Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/667

 THE MALEGAON INCIDENT.

��[Writing in Young India Mr. (jcmdhi deplored ike, misbehaviour of Non-Co-operators icho took part tn the fray iu-Malegaon in the first iccek of May 1921.]

If the facts reported in the press are substantially their creed, their faith, and their country. They have put back the hands of the clock of progress. Non- violence is the rock on which the whole structure of Non-Co-operation is built. Take that away and <^*ery act of renunciation comes to naught, as artificial fruit is no more than a showy nothing. The murder of the men who were evidently doing their duty was, if the re] ort is correct, deliberate. It was a cowardly attack. Cer- tain men wilfully broke the law, and invited punish- ment.

There could be no justification tor resentment of such imprisonment. Those who Commit violence of the Malegaon type are the real oo-fcperators with the Government. The latter will gladly lose a few officers if thereby they could kill Non-Co-operation. A fY;w more such murders and we shall forfeit the sympathy of the masses. I am convinced that the people will not tolerate violence on our part. They are by nature peaceful and they have welcomed Non-Co-operation because it is deliberately non-violent.

What must we do then ? We must ceaslessly

preach against violence alike in public arid in private.

We must not show any sympathy to the evil-doers.

We must advise the men who have taken part in the

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