164 A PILGRIMAGE FOR PEACE
human nature and God stood out like a shining beacon in
the tempestuous darkness of the night.
" The sincerity of the man which shows so trans-
parently in every word he says has left a deep impression
on his audiences," reported a hard-boiled pressman.
" There was nothing new in what he said......Neverthe-
less, the few simple words coming from a heavy heart
have struck an answering chord in many of his hearers.
The scenes of fraternization which marked one of the
Frontier Gandhi's meetings and the coming together of
all communities in places of worship are reminiscent of
the Khilafat days."
" These are mere casual incidents/' the correspond-
ent proceeded, " but they are like a shining beam in the
prevailing darkness."
" Hindustan today seems an inferno of madness and
niy heart weeps to see our homes set on fire by ourselves,"
Badshah Khan remarked at a joint gathering of Hindus.
Muslims and Sikhs in Gurudwara Harmandir, the birth-
place of the Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, in Patna City, to
which he had been invited. " I find today darkness
reigning over Hindustan and my eyes vainly turn from
one direction to another to see light! " He was fed up with
power politics, he said, and was deeply pained at the
hatred which he saw being preached all over India. As a
" Servant of God " he was eager only to be able to serve
suffering humanity. At the close of the- meeting, Hindus,
Sikhs, and Muslims accompanied him to a mosque adja-
cent to the Gurudwara, exchanged greetings and embrac-
ed one another.
" I believe, India is inhabited by one single nation —
Hindus and Muslims included/7 he declared at Monghyr.
" There are provinces where Hindus are in a hopeless
minority, as there are places where Muslims are similarly
situated. If what has happened is repeated at other places
and the majority community try to crush and kill the
minority then surely the fate of the nation would be sealed
and it would be doomed to eternal slavery." With his
characteristic directness, he told home truths to all