A London satyagraha

October 27, 2023

In 1914, Gandhi was delayed in London when World War One broke out. His two decades of work in South Africa were concluded, and he was on his way home to India. As he had during previous British conflicts, Gandhi offered to raise a corps of Indians to assist the wounded. James Hunt suggests in Gandhi in London that one of his motivations was that he had little else to do: “In an atmosphere of intense purposefulness, he had no purpose.”

In October, the Indian Field Ambulance Training Corps was official recognized in a ceremony with the Aga Khan. (The Aga Khan is the head of an Islamic sect, and during World War Two, he let the British use one of his palaces to detain Gandhi without charges for nearly two years.) Lt.-Col. Baker was appointed as the unit commander, and the following week he did something outrageous.

Col. Baker designated section commanders without consulting Gandhi.

A reasonable person might ask: What’s wrong with a commanding officer making decisions, especially during wartime? Gandhi, however, was not always reasonable. “I hardly know any of them,” he complained to Col. Baker. Therefore, the appointments should be recalled, and “the members of the Corps … invited to elect section leaders and other officers.” He was willing to allow Col. Baker to veto the selections, with the understanding that the members would then elect a replacement.

When Col. Baker declined to accept this delegation of his authority, Gandhi called a meeting of the Corps. By a vote of 49-2, they passed a resolution proclaiming that until this demand was met, they would refuse to participate in any further field drills.

“Satyagraha had come to London,” Hunt writes, “and the baffled authorities struggled against the weapon of peace.”

The back-and-forth went on for two weeks; Gandhi made an unsuccessful appeal to the Secretary of State for India. Col. Baker tried to undercut Gandhi’s support by distributing notices directing anyone interested in joining the Corps contact him directly. (Gandhi then demanded these be withdrawn.)

Finally, at the end of October, a compromise was reached. Gandhi would be in charge of recruiting, and would be consulted informally on some matters. Members of the Corps began to head to the battlefields, but not Gandhi. Having established himself as a pest, he was never called for duty, and would leave for India in December.

During much of this time, Gandhi was in poor health (which he blamed on the 14-day fast he’d undertaken months earlier) and bedridden, describing himself as “entirely a cripple.” I suspect that Hunt’s analysis is correct: his boredom contributed to the making of complaints.

Can you think of a time you were bored and it led to trouble?