A little reflection will show how totally unjust and immoral this argument was. When there was nothing like the Immigrants Restriction Act at all in existence, how were the Indians or myself to oppose it? General Smuts talked glibly about his experience of what he called my ‘cunning’ and yet he could not cite a single case in point in support of his statement. And I do not remember to l have ever resorted to cunning during afl thoseyears that I lived in South Africa, t may now go even farther and say without the least hesitation that I have never had recourse to cunning in all my life. I believe that cunning is not only morally wrong but also politically inexpedient, and have therefore always discountenanced its use even from the practical standpoint. It is hardly necessary for me to defend myself. I would even be ashamed of defend¬ ing myself before the class of readers for whom this is written. If even now they have not seen that I am free from cunning, nothing that I could write in self-defence could convince them of that fact. I have penned these few sentences only with a view to give the reader an idea of the difficulties which were encountered during the Satyagraha struggle and of the imminent danger to the movement if the Indians even by a hair’s breadth swerved from the strait and narrow path. The rope-dancer, balanc¬ ing himself upon a rope suspended at a height of twenty feet, must concentrate his attention upon the rope, and the least little error in so doing means death for him, no matter on which side he falls. My eight years’ experience of Satyagraha in South Africa has taught me that a Satya- grahi has to be if possible even more single-minded than the rope-dancer. The friends before whom General Smuts levelled this charge at me knew me well, and therefore the charge had an effect over them just the opposite of what General Smuts had desired. They not only did not give me up or the movement but grew even more zealous in supporting us, and the Indians saw later on that they would have come in for no end of trouble if CHARGE OF FORCING FRESH ISSUE 191 their Satyagraha had not been extended to the Immigration Act also.
My experience has taught me that a law of pro¬ gression _.aBpli.es.^tQ__every righteous struggle. But in the case of Satyagraha the law amounts to an axiom. As the Ganga advances, other streams flow into it, and hence at the mouth it grows so wide that neither bank is to be seen and a person sailing upon the river cannot make out where the river ends and the sea begins. So also as a Satya¬ graha struggle progresses onward, many another element helps to swell its current, and there is a constant growth in the results to which it leads. This is really inevitable, and is bound up with the first principles of Satyagraha. For in Satyagraha the minimum is also the maximum, and as it is the irreducible minimum, there is no question of retreat, and the only movement possible is an advance. In other struggles, even when they are righteous, the demand is first pitched a little higher so as to admit of future redu¬ ction, and hence the law of progression does not apply to all of them without exception. But I must explain how the law of progression comes into play when the minimum is also the maximum as in Satyagraha. The Ganga does not leave its course in search of tributaries. Even so does the Satyagrahi not leave his path which is sharp as the sword’s edge. But as the tributaries spontaneously join the Ganga as it advances, so it is with the river that is Satya¬ graha. Seeing that the Immigration Act was included in the Satyagraha, some Indians ignorant of the principles of Satyagraha insisted upon the whole mass of the anti- Indian legislation in the Transvaal being similarly treated. Others again suggested a mobilization of Indians all over South Africa and the offering of Satyagraha against all anti-Indian legislation in Natal, the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State etc., while the Transvaal struggle was on. Both the suggestions involved a breach of principle. I distinctly said, that it would be dishonest now, having seen the opportunity, to take up a position which was not in view when Satyagraha was started. No matter how strong we were, the present struggle must close when the demands for which it was commenced were accepted.
fHr-r/rS) cnr-fp SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA I am confident, that if we had not adhered to this principle, instead of winning, we would not only have lost all along the line, but also forfeited the sympathy which had been enlisted in our favour. On the other hand if the adversary himself creates new difficulties for us while the struggle is in progress, they become automatically IncludecT~’in it.
A Satyagrahi^ without being false to his^laTthT^a nnot dis¬ regard new difficulties which confront him while he is pursu¬ ing his own course. The adversary is not a Satyagrahi, — Satyagraha against Satyagraha is impossible, — and is not bound by any limit of maximum or minimum. He can therefore try if he wishes to frighten the Satyagrahi by raising novel issues. But the Satyagrahi has renounced all fear, tackles by Satyagraha the later difficulties as well as the former and trusts that it will help him to hold his own against all odds. Therefore as a Satyagraha struggle is prolo¬ nged, that is to say by the adversary, it is the adversary who stands to lose from his own standpoint, and it is the Satyagrahi who stands to gain. We shall come across other illustrations of the working of this law in the later stages of this struggle.
CHAPTER XXIX SORABJI SHAPURJI ADAJANIA Now as Satyagraha was made to embrace the Immi¬ gration Act as well, Satyagrahis had to test the right of educated Indians to enter the Transvaal. The Committee decided that the test should not be made through any ordinary Indian. The idea was that some Indian, who did not come within the four corners of the definition of a prohibited immigrant in the new Act in so far as the de¬ finition was acceptable to the community, should enter the Transvaal and go to jail. We had thus to show that Satya¬ graha is a force containing within itself seeds of progress¬ ive self-restraint. There was a section in the Act to the •effect that any person who was not conversant with a European language should be treated as a prohibited immigrant. The Committee therefore proposed that some Indian who knew English but who had not been to the SORABJI SHAPURJI ADAJANIA Transvaal before should enter the country. Several young Indians volunteered for the purpose, out of whom Sorabji Shapurji Adajania was selected.
Sorabji was a Parsi. There were not perhaps more than a hundred Parsis in the whole of South Africa. I held in South Africa the same views about the Parsis as I have expressed in India. There are not more than a hun¬ dred thousand Parsis in the world, and this alone speaks volumes for their high character that such a small com¬ munity has long preserved its prestige, clung to its reli¬ gion and proved itself second to none in the world in point of charity. But Sorabji turned out to be pure gold. I was but slightly acquainted with him when he joined the struggle. His letters as regards participation in Satyagraha left a good impression on me. As I am a lover of the great qualities of the Parsis, I was not and I am not unaware of some of their defects as a community. I was therefore doubtful whether Sorabji would be able to stand to his guns in critical times. But it was a rule with me not to attach any weight to my own doubts where the party con¬ cerned himself asserted the contrary. I therefore recom¬ mended to the Committee that they should take Sorabji at his word, and eventually Sorabji proved himself to be a first class Satyagrahi. He not only was one of the Satya- grahis who suffered the longest terms of imprisonment, but also made such deep study of the struggle that his views commanded respectful hearing from all. His advice always betrayed firmness, wisdom, charity and delibera¬ tion. He was slow to form an opinion as well as to change an opinion once formed. He was as much of an Indian as of a Parsi, and was quite free from the ban of narrow communalism. After the struggle was over Doctor Mehta offered a scholarship in order to enable some good Satya¬ grahi to proceed to England for bar. I was charged with the selection. There were two or three deserving candidates, but all the friends felt that there was none who could approach Sorabji in maturity of judgment and ripeness of wisdom, and he was selected accordingly. The idea was, that on his return to South Africa he should take my place and serve the community. Sorabji went to England with SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA the blessings of the community, and was duly called to the bar. He had already come in contact with Gokhale in South Africa, and his relations with him became closer in England. Sorabji captivated Gokhale who asked him to join the Servants of India Society when he returned to India. Sorabji became extremely popular among the students. He would share the sorrows of all, and his soul was not tarnished by the luxury and the artificiality in England. When he went to England, he was above thirty, and he had only a working knowledge of English. But difficulties vanish at the touch of man’s perseverance. Sorabji lived the pure life of a student and passed his examinations. The bar examinations in my time were easy. Barristers now-a-days have to study comparatively very much harder. But Sorabji knew not what it was to be defeated. When the ambulance corps was established in England, he was one of the pioneers as also one of those who remained in it till the last. This corps too had to offer Satyagraha in which many members fell back but Sorabji was at the head of those who would not give in. Let me state in passing that this Satyagraha of the ambulance corps was also crowned with victory.
After being called to the bar in England Sorabji returned to Johannesburg where he began to practice law as well as to serve the community. Every letter I received from South Africa was full of praise for Sorabji: ‘He is as simple in habits as ever, and free from the slightest trace of vanity. He mixes with all, rich as well as poor.’ But God seems to be as cruel as he is merciful. Sorabji caught galloping phthisis and died in a few months, leav¬ ing the Indians whose love he had freshly acquired to mourn his loss. Thus within a very short period God bereft the community of two outstanding personalities, Kachha- lia and Sorabji. If I were asked to choose between the two, I would be at a loss to decide. In fact, each was supreme in his own field. And Sorabji was as good an Indian as he was a good- Parsi, even as Kachhalia was as good an Indian as he was a good Musalman.
Thus Sorabji entered the Transvaal, having pre¬ viously informed the Government of his intention to test SORABJI SHAPURJI ADAJANIA his right to remain in the country under the Immigrants Restriction Act. The Government were not at all prepared for this and could not at once decide what to do with Sorabji, who publicly crossed the border and entered the country. The Immigration Restriction Officer knew him. Sorabji told him that he was deliberately entering the Transvaal for a test case, and asked him to examine him in English or to arrest him just as he pleased. The Officer replied that there was no question of examining him as he was aware of his knowledge of English. He had no orders to arrest him. Sorabji might enter the country and the Government, if they wished, would arrest him where he went.
Thus contrary to our expectation Sorabji reached Johannesburg and we welcomed him in our midst. No one had hoped that the Government would permit him to proceed even an inch beyond the frontier station of Volk- srust. Very often it so happens that when we take our steps deliberately ancj fearlessly, the government is hot ready to oppose us. The reason for this lies in the very nature of government. A government officer does not ordinarily make his department so much his own as to arrange his ideas on every subject beforehand and make preparations accordingly. Again, the officer has not one but many things to attend to, and his mind is divided between them. Thirdly, the official suffers from the in¬ toxication of power, is thus apt to be careless and believes that it is child’s play for the authorities to deal with any— movement whatever. On the other hand, the public worker knows his ideal as well as the means to achieve his end, and if he has definite plans, he- is p erfe c tly Te ady to carry them out, and his work is the only subject of his thoughts day and night. If therefore he takes the right steps with decision, he is always in advance of the govern¬ ment. Many movements fail, not because governments*^ are endowed with extraordinary power but because the leaders are lacking in the qualities just referred to.
In short, whether through the negligence or the set design of the Government Sorabji reached as far as Johann¬ esburg, and the local officer had neither any idea of his SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA duty in a case like this nor any instructions from his superiors on the point. Sorabji’s arrival increased our enthusiasm, and some young men thought that the Govern¬ ment were defeated and would soon come to terms. They saw their mistake very soon, however. They even realized that a settlement could perhaps be purchased only by the self-devotion of many a young man.
Sorabji informed the Police Superintendent, Johannes¬ burg, about his arrival and let him know that he believed himself entitled to remain in the Transvaal in terms of the new Immigration Act, as he had ordinary knowledge of English, in respect of which he was ready to submit to an examination by the officer if he so desired. No reply to this letter was received, or rather the reply came after some days in the form of a summons.
Sorabji’s case came before the Court on July 8, 1908. The court house was packed full of Indian spectators. Be¬ fore the case began, we held a meeting of the Indians present on the grounds of the Court and Sorabji made a fighting speech, in which he announced his readiness to go to jail as often as necessary for victory and to brave all dangers and risks. In the meanwhile, I had got fairly familiar with Sorabji and assured myself that he would do credit to the community. The Magistrate took up the case in due course. I defended Sorabji, and at once asked for his discharge on the ground of the summons being defective. The public Prosecutor also made an argument, but on the 9th the Court upheld my contention and discharged Sorabji who, however, immediately received warning to appear before the Court the next day, Friday, July 10, On the 10th, the Magistrate ordered Sorabji to leave the Transvaal within seven days. After the Court’s order was served upon him, Sorabji informed Superintendent J. A. G. Vernon that it was not his desire to leave. He was accordingly brought to the Court once more, on the 20th, charged with failing to obey the Magistrate’s order, and sentenced to a month’s imprisonment with hard labour. The Government, however, did not arrest the local Indians as they saw that the more arrests there were the higher SHETH BAUD MAHOMED ETC.
did the Indians’ spirit rise. Again Indians were sometimes discharged thanks to legal technicalities in the cases instituted against them and this also served to redouble the ardour of the community. Government had carried through the Legislature all the laws they wanted. Many Indians had indeed burnt the certificates but they had proved their right to remain in the country by their regis¬ tration. Government therefore saw no sense in prosecuting them simply to send them to jail, and thought that the workers would cool down finding no outlet for their ener¬ gies in view of the masterly inactivity of the Government. But they were reckoning without their host. The Indians took fresh steps to test the Government’s patience, which was soon exhausted.
CHAPTER XXX CHAPTER XXX SHETH DAUD MAHOMED ETC. ENTER THE STRUGGLE j{re P When the Indians saw through the Government’s game of tiring them out by fabian tactics they felt bound to take further steps. A. Satyagrahi is never tired so long as he has the capacity to suffer. The Indians were there¬ fore in a position to upset the calculations of the Govern¬ ment.
There were several Indians in Natal who possessed ancient rights of domicile in the Transvaal. They had no need to enter the Transvaal for trade, but the community held that they had the right of entry. They also had some knowledge of English. Again there was no breach of the principles of Satyagraha in educated Indians like Sorabji entering the Transvaal. We therefore decided that two classes of Indians should enter the Transvaal; first, those who had previously been domiciled in the country, and secondly, those who had received English education.
Of these Sheth Baud Mahomed and Parsi Rustomji were big traders, and Surendra Medh, Pragji Khandubhai Desai, Ratansi Mulji Sodha, Harilal Gandhi and others SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA were ‘educated5 men. Baud Sheth came in spite of his wife being dangerously ill.
Let me introduce Sheth Daud Mahomed to the reader. He was president of the Natal Indian Congress, and one of the oldest Indian traders that came to South Africa. He was a Sunni Vora from Surat. I have seen but few Indians in South Africa who equalled him in tact. He had excel¬ lent powers of understanding. He had not had much literary education but he spoke English and Dutch well. He was skilful in his business intercourse with European traders. His liberality was widely known. About fifty guests would dine with him every day. He was one of the chief contributors to Indian collections. He had the priceless jewel of a son who far surpassed him in charac¬ ter. The boy’s heart was pure as crystal. Daud Sheth never came in the way of his son’s aspirations. Indeed it would be no exaggeration to say, that the father almost worship¬ ped the son. He wished that none of his own defects should reappear in the boy and had sent him to England for education. But Daud Sheth lost this treasure of a son in his prime. Phthisis claimed Husen for its victim. This was a sore wound that never healed. With Husen died the high hopes which the Indians had cherished about him. He was a most truthful lad, and Hindu and Musalman were to him as the left and the right eye. Even Daud Sheth is now no more with us. Who is there upon whom Death does not lay his hands?
I have already introduced Parsi Rustomji to the reader. The names of several other friends who joined this ‘Asiatic invasion’ have been left out as I am writing this without consulting any papers, and I hope they will excuse me for it. I am not writing these chapters to immortalize names but to explain the secret of Satyagraha, and to show how it succeeded, what obstacles beset its path and how they were removed. Even where I have mentioned names I have done so in order to point out to the reader how men who might be considered illiterate distinguished themselves in South Africa, how Hindus, Musalmans, Parsis and Christians there worked harmoniously together and how traders, ‘educated’ men and others fulfilled their SHETH DAUD MAHOMED ETC.
duty. Where a man of high merit has been mentioned, praise has been bestowed not upon him but only upon his merit.
When Baud Sheth thus arrived on the frontiers of the Transvaal with his Satyagrahi ‘army,5 the Govern¬ ment was ready to meet him. The Government would be¬ come an object of ridicule if it allowed such a large troop to enter the Transvaal, and was therefore bound to arrest them. So they were arrested, and on August 18, 1908 brought before the Magistrate who ordered them to leave the Transvaal within seven days. They disobeyed the order of course, were rearrested at Pretoria on the 28th and deported without trial. They re-entered the Transvaal on the 31st and finally on September 8 were sentenced at Volksrust to a fine of fifty pounds or three months5 imprisonment with hard labour. Needless to say, they cheerfully elected to go to gaol.
The Transvaal Indians were now in high spirits. If they could not compel the release of their Natal compat¬ riots, they must certainly share their imprisonment. They therefore cast about for means which would land them in jail. There were several ways in which they could have their heart’s desire. If a domiciled Indian did not show his registration certificate, he would not be given a trading licence and it would be an offence on his part if he traded without licence. Again one must show the certi¬ ficate if one wanted to enter the Transvaal from Natal, and would be arrested if one had none to show. The certi¬ ficates had already been burnt and the line was therefore clear. The Indians employed both these methods. Some began to hawk without a licence while others were arrest¬ ed for not showing certificates upon entering the Transvaal.
The movement was now in full swing. Every one was on his trial. Other Natal Indians followed Sheth Daud Mahomed’s example. There were many arrests in Johannes¬ burg also. Things came to such a pass that any one who wished could get himself arrested. Jails began to be filled, ‘invaders’ from Natal getting three months and the Trans¬ vaal hawkers anything from four days to three months.
PfiMri'' SATVAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA Among those who thus courted arrest was our ‘Imam Saheb,5 Imam Abdul Kadar Bavazir, who was arrested for hawking without a licence and sentenced on July 21,, 1908 to imprisonment for four days with hard labour. Imam Saheb’s health was so delicate that people laughed when they heard of his courting arrest. Some people came to me and asked me not to take Imam Saheb for fear he might bring discredit upon the community. I disregarded this warning. It was none of my business to gauge the strength or weakness of Imam Saheb. Imam Saheb never walked barefooted, was fond of the good things of the earth, had a Malay wife, kept a well-furnished house and went about in a horse carriage. Very true, but who could read the depths of his mind? After he was released, Imam Saheb went to jail again, lived there as an ideal prisoner and took his meals after a spell of hard labour. At home he would have new dishes and delicacies every day; in jail he took mealie pap and thanked God for it. Not only was o he not defeated, but he became simple in habits. As a prison- er he broke stones, worked as a sweeper and stood in a ^ line with other prisoners. At Phoenix he fetched water A and even set types in the press. Every one at the Phoenix V Ashram was bound to acquire the art of type-setting. Imam Saheb learnt type-setting to the- best ofTnF^E ITity. Now- a-days he is doing his bit in India.
But there were many such who experienced self-puri¬ fication in jail.
Joseph Royeppen, barrister-at-law, a graduate of Cambridge University had been born in Natal of parents who were indentured labourers, but had fully adopted the European style of living. He would not go barefooted even in his house, unlike Imam Saheb who must wash his feet before prayers and must also pray barefooted. Roye¬ ppen left his law books, took up a basket of vegetables and was arrested as an unlicensed hawker. He too suffered imprisonment. ‘But should I travel third class?5 asked Royeppen. ‘If you travel first or second how can I ask any of the rest to travel third? Who in jail is going to recognize the barrister in you?5 I replied, and that was enough to satisfy Royeppen.
SHETH DAUD MAHOMED ETC. 201 Many lads sixteen years old went to jail. One Mohan- lal Manji Ghelani was only fourteen.
The jail authorities left no stone unturned to harass the Indians, who were given scavenger’s work, but they did it with a smile on their face. They were asked to break stones, and they broke stones with the name of Allah or Rama on their lips. They were made to dig tanks and put upon pick-axe work in stony ground. Their hands became hardened with the work. Some of them even fainted under unbearable hardships, but they did not know what it was to be beaten.
One must not suppose, that there were no internal jealousies or quarrels in jail. Food constitutes the eternal apple of discord, but we successfully avoided bickerings even over food.
I too was arrested again. At one time there were as many as seventy- five Indian prisoners in Volksrust jail. We cooked our own food. I became the cook as only I could adjudicate on the conflicting claims to the ration supplied. Thanks to their love for me my companions took without a murmur the half-cooked porridge I prepared without sugar.
Government thought that if they separated me from the other prisoners it might perhaps chasten me as well as the others. They therefore took me to Pretoria jail where I was confined in a solitary cell reserved for danger¬ ous prisoners. I was taken out only twice a day for exer¬ cise. In Pretoria jail no ghi was provided to the Indians, unlike as in Volksrust. But I do not propose here to deal with our hardships in jail, for which the curious may turn to the account of my experiences of jail life in South Africa.
But yet the Indians would not take a defeat. Govern¬ ment was in a quandary. How many Indians could be sent to jail after all? And then it meant additional expen¬ diture. The Government began to cast about for other means of dealing with the situation.
CHAPTER XXXI DEPORTATIONS The obnoxious Acts provided for three kinds of punish¬ ment, viz., fine, imprisonment and deportation. The Courts were empowered simultaneously to award all the punish¬ ments, and all magistrates were given jurisdiction to impose the maximum penalties. At first deportation meant taking the ‘culprit’ into the limits of Natal, the Orange Free State or Portuguese East Africa beyond the Transvaal frontier and leaving him there. As for instance the Indians who crossed over from Natal were taken beyond the limits of Volksrust station and there left to their own devices. Deportation of this kind was a farce pure and simple, as it involved only a little inconvenience, and instead of •disheartening them it only encouraged the Indians still further.
The local Government therefore had to find out fresh means of harassing the Indians. The jails were already overcrowded. The Government thought that the Indians would be thoroughly demoralized and would surrender at discretion if they could be deported to India. There was some ground for this belief of the Government who accord¬ ingly sent a large batch of Indians to India. These deport¬ ees suffered great hardships. They had nothing to eat except what Government chose to provide for them on the steamers, and all of them were sent as deck passengers. Again some of them had their landed as well as other property and their business in South Africa, many had their families there, while others were also in debt. Not many men would be ready to lose their all and turn into perfect bankrupts.
All this notwithstanding, many Indians remained per¬ fectly firm. Many more however weakened and ceased to court arrest, although they did not weaken to the extent of getting duplicates of the burnt certificates. Some few were even terrorized into registering afresh.
DEPORTATIONS