Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/716

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626 NON-COOPERAT) ON

ment and that, therefore, you would have wisdom enough net to give way to your worst passions, but it cuts me to the quick to find that you have used mass awakening for your own lust for plunder, rapine and even indulging in your worst animal appetite. Whether you call your- self a Hindu, Mahomedan, Parsi, Christian or Jew, you have certainly failed to consider even your own religi- ous interests. Some of my friends would, I know, accuse me of ignorance of human nature. If I believed the charge, I would plead guilty and retire from human assemblies and return only after acquiring knowledge of human nature, but I know that I had no difficulty in controlling even Indian hooligans in South Africa. I was able because I had succeeded in approaching them through co-workers where I had no personal contact with them. In your case, I see we have failed to reach you. I do not believe you to be incapaple of responding to the noble call of religion and country. See what you have done. Hindu-Mussalman hooligans have violated the sanctity of Parsi temples, and they have exposed their own to similar risk from the wrath of Parsi hooli- gans. Because some Farsis have chosen to partake in the welcome to the Prince, Hindu and Mussalman hooli- gans have roughly handled every Parsi they have met. The result has been that Parsi hooligans are less to blame. Hindu and Mussalman hooligans have rudely, roughly and insolently removed foreign clothes worn by some Parsis acd Christians, forgetting that not ail Hindus and all Mussalmans, nor by any means even a majority of them have religiously discarded the use of foreign clothes* Parsi and Christian hooligans are, therefore, interfering with Hindu and Mussalman wearers of Khaddar.

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