. Chamberlain was more interested in raising funds from the whites

than in doing justice to the coloured or the blacks. The memorial that Gandhi

had drafted was brushed aside saying that the colonies had self-rule.

Worse humiliation was awaiting Gandhi and the Indians in Transvaal where too

the Indian community wanted to wait on Chamberlain. After the war,

conditions in the Transvaal were not normal. An Asiatic Department had been
set up. The declared aim of the Department was to protect the Asians, but the

real purpose was to harass them and drive them out. They insisted that Asians

from outside Transvaal could enter Transvaal only with a permit. The system of

permits had led to corruption. Gandhi found it hard to get a permit to enter
Transvaal, and when he managed to do so, he was not permitted to join the

Indian delegation that Chamberlain received. This was an eye opener. Gandhi

was insulted and excluded. He realized what the new policy of the Government
meant. The odds would now be heavier. They would have to start afresh. He

would not be able to return to India as he had planned to do. He would have to

make Johannesburg (Transvaal) his headquarters. He got his colleagues to agree

to his moving from Durban, and enrolled in the Supreme Court at Johannesburg.
He found a house in the legal quarters of the city. Since he now anticipated a

prolonged stay in South Africa, he asked his family to return to be with him.

He knew that the struggle was going to be long and hard. The whites had
already hardened their attitude. It might harden further and might become

ruthless when their interests were in real danger. Rights will not be granted for

the asking. They will have to be wrenched from unwilling hands.

www.mkgandhi.org Page 40