Michel Fustier
GANDHI : THE SALT MARCH
"Tell me, mother, am I allowed to disobey? - As a rule, no. – What
does "as a rule" mean? – It means that… in certain cases…
- That in certain cases we are allowed to disobey? – Why do you ask me
that? - Because I have read here in my book that Gandhi became "the apostle
of disobedience" – Yes, Gandhi! But Gandhi was indeed a "certain
case". England was occupying India by force and the Indians considered
that they had the right to violate their laws."
CHARACTERS
Gandhi, a half-naked fakir, as Churchill used to say. He is about sixty years
old.
Nehru, a close friend of Gandhi, Prime Minister to-be of India.
The Viceroy, the representative of the British King in India.
His secretary.
1 – (in the Viceroy's palace)
VICEROY - What about Gandhi?
SECRETARY - You mean our fakir, your Excellency! He is off exploring the remote
areas of India. He travels to and fro, preaching hygiene, equality between men,
non-violence. He has had British fabrics from Manchester burned and every day
he spins cotton with his spinning wheel. He would like to take India back to
its past.
VICEROY - I am afraid that above all he is making propaganda.
SECRETARY - Yes, that too. He is becoming dangerously popular.
VICEROY - Continue keeping a close watch on him. I know no one more devious
and cunning than this "great soul". Whom personally I much admire.
2 - (in Gandhi's place)
GANDHI - I have travelled throughout India. Everywhere the British army behaves
exactly as an occupation army. My dear Nehru, we can't accept this situation.
The British keep India in a state of servitude and poverty which is unbearable…
NEHRU – Mahatma Ghandi, in spite of all your influence, you can't decree
a general uprising: it would end in bloodshed.
GANDHI - There is another way!
NEHRU - What is it?
GANDHI - We are going to decree not a general uprising, but, to start with,
a very little rebellion Everything in its time! I have thought of the solution:
salt.
NEHRU - Salt! What do you mean?
GANDHI - Three things are necessary to life: water, air, salt. Now the English
have imposed their monopoly on salt and taxed it very heavily.
NEHRU - But it's a trifle!
GANDHI - Precisely. A trifle for them… Not for us. For each of us, for
each one of our countrymen, salt is important. We are going to proclaim that
the salt of India belongs to the Indians. Everyone will be involved. At the
beginning the English will hardly pay attention to it, but indeed our refusal
will shake the foundation of their empire.
NEHRU - How will you do this?
GANDHI – At first, with many of my friends, I will go on a march through
India towards the sea and there I will illegally and publicly pick up a handful
of salt. The British monopoly will be thereby officially called into question.
We'll be cheered on our way!
NEHRU - They will never let you do that.
GANDHI - I'm not certain. If they prevent me, the news will be proclaimed all
over the world. Then, having broken the monopoly, we'll urge all the Indians
to march on the salt depositories and to take possession of them. Without violence!
Non-violent non-cooperation. And when the British have given in on salt…
It will be the stitch in the knitting which gets broken and the entire fabric
will become undone. What are the risks?
NEHRU – Being beaten with clubs, prison… probably worse!
GANDHI - Then we'll know whether or not the Indians really want their freedom.
3 - (somewhere in India)
NEHRU - (speaking to the crowd) I, Jawaharlal Nehru, confirm the very important
message which Mahatma Gandhi sends to you, coming from his heart. The only fair
way to change things is to disobey the orders of the English when we find them
unjust. As a normal consequence we'll have to accept being beaten, tortured,
imprisoned, massacred. To reach our goal, we refuse to spill the blood of even
one British soldier, only our own. And remember that, although we consider the
British regime in India to be evil, we don't think that the British people are
worse than any other. Non-violence is the most efficient way to win our battle.
4 - (in the Viceroy's palace)
SECRETARY - Your Excellency, the upheaval has spread to all the provinces. We
have left Gandhi free, according to your instructions, but we have had to arrest
more than eighty thousand people. It's the most important sweep in India's history.
Pandit Nehru and most of the members of the Congress are imprisoned.
VICEROY - We can't imprison all their supporters. Was there any violence?
SECRETARY - Yes. In Peshavar… The police chief lost his temper and fired
machine-guns. But he was disciplined. It's very difficult in such circumstances
to keep calm. And in Dhrasana we had to resort to beating up a few. The demonstrators
wanted to occupy a salt factory.
VICEROY – I have been told that it was not a few, but a lot!
SECRETARY - Yes, you are right, a lot of beatings. We have to admit it.
VICEROY - Anyhow, I didn't mean violence from our side, but from theirs.
SECRETARY - From their side?
VICEROY - Yes.
SECRETARY - Not that I know of. I'm trying to remember… I'm afraid not.
Anyhow it was insignificant. Gandhi took advantage of his freedom to have his
doctrine of non-violence put to use. It's why he is so formidable.
VICEROY - I have heard that he wrote you a letter,.
SECRETARY - It's always the same old story: India's salt belongs to the Indians.
He adds that he himself will soon lead a demonstration.
VICEROY - I believe that we have no other solution than to arrest him. See to
it.
SECRETARY - With pleasure… But I am afraid that he will be the one who
is pleased.
Act 5 - (in the Viceroy's palace)
GANDHI - After six months imprisonment you have released me, although I have
always been a regular customer. What does that mean?
VICEROY - It means that you have won, M. Gandhi.
GANDHI - I'm not yet certain of it, Sir. There is still such a long way to go.
We have won? Are you sure? Anyhow we have been able to stick to our non-violence.
VICEROY - Not everywhere. There have been some confrontations…
GANDHI - Yes, a few unfortunate exceptions. I regret and disapprove of that.
VICEROY - In any case, it's precisely by pushing us to use violence that your
non-violence has been able to stir up India… and to move all the world.
To such an extent that I am under an obligation to welcome you here as if you
were the official representative of the Indians. Which in fact you are.
GANDHI - If things are such, let us not waste time bargaining: free the prisoners,
return the properties you have confiscated, refund the fines you have collected
and allow a free production of salt wherever possible.
VICEROY - That's just what I was about to suggest. You have forced me to do
so, M. Gandhi.
GANDHI - I thank you, Sir. (rises) Believe that by acting so, I have helped
the British people as much as my own .
VICEROY - I know what you think. And… I nearly forgot! Last but not least,
you are invited by the British government to participate in the conference which
will be held in London to discuss the independence of India.
GANDHI - I'll go to London with great pleasure (exit)
Act 6 – (same place)
VICEROY - (coming forward and speaking to the audience) These events took place
in the nineteen thirties. But independence raised many difficult problems, and
the London conference was a failure. Afterwards, talks and arguments went on.
Then came the second World War. When it ended, my successor to the Viceroyalty,
Lord Mountbatten, signed in 1947 the final treaty of the independence of India.
Gandhi had definitively won, it's only right to admit it.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the thirties, Romain Rolland wrote a portrait of Gandhi : " A small
frail man with a thin face, quiet dark eyes, and large prominent ears. He wears
a white cap, is clad in a white piece of fabric and walks bare-footed …
He feeds himself on rice and fruit, drinks only water, sleeps very briefly on
the floor and works continuously… He is as simple as a child, mild and
polite, even with his adversaries, of a spotless righteousness… Unable
to use diplomacy, he never conceals his mistakes, nor accepts compromise. Such
is the man who was able to rouse three hundred million people to revolt, thereby
shaking the British Empire to its foundations and giving birth to the most powerful
movement in human polity for the last two thousand years.
Born in India in 1869 of a noble Hindu family, Ghandi goes to London at the
age of nineteen, where he studies law and obtains a law degree. At twenty-four
he settles in South Africa where, until 1915, he defends the rights of the Indian
minorities (lots of Indian people had gone into exile and worked in the South-African
mines).
At the age of 46 he comes back to India, where his African successes had made
him well-known. He goes on fighting against the harshness of the English law,
which is very oppressive. In 1930 he decides to strike a great blow for Indian
independence: the salt march, described in the text of the play. The whole world
has its eyes settled on him… Unfortunately, the fruit was not yet ripe
and it is only after seventeen more years of conflict that the independence
of India will be obtained (1947). Unfortunately, the independence provoked widespread
disorders (the Hindus against the Muslims) and Gandhi was assassinated in 1948
by a Hindu fanatic.
The conquest of India by the British began in 1600 with the foundation of the
East India Company. Trade was the first goal, occupation of the territory followed.
In 1857 the Indians tried unsuccessfully to rebel. In 1877 Queen Victoria became
Empress of the Indies. According to the census of 1931, the population of the
Indies amounted to 330 million people. The country was ruled by a few hundred
thousand British soldiers or civil servants
Ghandi is an outstanding figure in the History of Mankind, comparable in the
eyes of many to Buddha or Jesus. He is the champion of non-violence or, more
precisely, of non-violent non-obedience to laws considered as unjust. "Right
against might!" He considers that in the violent conflicts, "the victim
is the victor" because the oppressor, by using violence, supplies the proof
that he is unjust and powerless and discredits himself. Non-violence is not
passive: when the non-violent person refuses to obey, he knows that he will
have to suffer all the consequences of his disobedience: being beaten, machine-gunned,
imprisoned, tortured, even executed… Gandhi was imprisoned several times.
Free or prisoner, when things went wrong, he never hesitated to fast for long
periods of time, even when he was endangering his life. He was so revered that
his fasts always brought results..
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Villeurbanne, France. Tel: 00 33 (0)4 78 84 25 28.