z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-10.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 765
EVIDENCE : RIGHT HON. SIR SAMUEL HOARE AND OTHERS 765
in jail at the time or shortly after the opening of the fast. That is my recollection. I am speaking subject to correction.
Sir Hari Singh Gour: He did.
Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru: There was some sort of ceremony held. I left Poona immediately after the signing of the Pact; all this happened after I left. Probably, Mr. Jayakar was there, and he will be able to make a statement.
Mr. M. R. Jayakar: I was not there when Sir Rabindranath Tagore called : I was not present in Poona.
- Sir N. N. Sircar: Is Sir Samuel Hoare aware that Sir Rabindranath Tagore is a Brahmin ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: I take it from Sir Nripendra Sircar that that is so. The indisputable fact, however, is that for many weeks we received almost countless telegrams and letters from India urging the acceptance of the Pact and not a single protest against it.
- Sir N. N. Sircar: I will not go into minute details, because I am waiting for evidence to be called upon this point, but have you scrutinised those telegrams ? Whether they were all coming from Congress people ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: They were all coming from Hindus, and I would not for a moment accept the suggestion that they came exclusively from Congress Hindus.
- Sir N. N. Sircar: As regards the sufficient protest not having been made at or about the time and telegrams coming from some people, may I put this situation to you. that when Mahatma Gandhi uttered that threat, it was not a question merely of a large section of the Hindu being ground down. Is it not right to say that was the position also of His Majesty’s Government ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: That never entered into our minds at all.
- Sir N. N. Sircar: Let me put it to you, if it strikes you now in that way. When he said : “I am going to fast myself to death unless the British Government do this, that, and the other”, you did not point out to him section 508 of the Indian Penal Code and say : “This is a crime but we propose now to let you out of jail.” Was not that His Majesty’s Government’s understanding also, because of overriding considerations, because if the man had been allowed to carry out his fast, tremendous consequences might have arisen. Therefore, you not merely acquiesced in what was an offence under the Indian Penal Code, but your offer was that a man who ought to be kept in jail for other reasons, should now come out into the open. I am putting to you this ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: Sir Nripendra Sircar can rest assured that we did not in any way act under any sort of threat or in any atmosphere of emergency. The only aspect of the question to which we looked was this : Was the agreement reached an agreement such as we had contemplated under the communal decision judged by all the evidence that was available to us ?