Page:Fischer - A Week with Gandhi.pdf/35

 There were many experiences between the two wars. Nevertheless, I announced after some talks with the Viceroy in September, 1939, that the Congress movement would not obstruct this war. I am not the Congress. In fact, I am not in the Congress. I am neither a member nor an officer of the Party. Congress is more anti-British and anti-war than I am, and I have had to curb its desires to interfere with the war effort. Now I have reached certain conclusions. I do not wish to humiliate the British. But the British must go. I do not say that the British are worse than the Japanese.”

“Quite the contrary,” I interjected.

“I would not say quite the contrary,” he re joined. “But I do not wish to exchange one master for another. England will benefit morally if she withdraws voluntarily and in good order.”

Gandhi then talked at length and scarcely stop ping for breath—although we were walking at a fast pace and it was still hot—about what he called British atrocities in Bengal and elsewhere. He said he had received letters only today telling how villagers were being driven from their homes without notice and without compensation in order to make way for the construction of airdromes. “This,” he commented, “impedes the war effort, although it appears to be part of the war effort. I am more than ever convinced that Britain cannot win this war unless she leaves India.”