Page:Masani - Gandhi's story.pdf/57

Rh the men of the Congress were shaken in their unques tioning faith in his judgment. They were still to see how wise Gandhiji was. Gandhiji believed very sincerely that the only victory that was worth having was when one won the heart of one's enemy through love and self-sacrifice. He also realized that for a disarmed country like India this was the only way she could win her freedom, for Britain was so much more powerful. He knew that Hinduism, the religion of the majority of Indians, taught the beauty and greatness of suffering and he realized that this moral strength that came so naturally to Indians was his strongest weapon. However, Gandhiji was a very fair person and when he saw that even the men of the Congress disagreed with his decision he felt that he must not force his own views on the people and so he left politics and went back to his Ashram.

No sooner had he done this than the government saw its chance and arrested him. They put him into prison for six years. The jail officials wanted to treat Gandhiji as a special prisoner and to let him have privileges which the other prisoners did not, but Gandhiji refused to be treated any differently from the others. The only privilege he did accept was that he should have goat's milk to drink, and so some goats were specially brought and kept in the jail for this purpose.