MR GANDHI

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25305, 3 October 1947, Page 7

MR GANDHI

STATEMENT MADE ON BIRTHDAY DAY SPENT IN PRAYER, FASTING, SPINNING (Rec. 12.10 a.m.) NEW DELHI, October 2. “Mr Gandhi devoted his seventyeighth birthday to-day to prayer, fasting, spinning, and work for peace between India and Pakistan,” says the Associated Press correspondent. “India celebrated his birthday as a public holiday. ' “Mr Gandhi rose by moonlight at 3.30 a.m., in spite of having influenza and a bad cough. He conducted a household prayer meeting, and by 4.1? a.m. he was squatting cross-legged at a desk 14 inches high. At 5.15 a.m. Mr Gandhi took his usual walk in the garden of his temporary headquarters, leaning slightly on the shoulders of two young women. “Mr Gandhi, in a statement, said: ‘With every breath I pray that God will give me strength to quench the flames or remove me from this earth. I, who have staked my life to gain India’s independence, do not wish to be a living witness to its destruction. *“I am aware of the terrible sufferings of the Sikhs and Hindus in West Punjab, but 1 appeal to them to leave it to the Indian Government to secure justice. This is an occasion for pfenance, prayer, and self -purification.’” The Indian press praised Mr Gandhi as “the father of ( independence.” The Indian Government » received from Pakistan a protest about Mr Gandhi’s reference at his prayer meeting on September 26 to the possibility of war. India replied that the Government had no intention of departing from the joint Indian-Pakistan declaration of September 19, that Governments should co-operate in establishing peaceful conditions, and added that Mr Gandhi’s statement had obviously been misunderstood.