National Character

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is one of India’s largest educational and publishing institutions. At its invitation, I travelled to Bombay (now Mumbai) in November 1993. The reason for this visit was that Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan had organized a special gathering, in which I was invited to participate and deliver an address.

At this event, during my half-hour speech, I emphasized two particular points: Hindu-Muslim unity and national character.

While explaining the importance of Hindu-Muslim unity, I said that it was for the sake of this very unity that Mahatma Gandhi had gone to Noakhali (Bangladesh). During his stay there, on 5 December 1946, he wrote:

The present mission is the most complicated of all I have undertaken in my life…I mean to do or die here. “To do” means to restore amity between Hindus and Muslims; or I should perish in the attempt.  (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 86, pp. 197-198)

Regarding national character, I said that national character means placing the interest of the nation above all. Wherever the nation’s interest is involved, personal interest should be made secondary. (Bombay ka Safar, November 1993)