Protesting indefinite detention
February 10, 2023
80 years ago, during World War II, Gandhi was imprisoned in the Aga Kahn Palace in Pune, India, and held without charges for almost two years.
He wasn’t the only one being detained; his wife, his secretary, and grand-niece were with him, and many other Congressmen and Congresswomen were being held elsewhere. The British had accused them of inciting violence, but brought no actual charges. There were no judicial proceedings where they could demonstrate that the accusations were baseless; they were simply to be held until such time as the British deigned to release them.
On February 10, 1943, Gandhi began a 21-day fast as a protest. “You have condemned men and women before trying them and hearing their defense,” he wrote the Viceroy. “Surely there is nothing wrong in my asking you to show me the evidence on which you hold them guilty…. Proof should correspond to the canons of English jurisprudence.”
Gandhi’s international reputation required some concessions. Doctors were invited to observe him during the fast, and reports were issued to the media about his health. Relatives were permitted to visit, including two of his sons. There was a crisis in the second week, and he was near death. The British made preparations for a media blackout if he succumbed… but Gandhi survived.
Although this was one of Gandhi’s longest fasts, it is also one of his lesser known ones. Unlike his fasts for peace in the last years of his life, this one brought no dramatic changes. The British claimed this was a matter of national security. He and the others remained behind bars, and in one case, would be held for the rest of their natural lives.
How much is it worth to raise an unsuccessful objection to a wrong being done?
I think that ‘successful’ is hard to define when it comes to any aim, and that it is healthy to be modest about one’s ability to anticipate and control outcomes even if, or especially if one is followed by many. Own one’s actions and intentions, not the outcomes. That being said, I think that rather than rationalizing one’s purpose is so pure that lack of desired response is an affirmation of one’s purity and that one is more righteous and will get some mystical reward, it’s more healthy and ethical to ask how one can learn an improve intended outcomes for oneself and others. Self discipline can be its own reward, and can build ‘muscles’ and produce insights that will be effective down the road I guess? Lots to balance!