tionary and depended chiefly on the support of landlords. Ninety-five per cent of the Moslems of India were descended from Hindus. The rest came in with the Moslem conquerors. But even those his family included—had become assimilated. In Bengal, he said, repeating what Gandhi had told me, the Hindus and Moslems speak Bengali and dress and live alike. In Madras, they all spoke Tamil. In the villages, the differences between the religious communities were small. Jinnah did not want Pakistan, Azad declared, except as a bargaining card against the Hindus, and England had obligingly given it to him.
Both Nehru and Azad assured me that nobody in India wanted the Moslems to remain in an Indian union if they really wished to secede. “However,” Azad said, “I do not believe in divorce before marriage. If the Hindus and Moslems try to live together and fail, then there can be a separation. But a large number of Moslems believe in the unity of India and they do not wish to disrupt that unity before it is given a fair trial.”
At three o’clock in the afternoon Gandhi burst into the hostel. I was near the entrance when he arrived. His face was wreathed in smiles. The car which had brought Nehru, Azad, and me to Wardha had returned to Sevagram to fetch Gandhi and Desai. When it was three-quarters of a mile from Wardha, the car broke down. Gandhi got out
