(EDITORIAL) We make no apology for returning to the East Bengal disturbances. …All regard for truth and proportion is gone; exaggeration has become a screaming virtue.

… What is the truth about the East Bengal situation? The Governor of Bengal, who has no reason to be partial towards Muslims and hostile towards Hindus has … attributed the disturbances to a body of hooligans who had only exploited the existing communal feelings, [and] discounted stories about mass conversions and abduction. The District Magistrate of Noakhali Mr. E.F. McInerary, also a European, has told a staff reporter of the Statesman that…: “In some instances attacks on Muslims have also been reported. The majority of the Muslim population are opposed to the hooligans, and in some cases they frustrated their activities.”

…On the other side is a picture of falsehood at its basest… . In the forefront of this picture stands Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Wearing still the tattered disguise of a non-violent saint, he reveals himself more blatantly than ever before in his life as the arch hater, the arch inciter, the arch libeller of the Musalmans. He is today India’s Number One Obstacle to Peace.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2021