The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China - Chapter 1006

   For the next few days, Zhou Hexuan has been living in Calcutta, discussing literature and national liberation issues with these progressive Indian writers. The reason why he did not leave was not because he wanted to communicate with his Indian counterparts, but because he stayed here and waited for Chang Kaishen and Song Meiling.

After inspecting the Khyber Pass Fortress, Chang Kaishen took his entourage back to New Delhi, where he met with Congress Party leader Nehru, Indian Green Christian Alliance Chairman Jinnah (Father of Pakistan), and leaders of Indian women’s circles. Madam Naidoo, and so on.

   Next is to meet Mahatma Gandhi.

  In order to show respect, Chang Kaishen wanted to visit Mumbai in person according to Chinese etiquette. Gandhi, on the other hand, wanted to go to New Delhi to meet Chang Kaishen in person according to Indian etiquette.

  The British Governor in India was informed of this situation and immediately wrote to Soong Meiling, saying that if Lao Jiang and his wife went to Mumbai, the Governor would be in a very embarrassing situation. After that, Churchill sent a telegram to Lao Jiang, asking him not to go against the wishes of the Governor, otherwise the situation of the Sino-British alliance joining the whole of India to join the war against Japan would be damaged.

   In desperation, the three parties compromised – Lao Jiang chose to meet Gandhi in Calcutta.

   Gandhi’s trip was very powerful. Thousands of Indians saw off in Mumbai, hundreds of low-caste and untouchable supporters accompanied him, and they met as many as hundreds of thousands of escorts along the way. He came in the third-class carriage of the train and was greeted by tens of thousands of Calcutta citizens, which directly paralyzed the train station.

  Chang Kaishen was completely shocked by the crazy scene, and said to Song Meiling and Zhou Hexuan beside him: “As expected of the Mahatma, he won the hearts of the people!”

   Hundreds of lower caste and untouchable entourages spontaneously paved the way for Gandhi. They were like mad believers who guarded the Pope. They were humble, lowly, and unyielding to the death. If anyone wanted to harm Gandhi, they could only walk over the corpses of these people.

   “Mahatma! Mahatma! Mahatma!”

The shouts of    came one after another inside and outside the station. The high caste stood and waited, the low caste knelt down and bowed, and the untouchables lay on the ground from a distance to perform the pilgrimage.

  The British and Indian military and police were like enemies, but they didn’t even dare to raise their guns. In fact, even if there is an accident, don’t dare to shoot, otherwise, there will be more trouble.

   Seeing this scene, Zhou Hexuan was in a complicated mood and didn’t know how to evaluate it. He used to look down on Gandhi, thinking that he was too cowardly, but now he doesn’t dare to have any contempt – non-violent non-cooperation to this level is sometimes more terrifying than violent resistance, its organizational power and Its influence has surpassed most violent revolutions in the world.

  Let’s put it this way, if the UK now dares to raise the price and tax of certain fabrics without authorization, then Gandhi will stand up and call on the whole people to spin fabrics and refuse to buy fabrics made by the British. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions responded. They demonstrated, went on strike, and held on to the end despite the British suppression. That kind of economic loss and social chaos made it impossible for the British to face it. right.

  You kill you, I will do mine, I will stretch my neck to let you kill, but I will not cooperate with you.

   Let’s change the analogy. It is as if the robbers occupied the farmer’s house and asked the farmer to grow vegetables and cultivate the land to boil water for cooking. Under normal circumstances, peasants would be patient. If the pressure was too severe, they would not do anything. They would lie on the ground and allow the robbers to beat and kill. Unless the robber wants to completely destroy the family, he must choose to compromise. This is a very strange way of resisting.

   “Mr Gandhi!”

   “Mr. Jiang!”

  The two shook hands warmly outside the station, and both were very moved by each other’s behavior. Lao Jiang took his wife to the station to meet him in person, while Gandhi traveled all the way in the third-class carriage, at least showing great respect.

   “This must be the Nobel Laureate Mr. Zhou?” Gandhi smiled.

   Zhou Hexuan greeted: “Hello, Mr. Gandhi.”

  After everyone greeted each other, we drove to the best hotel in the city. Those followers of Gandhi also went with them, but instead of staying in the hotel, they sat or lay down outside the gate of the hotel. Asceticism is a form of cultivation for them and a position to express determination.

The process of    communication is actually very boring, each expressing respect and support for each other’s nationalities, and expressing their desire to unite to deal with imperialism.

   Zhou Hexuan was most interested in Gandhi’s views on the caste system. He couldn’t help but ask, “Mr. Gandhi, what do you think about the caste system?”

   “Cough cough!” Chang Kaishen coughed, he felt that this question was too sensitive.

  Gandhi replied with a smile: “The caste system has a certain rationality. It is not the caste system that restricts the development of India, but the untouchables system. I think the untouchables system should be abolished. Once the untouchables are eliminated, the caste system can be purified.”

   This answer surprised Zhou Hexuan, because in his impression, Gandhi clearly respected the pariah, but secretly looked down on the pariah.

   “Do you think the pariah system can be abolished?” Zhou Hexuan asked again.

   Gandhi smiled and said, “I am a pariah, and I can still be respected.”

   Gandhi certainly cannot be a pariah. Many times he is considered to be the second surname Kshatriya, but in terms of surnames, it should be more like the third surname Vaishya. The original meaning of “Gandhi” is “food merchant”, Vaishya is the class engaged in commercial trade, and the Kshatriya class is mostly princes, nobles, warriors and officers.

   Of course, it is also possible that Gandhi’s family has already been upgraded. After all, his father was the prime minister of a certain state in India-a position that is more in line with the Kshatriya caste.

   Gandhi said he was a pariah because when he went to London to study, the locals threatened to expel him from his caste and did so. This has led to differences, the Gandhi family still regards Gandhi as a Kshatriya, while fellow villagers believe that Gandhi has become a pariah.

Gandhi continued: “The movement of non-violent non-resistance is external, and the abolition of the untouchable system is internal. Persistence in resistance externally and self-improvement internally is the only way for the Indian nation to become strong. We cannot drive away the British colonists. The oppression of his own people is still oppressing his own people. This is wrong and extremely ignorant.”

   “Indeed.” Zhou Hexuan agreed.

   After coming to India for so many days, Gandhi was the most rational Indian that Zhou Hexuan had contact with. At least his idea involves the fundamentals of Indian society, which is to abolish the untouchability system!

   In fact, Gandhi had not thought of abolishing untouchability until 1932, and clashed with the future “father of the Indian constitution” who came from untouchability. Gandhi not only compromised, but was persuaded by the other side, and publicly demanded that the British colonial government grant the pariah the right to vote locally-from a conspiracy theory point of view, Gandhi’s move may not be for the benefit of the pariah, but to divert the colonial government’s influence by liberating the pariah. attention of the nonviolent movement, and to a certain extent it succeeded.

   In any case, Gandhi did this. He also called the untouchables “sons of God”, and characterized the toilet-sweeping occupation of untouchables as a sacred ceremony. After Gandhi’s death, toilet cleaning was still “sacred” because it was given sacred attributes by Gandhi, but pariahs who cleaned toilets were still discriminated against.

   Gandhi also persuaded temples across the country to open up to untouchables, and the temples agreed, but untouchables were still unable to enter. Just like Gandhi gave the untouchables the power to be civil servants, but the untouchables still cannot be civil servants, and the powerful caste system has gradually become an unspoken rule-only the best among the untouchables can stand out.

   At the end of last year, Gandhi published the “India Construction Program”. He called on Green Christians and Hindus to unite and cooperate to abolish the untouchability system, improve the status of women, and gradually solve rural and educational problems.

   It can be said that these ideas of Gandhi involve all the fundamental problems of Indian society. If it can be solved, then India will inevitably develop into a superpower.

  Congress leader Nehru inherited Gandhi’s ideas and put Gandhi’s “Construction Program” into practice little by little. This process is bound to encounter great resistance, so Nehru chose to expand externally and rely on military strength to improve his prestige.

   Including infringing on the territory of New China and being hanged up and beaten by the founding fathers. Nehru lost his prestige as a result, and the domestic forces in India took the opportunity to counterattack, resulting in India’s rural reforms failing to come to an end.

   So, the various problems of Indian society, what was it when the country was founded, and what will it be decades later.

   After two hours of in-depth communication, Zhou Hexuan’s impression of Gandhi was greatly changed. This man is indeed a wise man and a warrior. Nehru, the leader of the Congress Party, is more like Gandhi’s fanboy. Both of them have a deep understanding of Indian society, but the reality forced Nehru to take the wrong approach – actually thinking Consolidate rule by bullying New China.