FAST ANNOUNCED BY MR GANDHI

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25391, 14 January 1948, Page 7

FAST ANNOUNCED BY MR GANDHI

EFFORT TO PROMOTE UNITY IN INDIA

FEARS FOR HEALTH IN 79TH YEAR (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Januarv 13. “Indian public opinion is certain to be gravely disturbed by Mr Gandhi’s decision to fast for an unspecified period from to-day in order to promote Hindu-Moslem unity and understanding,” says the Delhi correspondent of “The Times.” “Mr Gandhi is in his seventy-ninth year, and although enjoying good health he is frail and witnout reserves of strength. Fasting for any length of time must severely strain his constitution and it is certain that in India at least, if not in Pakistan, the leaders of all communities will get together to promote unity and to dissuade him from continuing the fast. “Last August when Calcutta showed signs of being given over to HinduMoslem rioting. Mr Gandhi, who was then in Calcutta, resorted to fasting and within a few days the atmosphere had so improved that he was persuaded to desist. Since then Bengal has been comparatively free from communal trouble. _ A. .Previous occasion when Mr Gandhi fasted was in February, 1948, when he was in gaol and wished to register his protest against the Indian Governments war policy. That fast lasted 21 days. The present fast is his sevehth.” After announcing his fast, Mr Gandhi went to see the Governor-General of India (Lord Mountbatten) and was with him for some time, says the correspondent. The British United Press correspondent in New Delhi quotes Mr Gandhi as saying that the fast would end when he was satisfied that there was a reunion of the hearts of all communities, brought about without outside pressure. Mr Gandhi added: *1 do not embark on it for the sake of the bring. I do so because I must. Death for me would be a glorious de l lv erance, rather than that I should be a helpless witness of the deand C ls?am°” India — Hindu *«m. Sikhism,