Chapter 242: Gandhi declares hunger strike

Aren’t you a Mahatma? Aren’t you a nonviolent noncooperator? Do you really think the British Empire is made of paper?

On the issue of small children upset and not eat, suffered from society’s poisonous beating Alan Wilson, there is only one maxim, the beating is light!

If it were not for the two world wars after the British mainland is seriously damaged, outside a clear enemy, a suspicious ally in that than than chatter, you directly starve themselves and London and what does it matter?

Gandhi’s resort to hunger strikes was backed up by the international environment, it wasn’t a game.

Gandhi went on nearly twenty hunger strikes in his life, each for a different reason.

The first time he went on hunger strike was because of a serious transgression between a young girl and two boys in a rural village in India, and Gandhi, at the age of forty-four, decided to go on a hunger strike, which lasted for seven days and was followed by one meal a day for almost four and a half months.

Reconciliation of the two major religions, opposition to colonial rule, and so on and so forth, the hunger strikes varied, and the duration was also long and short.

Now that British India is facing the onslaught of drought, the British Empire now needs you to go on hunger strike, so please take the courage of a saint and accept it openly.

Allen Wilson’s words did not have much discourse components in them, although it was implied, but it was also very straightforward.

“I wonder what Mr. Allen, thinks I can do?” Gandhi’s deep gaze looked across the table at the Englishman with a guess already in mind.

“If someone with a broad appeal could lead this campaign to conserve food, consumption in British India would surely be greatly reduced. Many people might not have starved to death either. But few people have that kind of reputation.” Alan Wilson said this looking at Gandhi himself with an expectant gaze, “There is just the right one in front of us ……”

Before Gandhi could say anything, Nehru couldn’t help himself, this was moralizing! British India has contributed so much to the British Empire, and now something goes wrong for Gandhi to go on hunger strike? “I didn’t hear you wrong!”

“Not at all, if one person can save one meal a day, then there is no telling how much food each person in the entire subcontinent can save per day, it’s a very simple arithmetic problem, isn’t it?” Alan Wilson justifiably tilted his head and asked rhetorically, “Any small thing multiplied by the population of the subcontinent becomes huge, and any shocking thing divided by the population of the subcontinent becomes insignificant, this is the self-help method we came up with after much deliberation.”

The implication of moral abduction, Alan Wilson could not deny in his heart, was indeed so something.

But you can’t exactly say that, what was Gandhi famous for? It’s not just hunger strikes, that’s the persona of Gandhi the saint, and now the gentlemen are going to play up Gandhi’s saintly persona, what’s wrong with that?

You can even go on a hunger strike when a woman in a neighboring village is cheating on her husband, and now that British India is facing such a great famine, what a great opportunity to buy people’s hearts and minds as a leader of the struggle for independence, and you don’t take advantage of it?

Alan Wilson was never prepared to be rejected, and indeed certainly wasn’t.

Gandhi, who had already realized that the clown was after all myself, reached out to block Nehru’s accusations and spoke slowly, “If I can physically lead the food conservation movement and save millions from starvation, it is certainly incumbent upon me, an old man.”

“In all fairness we wouldn’t want Mr. Gandhi to do that, but only Mr. Gandhi has that kind of prestige and influence.” Sir Barron gave Gandhi the right sized high hat and set the matter straight, “If Mr. Gandhi is able to take a great lead, I am sure the pressure on food in British India will be significantly reduced.”

The Congress people had mixed feelings and felt that the British were somewhat bullying the honest people, either they felt it or they did.

But the man Gandhi himself had not refused, so who was the demon in Alan Wilson’s eyes to object?

“This is all what I should do, if each person in the entire subcontinent can save one meal, there will be extra food to aid others.” Gandhi has entered a state of sainthood, and now that he has agreed to do it, he makes some preparations.

This stance was so awe-inspiring that Sir Barron stood up first, followed by the other British delegates, and paid homage to Gandhi, expressing his reverence for the saint on earth.

If the atmosphere had not been so inappropriate, Alan Wilson would have been tempted to suggest that even water could be spared, and that drinking cow’s urine would be the only way to express the Hindus’ determination to fight the drought, and that an extra mouthful of cow’s urine would save a mouthful of water, and be more able to fight the drought.

Although the agenda of bipartisan rapprochement failed, the agenda of asking Gandhi to go on a hunger strike succeeded, and overall the tripartite meeting was very fruitful. As for Nehru’s request, the Viceroy’s office also decided, after careful consideration, to arrange a conversation between the Congress and the PMLN, and counting the time, it should have started in London as well, so it could just come together.

“Mr. Gandhi, the British are moralizing.” Leaving the Viceroy’s residence, Nehru finally relented.

“But there is some truth in what they are saying, it is very important to conserve food in the middle of a drought.” Gandhi indifferently shook his head and said, “If I can contribute a little bit of my modest power to promote the development of the movement to conserve food, there will really be a lot of people who will not be starved to death, and I believe that there will definitely be an effect.”

The effect would definitely be there, if there was no effect, Alan Wilson wouldn’t have made such a suggestion. In the entire subcontinent, as long as there were ten thousand people who followed Gandhi’s example, that would also save several thousand people.

“Assistant, the reception is ready. Noon could have tossed us around.” The commissioner’s private secretary, Ender, came over to inform Allen Wilson of the news that the evening reception was ready.

Only at this time did Allen Wilson retract his gaze towards the window and replied easily, “Prepare me a glass of whiskey, to be honest it’s really quite difficult, again, we have to make it out to be in the same boat, but we can’t really be in the same boat, otherwise how will the expatriates in Delhi look at us? By the way, don’t talk nonsense when you get home, the Viceroy’s office is claiming two meals a day to the public.”

“Everyone has communicated, absolutely will not talk nonsense, the Governor’s Office in will conduct to maintain a month of two meals campaign. To physically implement the progress of the food conservation campaign.” Ender nodded solemnly, “There’s a telegram from the United Provinces asking about the progress of this negotiation.”

“Mr. Burke is in a hurry, the United Provinces do have more than enough. Just follow the standards of our Governor’s Office. Declare to the public that one meal will be served less during the drought, and the Indians can’t go into Burke’s residence and watch him, can they?” Alan Wilson mused.

“Really, Mr. Burke would probably order a shooting.” Ender snorted, Burke was the administrator of Bengal during the Bengal Famine, only now transferred.

The Viceroy’s residence was brightly lit this night, and the lights traveled out far, indicating that the Viceroy’s residence was working through the night during the drought. For the civil servants of the Viceroy’s House, the subcontinent had suffered such a great natural disaster, but as administrators of British India, they could only make some insignificant contributions, and the only option for their loss was to paralyze themselves with alcohol.

The Viceroy’s Office in New Delhi has officially begun to promote the Food Conservation Campaign, and official letters have been sent to all the provinces and states of the land, and a call has been made to report and expose, at the time of the Food Conservation Campaign, the deliberate wastage of food grains.

The Supreme Court has taken a favorable view of such whistle-blowing, stating that the deliberate waste of foodstuffs during a drought is definitely of an extremely bad nature on a moral level.

Once again, the executive and the judiciary are working in tandem to have all the newspapers in British India publish, by executive order, a call for a food conservation campaign in British India and to encourage whistle-blowing to combat wastefulness.

Wouldn’t that undermine democracy a bit? It was a joke. Where in the colonies was that sort of thing?

The vigorous food conservation campaign, through the newspaper in British India in all walks of life caused a great reaction, in fact, most of the voices are in favor, after all, in difficult times, this time the British India Viceroyalty and behave so responsibly, and a few years ago, a different person.

Some have even begun to think that the Bengal Famine came about solely because of the war period. Because of the war, there was famine in many places and it had nothing to do with the British.

If Alan Wilson heard such words, he could consider giving the person who said them a British green card; the British Empire needed such talents.

The fermentation of public opinion has been in place, just at this time, the Congress Party announced to the public, Gandhi will carry out a seven-day hunger strike, shoulder the responsibility of leading this time to save food movement, the Congress Party supports the leader’s move, and called on more people to join in, save food to distribute the excess food to the more needy people.

For a while, all walks of life in India were deeply moved, and Mahatma Gandhi began to scrimp and save, confident that the drought would pass.

“After mediating sectarian conflicts and opposing the colonial government, he finally did something meaningful, uh ……”

Burping, Alan Wilson, fork in hand, took a sip of whiskey and continued his onslaught on the steak on his plate, saying vaguely, “I knew from the start that Gandhi would agree to it, fighting against the Holodomor, what an opportunity to gain fame, it’s a wonder that he didn’t.”

“Sir Barron means to give Gandhi praise for such behavior through public opinion.” Ender wiped the grease stains from the corners of his mouth with his handkerchief, “I wonder what aspect of speech would be appropriate.”

“Man’s determination to triumph over God? In terms of Hindu thought, that kind of rhetoric is not quite appropriate.” Alan Wilson shook his head for the sake of it, “Let’s start with international public opinion, let’s say that other countries are very shocked, have been scared to pee, exclaiming that India is invincible, that’s it.”

On this day, the Gandhi hunger strike, which was remembered by the Indians, officially began, and the whole of British India prayed in their hearts that this drought would pass sooner, and the Viceroy’s Office and the Congress Party’s PML-N, all of them preached the proposition that by saving one meal a day, one person would be able to survive, and fought against the drought this time around.