The letter Mahatma Gandhi wrote on January 11, 1948 — just 19 days before he was shot dead on January 30 — underlines how, even when he had failed to stop Partition, he had an enduring belief in Hindu-Muslim harmony. And one way free India could see the two communities come closer was by learning to enjoy their shared linguistic heritage.

The Indian Express has the full text of this document. The 427-word letter is to be auctioned by Christie’s on July 3 at the reserved price of £9,000-£12,000 (Rs 7-10 lakh). Experts believe that the bidding would go much higher than this.

Written in English on seven small pages, Gandhi has crossed out many parts of the letter. The text that is crossed out is given here between parentheses.

The letter begins with his anguish over the declining circulation of the Urdu edition of the Harijan journal: “Two weeks ago I hinted in the Gujarati columns that Harijan printed in the Urdu script was likely to be stopped as its sale was steadily dwindling. Apart even from financial considerations, I saw no meaning in publishing it, if there was no demand for it. The dwindle was to me a sign of resentment against its publication, (when there were very few readers who wanted it. If that was so I should read that sign of the times...).”

Gandhi believed that in independent India, Hindi and Urdu should flourish together. He wanted both the Devnagri and Urdu to be jointly recognised as the national scripts.

... contd.