Thread by @BidariSreenivas

Worth reading on Anniversary of #JallianwalabaghMassacre

Noble Words of the Mahatma
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1
This is why Mahatma Gandhi forgave General Dyer even after Jallianwala Bagh massacre theprint.in/opinion/this-i…

Mahatma said “it would be sin for me to serve General Dyer & co-operate with him to shoot innocent men. But it will be an exercise of forgiveness or love for me to nurse him back to life, if he was suffering from a physical malady (sic)”.

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Gandhi even wrote that Dyer “merely destroyed a few bodies but the others tried to kill the soul of a nation”.

He said that “the fury that has been spent upon General Dyer is, I am sure, largely misdirected”. 

3

When Dyer suffered paralysis, Gandhi ji~ “I do not think that his paralysis has any necessary connection with his action in Jallianwala Bagh.

Have you considered the implications of such beliefs?… My dysentery, appendicitis and this time a mild attack of paralysis . .

4a . .

. . . must have been known to you. I should be very sorry if some good Englishmen were to think that these diseases were due to my fierce opposition, as it must appear in their estimation, to the English Government.” (CWMG Volume 34, P229 ‘A Letter’, 24 July 1927)

4b

Almost 2 decades later

“Who could be more cruel or blood-thirsty than the late Gen. Dyer?” asked Gandhi, “Yet the Jallianwala Bagh Congress Inquiry Committee, on my advice, had refused to ask for his prosecution. . .

5a . .

. . . I had no trace of ill will against him in my heart. I would have also liked to meet him personally and reach his heart, but that was to remain a mere aspiration.” (CWMG Volume 68, P83, ‘Talk to Khudai Khidmatgars’, 1 November 1938)

5b

Dyer did not repent his act .. But once, he did consider donating the proceeds from some of his lectures “among the relatives of victims

Gandhiji in NavaJivan said Gen Dyer had dared to spare the income for the victim families of J.Bagh.

(But, no donation actually happened)

6

Gandhi coined the term ‘Dyerism’ to describe brute force and violent suppression !

He described untouchability as ‘Dyerism of Hindu religion’.

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“Gen Dyer himself surely believed that English men & women were in danger of losing their lives if he did not take the measures he did.

We, who know better, call it an act of cruelty and vengeance. But from General Dyer’s own standpoint, he is justified..”

8a

Many Hindus sincerely believe that it is a proper thing to kill a man who wants to kill a cow & he will quote scripture for his defence & many other Hindus will be found to justify his action. . .

8b. .

. . But strangers who do not accept the sacredness of the cow will hold it to be preposterous to kill a human being for the sake of slaying an animal . .

8c

Gandhiji said that “ if Dyer and O’Dwyer . . . if I am still conscious and come to know that one of them has been bitten by a snake, I would go running to them to suck out the poison. I have done such things in the past”. 

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In the light #Taliban Take over of Afghanistan & #RussiaUkraineWar, I am convinced Afghanistan & Ukraine need a leader like Mahatma Gandhiji with such Noble thoughts & Vision.

Hope the leaders of these nations embrace Gandhian Philosophy

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