Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins: A moving story of Gandhi’s assassination

Introduction:

Mahabharata and Ramayana are the two great epics of India. There are various classic literatures in various regional languages. The English language is known to the Indians only for the last 300 years. But the literature in India in English has reached new heights and there are also thousands of lovers of English literature in India. Especially some writings have reached the classical level and received worldwide attention.

These literatures can be broadly classified into two. The first is literature written by Indians on Indian background and the second is by English writers on events in India. ‘Freedom at Midnight’ belongs to the second category and is one of the most appreciated event books in India.

This book covers the events that led to the partition of India, the achievement of India’s freedom, the senseless violence between Hindus and Muslims, the great problem of Kashmir, the annexation of the princely states, and finally, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

In this article we will see important aspects of the book with special reference to the assassination of Gandhi.

1. The construction of history:

The content of this book dealing with contemporary history can be called ‘story’ because the facts recorded in it were more moving than a story. Part of Lord Mountbatten’s meeting with British Prime Minister Attlee. The entire first chapter deals with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as the last Viceroy of India with the charge of giving freedom to India. The main question that was discussed was how to give freedom to India and more importantly the safe passage of the British in India, who were charged with luxurious lives.

2. Enter Mahatma Gandhi:

The Mahatma enters the narrative through a description of Noakhali’s famous tour in which he made an unsuccessful attempt to stop Hindu-Muslim violence. He was humiliated by mediocre leaders of both religions. The authors made an in-depth study of the newspapers of those days and gave a real account of the events.

The process of granting freedom begins with the inauguration of Lord Mountbatten as viceroy. He had several rounds of talks with Patel, Jinnah, Nehru and Gandhi, who were of increasing importance to India’s freedom. Gandhi and Jinnah have a special place in this final solution, Gandhi as the Father of the Nation in India and Jinnah as The Creator of Pakistan.

3. Partition Misery:

The authors describe the royal partition as ‘The most complex divorce in history’. Not only the land was divided, but also the properties as in the case of family partition.

The cost of partition was paid by the citizens of the border states, Punjab in the north, West Bengal in the east, while there was much bloodshed in other states as well.

The violence is described in detail in the chapter ‘Our people have gone mad’. Senseless violence brings tears to the eyes of any leader.

The author says that “if a person dies in the violence, it is a ‘mercy’ shown to them, because acid attacks, rapes, disfigurements and other torture were very common. The kidnapping of minor children, raping them and killing them was very common.They were identified by various religious markings on their bodies and were mercilessly tortured.

A billionaire from Lahore will become a beggar in a day and has to walk long distances without food or water to reach Delhi, while an industrialist in Punjab had to walk the other way and reach Karachi on foot losing everything. There were several trains that arrived in India full of corpses. By all accounts, the authors state that at least for the Muslims who were displaced to Pakistan, a good future awaited them because it was a newborn country, while for the Hindus, who arrived in Delhi, there was no future at all. They were not accepted by their relatives, shunned by old friends and left literally orphaned on the streets of Delhi and Calcutta. They have to arrive in a country that only expected work from its subjects and nothing to offer to the refugees. There was murder and bloodshed everywhere and in this atmosphere India got her freedom ‘at midnight’.

4. While the world slept:

This chapter deserves a special mention because it gives a minute-by-minute account of the freedom of India and Pakistan. The most outstanding features are:

13.8.47: While the whole of India was waiting for its freedom and when most of the leaders were preparing to bask in power, Mahatma Gandhi, who led the fight for freedom by non-violent means, did not participate in the celebrations, but walked across. Noakhali jungles to stop the senseless violence between the two communities. Hatred against Gandhi by Hindus who were greatly affected by the violence started from this place. In fact, the pathos of the story starts from here and a sadness falls over the readers indicating the tragedy that seemed imminent in the near future.

14.8.47: marked Lord Mountbatten’s last day as viceroy. The last order he signed was to raise Nawab’s Australian Begum to the dignity of Highness. The order was placed on his table at 11:58 p.m. With a sign of sheer delight lighting his face, he took the pen from him and performed his last deed as Viceroy of India.

14.8.47 Midnight:

“When the whole world sleeps, India wakes up to freedom” Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, hoisted the national flag with these words and declared that India had become a free nation henceforth.

If all went well, the book should have ended with these lines from Nehru. But not many sweet things awaited the Indians after independence.

A Tamil poet, after 50 years of Independence, wrote: “We got freedom at midnight, never to see the dawn of day”, how true!

Lord Mountbatten was appointed as the First Governor General of India until Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was elected to the position. India continued in the Commonwealth League of Nations. These were magnanimous gestures on the part of Nehru and his government. But this same magnanimity created a perennial problem for India, namely KASHMIR.

5. KASHMIR ISSUE:

Kashmir held a special place in the hearts of Nehru and Jinnah. Pakistan planned a tribal invasion in this valley. Due to the invasion, King Hari Singh annexed Kashmir to India. Nehru very liberally secured a plebiscite and also declared a ceasefire. To date, a part of Kashmir is with Pakistan, which India calls Pak Occupied Kashmir (POK) and Pakistan claims as Azad Kashmir (Independent Kashmir). This is the great thorn in the relationship between the two countries for which there is no immediate solution in sight.

The book meets the demand for humor in the chapter on Maharajas (Kings), through the descriptions of palaces, tigers, elephants and jewels. The maharajas lost their crowns and were forced to annex their states to the Indian province, thanks to the efforts of Patel (known as the Iron Man of India). The descriptions of the lives of the kings, their amusing decisions and eccentricities provide some relief from the otherwise very serious subject matter of the book.

6. The Second Crucifixion:

No other title could have adequately described Gandhi’s assassination like this title which equates Gandhi with Jesus Christ, whose crucifixion was the first.

The day was Friday, January 30; 1948. The killer was a Hindu whose name was Nathuram Godse. There was absolutely no adequate security for Gandhi, except for his personal attendants, most of whom were women. Gandhi made the last walk from him to his usual evening prayer. The assassin, concealing the pistol in his hands, approached Gandhi, bowed to him and said “Namaste Gandhiji”.

Using his left hand, Godse brutally pushed the assistant away and then drew the black Baretta pistol in his right hand and fired it three times. Gandhi gasped “Hey Ram” (Oh God) and with the final gesture of blessing the assassin, he fell lifeless. That was one of the most unforgettable moments in the History of Man.

7. Comments:

Lord Mountbatten’s first question on hearing the news of Gandhi’s assassination was, “Who did it?” He was relieved when he learned that a Hindu had killed him (not a Muslim) because if a Muslim had killed him, India would be experiencing another horrific massacre the world had never seen. The possible massacre was averted by repeatedly announcing ‘a Hindu killed Gandhi’, on All India Radio and both Hindus and Muslims mourned the death of the great person.

Tears filled Jawaharlal’s eyes as he stood in front of the All India Radio microphone. “The light has gone from our lives and there is darkness everywhere,” he said, “the father of the country is no more.”

George Bernard Shaw made the stinging comment “It shows how dangerous it is to be good”

Albert Einstein

“Succeeding generations, it may be, will hardly believe that someone like this ever in flesh and blood walked this Earth.”

J. Krishnamurti, deviating from his usual practice of not commenting on the death of leaders, commented: “It is not a single man who killed Gandhi. We, the entire population, have killed him for our petty religious fanaticism.”

This was reflected in editorial comments in the Hindustan Standard which stated:

“Gandhi has been assassinated by his own people for whose redemption he lived, the second crucifixion in the history of the world has been enacted on a Friday, the same day that Jesus killed Jesus nineteen hundred and fifteen years ago. Father, forgive us”

Conclution:

The reader closes the book with a heavy heart. This book is a must read for any patriotic citizen with a sense of sacrifice.

But, when we come to the state of affairs prevailing in India today, it gives us a rather bleak picture. Rampant corruption, bribery everywhere, power-peddling, rigged elections, communal feuds, caste differences and the like rule India favorably. We can’t help but think “Is this why we got freedom, is this why thousands of freedom fighters sacrificed everything and languished in prisons, is it because of this Apostle of Peace who sacrificed the most valuable life of his?” It is the prayer of every Indian that Mahatma Gandhi will be reborn again in India.

The greatest success of the book “Freedom at Midnight” is that it creates this awakening among readers.

I wish the readers of this article every success!