It is a puzzle why Gandhi supported Nehru so much. In 1929 Gandhi designated Nehru as President of the Congress. In 1936 he was the decisive influence in making Nehru Congress President and titular head of the movement. In 1946 it was again Gandhi, this time contrary to the recommendations of the Congress provincial committees, who made Nehru the presiding head of the Congress movement, which virtually guaranteed that he would become Prime Minister when independence was attained. (10) Nehru described himself as irreligious, and explained in detail why he cast his lot with secular humanism and not with any form of spirituality. If Gandhi really was religious through and through, one might have expected him to choose a lead disciple and political successor with a philosophy closer to his own.

If Gandhi really cared about religion, one might have expected him at least to reply to Nehru’s arguments against it with some sort of defense of his faith.

There is a solution to the puzzle which does not oblige us to conclude that Gandhi was not thoroughly religious and did not care about religion. It is that Gandhi did not consider his religion at all affected by Nehru’s arguments for preferring a scientific worldview to a mythical worldview. Gandhi’s religion was truth. He believed in science every bit as much as Nehru did, and he was fond of using images from geometry or chemistry to illustrate his ideas. Nehru’s criticisms were directed at someone else’s religion, not at Gandhi’s. The only defense of his faith Gandhi needed was, “my life is my message.” (11) For similar reasons Gandhi could designate Nehru as his political successor. That one of the two was “irreligious” and one “religious” was a verbal quibble. Both believed in truth.