A Speetator's Notebook
THE chances of Mr. Gandhi's surviving his twenty-one days' fast seem on the face of it small. It is true that the Mahatma fasted for that period in 1924, in the hope (which was completely fulfilled) of bringing the Hindu- Muslim riots to an end. But on the twelfth day of that fast his life was despaired of, and the fact that he weathered the crisis can only be explained as a triumph of mind and will over the flesh. And Mr. Gandhi is nine years older today than he was then. In spite of all that, I am impressed by the belief of Mr. C. F. Andrews, who spent every day of the 1924 fast with his Indian friend, that this one will not end fatally. Mr. Gandhi, he points out, in spite of his increased years, is in distinctly better health than he was in 1924, when he was just recovering from a serious operation. Apart therefore from the possibility of some undisclosed weakness, of which signs have not been altogether lacking, the chances today are not less favourable than they were nine years ago. As to what the political effect of Mr. Gandhi's death would be in quarters which can be described as neither pro-Gandhi nor anti-Gandhi, I find the view held that it would make relatively little impression. If the Mahatma had died in prison the case, of course, would have been very different. Even if he died now with his suspension-of-civil-disobedience olive-branch rather brusquely rejected by the Govern- ment I am disposed to think the effect would be greater than my Anglo-Indian friends suggest.
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