Which Viceroy had made the observation, “It's a beautiful world if it wasn’t for Gandhi …”?

The observation, “It's a beautiful world if it wasn’t for Gandhi,” was made by Lord Willingdon, who served as the Viceroy of India from 1931 to 1936. Willingdon expressed this sentiment in a private letter to his sister, revealing his deep frustration and lack of sympathy for the Indian leader [1]. Unlike his predecessor Lord Irwin, who had engaged in negotiations with Gandhi, Willingdon viewed Gandhi's actions as calculated political maneuvers disguised as divine inspiration [1]. He criticized the American press for its admiration of Gandhi and lamented that the British had to govern a population that viewed Gandhi as a holy figure [1]. This period followed the inconclusive Second Round Table Conference in London, after which Willingdon't administration adopted a more repressive stance toward the Civil Disobedience Movement .

Sources

1. [1] THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART III, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT > Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement Civil Disobedience and Beyond > p. 301