CHAPTER V
THE SHADOW,OF MUNICH
After prolonged consultations with Khan Saheb Abdul
Ghaffar Khan (endearingly called Badshah Khan by the
Frontier people), his prospective host, Gandhiji set out
from Sevagram towards the close of September, 1938, on
a one month's tour among the Khudai Khidmatgars in
the North-West Frontier Province. It was in fulfilment
of a promise he had given to Badshah Khan. His health
had been none too good and it was with no small trepida-
tion and anxiety on the part of friends that he decided
to halt at Delhi on the way and face the strain of the
Working Committee and a couple of other meetings that
had been arranged to be held there in anticipation of Ms
visit. The Working Committee met under the shadow of
the war cloud that threatened to burst over Europe and
decided to go into a perpetual sitting till the crisis was
over. Its members met and discussed and talked over this
question of questions " loud and long ". But before they
could arrive at any final conclusion the crisis for the time
being was resolved by the signing of the Munich Pact, and
the entire picture changed with kaleidscopic quickness.
There were Congressmen who felt that India ought to
make England's adversity its opportunity to strike the
most favourable bargain with that country to gain control
of political power which was her due. But to Gandhiji
the occasion represented the hour of his trial and of India's
trial. What would it profit her if she gained complete con-
trol of power but lost her soul into the bargain ? For near-
ly a quarter of a century he had endeavoured to inculcate
the way of non-violence upon the country. His life's work
was at stake. What account would the Congress give of
itself in this hour ? Would it have the strength and the
courage to live up to its creed of unqualified non-violence
in the face of a possible European conflagration ? " If the
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