Gandhi who hated war, still thought the British were the better of the two. He would not embarrass them, even though they were so un-understanding of the Indians. The war, however, to begin with, went against the Allies. Now Churchill became Britain’s prime minister. Gandhi admired Churchill. But Churchill despised Gandhi. Churchill had no use for a saint. He needed Indian soldiers for the Allied army, in Benghazi and in Iran, in Sicily. When Stalin and Churchill joined hands, they both loathed Gandhi. Roosevelt with the American liberal tradition (that is revolt against imperialism is always good) sided with the Indians. The British-educated Nehru, now political heir to Gandhi, embarrassed Gandhi and Churchill and Stalin. Politician to politician Nehru could still communicate with Churchill and Stalin and Roosevelt. Meanwhile Gandhi wrote letters to Hitler and to Emperor Hirohito, begging to go and see them, and talk reason with them. The saint sometimes looks a fool. History will one day ask Churchill the question. Had you permitted Hitler to meet Gandhi how do you know, Churchill, what might not have happened? The saint astonishes you with the consequences, good or bad. For him, the real is beyond both. He only seeks the Truth. The means are more fruitful than the end, for were the end reached, the wrong way around, the end would be no end, it would be a messy finale. The essence of the end is the root of the new beginning. The end contains the new beginning as the new beginning holds its end within itself. Thus nothing really happens. And that is what Gandhi was seeking.

Gandhi pleaded again and again. ‘Give India back to India, and we will not harm you. We will, maybe, even help you. You know,’ said Gandhi, ‘I have never betrayed anyone. Ask Smuts?’ For by now Smuts sat with Churchill in the councils of the Empire. But war is war. Politics is politics as even so intellectually elevated a man as Smuts had explained this to Gandhi in South Africa. Gandhi and Nehru and thousands were instantly jailed and non-violent chaos broke all over India. ‘Quit India,’ cried the masses. It became a revolutionary cry. Railway lines were lifted. Telegraph wires were cut. The British shot every man they saw lifting the railway lines or cutting the telegraph wire. During the riots the Americans would not intervene. Even some British soldiers refused to shoot. ‘We’re here to fight the Japs,’ they said. ‘And not the Indians. They are good people. What are we doing here? We must give them back their own country, and get out.’