Gandhi and the Ali Brothers: Biography of a Friendship

242 Pages·2013·4.078 MB·English

by  Rakhahari Chatterji

Gandhi and
the ali Brothers

Gandhi

and
the ali Brothers
BioGraphy of a friendship
rakhahari Chatterji
Copyright © Rakhahari Chatterji, 2013
all rights reserved. no part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
First published in 2013 by
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Published by Vivek Mehra for saGe Publications india Pvt ltd, typeset in
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library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication data
Chatterji, rakhahari.
Gandhi and the ali brothers : biography of a friendship / rakhahari Chatterji.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
1. india—Politics and government—1919–1947. 2. Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869–
1948 3. ali, shaukat, 1873– 4. ali, Mohamed, 1878–1931. 5. khilafat movement.
i. title.
ds480.45.C4573 954.03'50922—dc23 2013 [B] 2013015130
isBn: 978-81-321-1125-2 (hB)
the saGe team: rudra narayan, shreya Chakraborti, rajib Chatterjee and
dally Verghese
Dedicated to Professors Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne H.
Rudolph who taught me to read Gandhi, and to Professor
Sankari Prasad Basu—my friend, philosopher and guide
for half a century.
Thank you for choosing a SAGE product! If you have any comment,
observation or feedback, I would like to personally hear from you.
Please write to me at [email protected]
—Vivek Mehra, Managing Director and CEO,
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi
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
Contents
PReFaCe ix
Thank you for choosing a SAGE product! If you have any comment,
observation or feedback, I would like to personally hear from you.
1
Please write to me at [email protected]
the theorY: CoMMUnitarianisM,
—Vivek Mehra, Managing Director and CEO,
MUltiCUltUralisM and Gandhi 1
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, New Delhi
2
the historY 24
Bulk Sales 3
SAGE India offers special discounts for purchase of books in bulk. the CharaCters: the ali Brothers 52
We also make available special imprints and excerpts from our
books on demand. 4
For orders and enquiries, write to us at ‘loVe at First siGht’ 79
Marketing Department
5
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd
troUBled allianCe 113
B1/I-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area
Mathura Road, Post Bag 7
6
New Delhi 110044, India
joUrneY downhill 148
E-mail us at [email protected]
7
end oF the road 176
Get to know more about SAGE, be invited to SAGE events, get on
our mailing list. Write today to [email protected]
8
ConClUsion: MUltiCUltUralisM BeFore its tiMe 208
InDex 224
aBout tHe autHoR 229
This book is also available as an e-book.


P
reface
the khilafat Movement happens to be a well-known event in early
twentieth-century india. although it was concerned with the fate of
the Caliph in the faraway ottoman empire, it assumed significance
in the history of contemporary india as it got entwined with the
emerging mass-based struggle for freedom against British rule. the
outstanding leaders of the khilafat Movement were the ali brothers—
Mohamed and shaukat. the close personal as well as political col-
laboration between the ali brothers on the one hand and Gandhi
on the other during the early 1920s is well known to historians.
Gandhi’s expectation from this relationship was very high as he, at
least for a time, considered it foundational for hindu-Muslim unity
in india. however, it did not survive even a decade and by the end
of the 1920s it withered. this book is an attempt to unravel the way
in which this intense relationship, indeed rare in india between the
leaders of the two major communities, was forged and how it came
to a dead end so soon.
the present work is less interpretative than descriptive. i have at-
tempted to trace a micro history of the relationship as it was formed
around 1919, flourished through the early 1920s and foundered by
the end of that decade. the political history of these years has been
treated as the foil on which the micro description stands. in my de-
scription, i have allowed the characters, namely, Gandhi and the ali
brothers, to speak for themselves as much as possible. i believe the
description would suggest the events and forces which might have
ix