Thread by @cbkwgl

Wow!! Till now, I am assuming Mahatma is a honorific given to Gandhi out of respect. But, it turns out that was formally passed as an order by someone who wanted to curry favours with the high command!!

https://twitter.com/ipsvijrk/status/1475696333239447555

NB Khare became the Premier of Central Provinces and Berar in August 1937. Some reason, Sardar Patel was against him and a lobby was formed against him in the cabinet.

The politics against Khare went on with Rajendra Prasad also joining the bandwagon along with Patel and Gandhi. The three who refused to resign(led by Ravi Shankar Shukla) were sacked. A new ministry was formed without the three and this made Congress even angrier.

In due time, Khare was forced to resign and he was replaced by the same Ravishankar Shukla who schemed against him. Subhas Bose was the Party President then. No wonder he got mad at the happenings in Congress in two years and left.

Now, in Sep 1938, two things happened. Khare wrote a pamphlet "To my Countrymen: My Defence" accusing Gandhi and others, and Ravisankar Shukla passed orders to declare Gandhi as Mahatma. What's the sudden urgency to the level that it's one of the decisions taken by the new govt?

Khare became a lifelong critic of Gandhi and was arrested on his murder, sacked of his constitutional posts and tried to implicate him in the conspiracy. Note, it's the same people in power in 1938 and 1948.

And Shukla grew strong by the day, climbing to the position of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh which he himself helped carve out of Central Provinces. And equally important is his role in messing up the Bastar issue.