Quit India

“Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a nonviolent fight for India’s independence.” 

This juxtaposition highlights the way in which Gandhi pits the power of the empire with the desired freedom of India. He does not want to exchange one corrupt power for another, and this contrast demonstrates his belief that nonviolence and independence do not fall in line with the violent power of the British Empire.

“It was my life-long aspiration for it that made me offer my fullest cooperation to the Mussalmans in the Khilafat movement. Muslims throughout the country accepted me as their true friend.”

Much of the credibility that Gandhi tries to establish with his Muslim audience is achieved through ethical appeals. He is trying to evoke a feeling from the audience that he is truly a friend to Muslims, which has a different connotation than just a politician striving for his aims.

“I should congratulate the Quaid-i-Azam on his frankness in giving expression to his thoughts and feelings, even if they sound bitter to his hearers. But even so why should the Mussalmans sitting here be reviled, if they do not see eye to eye with him? If millions of Mussalmans are with you can you not afford to ignore the handful of Mussalmans who may appear to you to be misguided?”

Gandhi craftily uses a series of rhetorical questions here to directly combat the argument of Jinnah, who led the All-Muslim League that opposed Gandhi’s movement. In posing these questions one after another, he raises doubts and suspicions in the minds of the Muslims who agree with him. Gandhi hopes that this would result in Jinnah feeling pressure within his own religious group.