Death by non-violence

60 years ago how the news of the death of Mahatma Gandhi broke out in a village in Jaffna

By Lloyd R. Devarajah
As I was playing the truant and was very poor in my Tamil, I left St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya where I was a student from 1937 and, joined Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai on January 17, 1948. Jaffna College, which was my father’s alma mater, was founded by American Missionaries in 1822.

Two weeks after I joined the college as an ‘outstation boarder,’ Alagan Kadirgamar who was the college Young Men’s Christian Association Secretary, asked me to be in charge of its radio, as he was going home to Chavakachcheri for that weekend. Kadirgamar, on leaving college, joined the Colombo YMCA in the 1950s and rose to the position of General Secretary and later, the National Secretary of this International Organisation.

It later transpired that it was a crucial and epoch–making weekend. It was Friday January 30, 1948 when I was entrusted to be the temporary custodian of the college YMCA radio set, which was being operated on a car battery. The college had two Hornby-Rustom generators to supply electricity to the entire college as well as the campus, where most of the staff lived. But these generators function only from dusk to dawn.

On that day, some of the boarders sought shelter in the YMCA building from the slight drizzle that suddenly started, as their evening games were interrupted. I tuned the radio to Radio Ceylon (English service) for the usual ‘Yours for the Asking’ listeners’ request programme that broadcast from 5 to 5:45 p.m. As that programme ended, some of the boarders wanted me to switch to another programme. Whilst I was twiddling with the radio knob, as I was not yet familiar with the operation, I managed to hear very faintly an announcement from a then unidentified Indian radio station “Gandhi, who was shot at by a youth… He died peacefully a short while ago.” The time was 6:04 p.m. I, and some who were around, could not believe what we heard. After a long silence, which lasted for about three or four minutes, religious music came on the air.

The radio programme was then interrupted for an announcement. It said that, Mahatma, the Great Soul, Gandhi, the spiritual leader of millions of Hindus had been shot dead by a fanatic and that he succumbed to his injuries. Later, the station identified itself as the All-India Radio, Trichinopoly.

After this confirmation, the tragic news spread like wildfire round the college campus, and also some of the neighbouring villages and hinterland.

It should be noted that 60 years ago, the radio was a luxury and only a few owned or possessed one. In Colombo too, it was a rarity and worse in the rural areas. Television was virtually unknown then and came into popularity in the late 1950s in the Western world and came to Sri Lanka only in the early 1980s.

Crowds then gathered at the college YMCA hall within minutes of the breaking of the sad news. As the hall could not accommodate such a large crowd, the powerful Zenith all-world radio, with about 10 to 12 piano keyboard like press-button studs, was brought out into the terrace and placed on a wooden bench. Mats were spread on the floor and the whole area around the YMCA was flood-lit for the benefit of the several hundreds who had gathered there. A freshly ­charged additional car battery was used for the benefit of all the listeners.

Not long after, when the now well-known Indian anthem, Raghupathi Ragava Rajaram came over the airwaves.

Then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders such as Sardar Vallabhai Patel addressed the nation on that same fateful night. They appealed to the Indians to uphold the principles of universal brotherhood, communal love and tolerance and non-violence for which Gandhi had lived and died.

Pandit Nehru, who spoke with great emotion, said, “The father of the nation is no more. Now that the light has gone out of our lives, I do not quite know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader is no-more. The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness. I do not know what to tell you and what to speak.

“Our beloved leader Bapuji, the father of the nation is no more. We will never see him again. A mad man has killed Gandhiji.”

Sixty years ago on Friday January 30, 1948 five days before Ceylon – now Sri Lanka, won her independence from the British Gandhi, the Hindu spiritual leader and champion of free united India and communal peace, was shot dead by a Hindu nationalist in New Delhi.

Gandhi was walking with his two grandnieces, Manu and Ava, at the garden of Birla House around 5 p.m. that fateful day, to the place where he conducted a daily prayer meeting. Then, a youth, Narayan Vinayak Godse (25 years old) editor of Hindu Rastra (nation) in Poona, stepped into Gandhi’s path, bowed down and worshiped him and fired three shots with a pistol at point blank range. The Mahatma fell having sustained severe injuries to the chest, stomach and groin. He was then gently carried into Birla House where he died at 5:47 p.m. the same day.

The assassin was disarmed and pummelled by the crowd that had gathered to hear the Mahatma at the prayer meeting.

The news of the death of the Mahatma was first flashed to Earl Mountbatten who was then Governor General of India, and then to King George VI.

Mahatma Gandhi or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 was trained in law in England. He began advocating self-rule, non-violence, pursuit of native handicrafts, removal of untouchability (which forced millions of poor to remain menials by heredity) in 1919. In 1930, he launched the campaign of civil disobedience including boycotting British goods and the rejection of paying taxes without representation. India won her independence from the British on August 15, 1947.

The following morning, Saturday, January 31, 1948 a special edition of the Times of Ceylon announcing the death of Gandhi, which was put out the previous night in Colombo, and was flown to Jaffna. A copy was sold at a then fabulous price of Rs. 5 owing to the demand.