Gandhi Page #36

GOVERNMENT COUNCIL ROOM - INTERIOR - DAY

Featuring the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford.

CHELMSFORD:

You must understand, gentlemen, that

His Majesty's Government -- and the

British people -- repudiate both the

massacre and the philosophy that

prompted it.

Chelmsford is pacing along one side of a large conference

table. Just in front of this is the "British" side -- two

generals (a full general and a brigadier), a naval officer,

two senior civil servants, a senior police officer. Across

from them is the "Indian" side: Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Jinnah,

Azad. This time Gandhi is in the middle and speaks with the

full authority of a leader.

The Indian side acknowledges Chelmsford's disclaimer --

coolly, but accepting it. That lifts Chelmsford's hopes a

little.

CHELMSFORD:

What I would like to do is to come

to some compromise over the new civil

legis --

GANDHI:

If you will excuse me, Your

Excellency, it is our view that

matters have gone beyond

"legislation."

It is spoken with the cold determination of a man still angry.

It stops Chelmsford in mid-pace.

GANDHI:

We think it is time you recognized

that you are masters in someone else's

home.

(It chills, stiffens;

Gandhi proceeds only

an iota softer)

Despite the best intentions of the

best of you, you must, in the nature

of things, humiliate us to control

us. General Dyer is but an extreme

example of the principle. It is time

you left.

The British are stunned almost to speechlessness -- the

audacity, the impossibility of it -- and from Gandhi of all

people. The senior civil servant, Kinnoch, is the first to

recover.

KINNOCH:

With respect, Mr. Gandhi, without

British administration, this country

would be reduced to chaos.

GANDHI:

(patient, ironic)

Mr. Kinnoch, I beg you to accept

that there is no people on earth who

would not prefer their own bad

government to the "good" government

of an alien power.

BRIGADIER:

(indignantly, choked)

My dear sir -- India is British!

We're hardly an alien power!

Gandhi and the others just look at him.

Chelmsford is realist enough to recognize that a faux pas

has been made, and he strives to get the meeting back on the

course he intends.

CHELMSFORD:

Even if His Majesty could waive all

other considerations, he has a duty

to the millions of his Muslim subjects

who are a minority in this realm.

And experience has taught that his

troops and his administration are

essential in order to keep the peace.

He has deliberately if delicately caught the eye of both

Jinnah and Maulana Azad during this. Gandhi knows the trouble

this can cause and he answers more for those on his side

than the Viceroy's.

GANDHI:

All nations contain religious

minorities. Like other countries,

ours will have its problems.

(Flat, irrevocable)

But they will be ours -- not yours.

Its finality is such that for a moment there is no response

at all, but then the General smiles.

GENERAL:

And how do you propose to make them

yours? You don't think we're just

going to walk out of India.

His smile flitters cynically on the mouths of the others on

his side.

GANDHI:

Yes... in the end you will walk out.

Because one hundred thousand

Englishmen simply cannot control

three hundred fifty million Indians

if the Indians refuse to co-operate.

And that is what we intend to achieve --

peaceful, non-violent, non-co-

operation.

He looks at them all, then up at Lord Chelmsford behind them.

GANDHI:

Until you yourself see the wisdom of

leaving... your Excellency.

LATER - THE SAME GOVERNMENT COUNCIL ROOM

Close shot -- a crystal decanter. The top is lifted, whiskey

pours.

The camera pulls back. We are still in the Council Room, but

time has passed. The Indian delegation has gone, and the

British are relaxing as a servant pours.

GENERAL:

(mocking his exchange

with Gandhi)

"You don't just expect us to walk

out?" "Yes."

And they all laugh.

BRIGADIER:

Extraordinary little man! "Nonviolent,

non-co-operation" -- for a moment I

almost thought they were actually

going to do something.

There are some smiles, but not all of them are quite so

amused.

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