MAHATMA GANDHI AND INDIAN NATIONALISM
REVIVE THE SPIRIT OF GANDHI AND SAVE OUR NATION - PLEASE
GANDHIJI - AND INDIAN NATIONALISM - by Shyam Ratna Gupta
Extract from "India - Perspectives" August 1997 - with kind permission
As one who has lived in India - "Hamare Pyare Bharat - Land of my adoption, for 31 years, I am concerned about the present behaviour of radical, religious extremists who seek to violate the principles of the Constitution of the nation by showing intolerant attitudes towards minority groups. It is time that we remind ourselves of the Love, Tolerance and Impartiality the Mahatma manifested even to the lowliest within the community, irrespective of caste, creed, race and gender. May we imbibe the spirit that is enshrined in the life of Gandhiji, the Father of the Nation. Let us dedicate ourselves afresh to the principles for which he gave his life and without which, India could never have become a free nation. It is fitting that the following article be reproduced on the Net and that other articles, such as "Letters from Nehru to his Daughter, Indira", also be made available. Please enjoy the following :-
In his stimulating, polemical journal, "Young India", of 27 May, 1926, Mahatma Gandhi declared - "I am used to misrepresentation all my life. It is the lot of every public worker. He has to bare a tough hide. Life would be burdensome if every misrepresentation had to be answered and cleared. It is a rule of life with me, never to explain misrepresentation, except when the cause requires correction. This rule has saved much time and worry."
So often has Gandhi been misunderstood and misinterpreted that it is now the moral obligation of contemporary historians and exponents of the Gandhian philosophy to disentangle populist Gandhian myths from eternal truths handed down to us as part of our rich legacy.
As the years roll by, the quintessence of Gandhian thought acquires greater clarity and force, which may have escaped the attention of leaders today. In a small band of authentic Gandhian ciceroni, there are a few who have tried to correct warped or falsified exposition of Gandhi's socio-economic and political philosophy in theory and practice. Among them, B.R. Nanda stands out as a balanced, faithful interpreter of the Gandhian moves of 1915 - 1925, the first ten years of his permanent return to India. He provides us with a key to the better understanding of the Gandhian seminal initiatives of that period, which have acquired both urgency and relevance today.
This historic lessons, embedded in the application of Mahatma Gandhi's programme are :- social reform and removal of discriminatory practices; passive, peaceful, determined resistance or "satyagraha" against unjust rules and regulations; abjuration of verbal and other forms of violence; brotherhood and unity of people of all religious denominational, or sectarian orders; self-analysis, self-improvement and self-discipline; avoidance of ostentatious, lavish and wasteful consumerism; austerity in public life; and recognition of individual and national foibles.
These vital principles Gandhi evolved and developed are illustrated in a historical setting of the crusade he launched for removal of chronic social evils and freeing people from political subjugation in the 1920's. But let it be noted carefully; he did not forfeit the respect, friendliness and sympathy of those he justifiably opposed or differed with, because they perpetrated or supported obsolete, undignified or revolting practices and rituals, or served as instruments of alien administration. A trinity of examples, clustered around the broad categories of social service, unity of people and political action, often ignored, misinterpreted or wrongly initiated now, are touched upon here.
For Gandhi, social service implied all-embracing measures for amelioration of human suffering and alleviation of injustice and inequality in society. He denounced the practice of untouchability in the name of religion as a "sin against humanity" and relegation of women to the position of "dolls or slaves" in society. By admitting in 1915 a "Dhed" (or a depressed class) family into his Ahmedabad Ashram, he risked alienation from his wife and many of his followers who protested against it. Referring to this incident, Gandhi wrote to V.S. Srinivasa Sastri that year :- " I have told Mrs. Gandhi she could leave me and we should part as good friends. The step is momentous, because it so links me with the suppressed classes mission that, at no distant time, I might have to carry out the idea of shifting to some "Dhed" quarters and sharing life with the "Dheds" .
As we know, Gandhi lived in a Harijan (outcaste) colony in 1947, in New Delhi, cleansing it by his presence. In his Ashram, Gandhi himself, along with others, participated in the household chores. He respected the dignity of labour, not as a ceremonial gesture but as part of his daily routine.
For Gandhi , passive resistance or "satyagraha" was the surest remedy for alien rule, but it had to be absolutely non-violent. The Chauri Chauri mass civil disobedience movement of 1921, leading to the imprisonment of more than 16,000 satyagrahis, and "coming to within an inch of succeeding", to quote the Governor of Bombay, was marred by violence. Shocked beyond measure, Gandhi halted it to the indignation of all his colleagues, particularly the extremists in politics. He wrote at Bardoli, in February 1922:-
" I, personally, can never by party to a movement, half-violent and half non-violent, even though it may result in the attainment of so-called "swaraj" (Independence and national sovereignty) , for it will not be real Swaraj, as I have conceived it." After the Chauri Chauri tragedy, he undertook a five-day fast "as a penance and punishment". Later he instituted the unique experiment of individual "satyagraha" by volunteers he selected after testing their moral and spiritual calibre. Thus, "Satyagraha" he hoped, could be free from violence.
Realising the imperative need for Hindu-Muslim harmony, Gandhi befriended the Khilafat leaders, Mohommad and Shaukat Ali, in the 1920's. With him, in South Africa, were Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis, fighting against Apartheid and racial discrimination. He cautioned people against "selfish and false religious teachers". And told Mahadev Desai, in March 1918, that "deep within him, was a feeling that, through Satyagraha, he could transform the British relationship with India so as to transmute hatred into love and friendship." The same thing, he said, was true of Hindu-Muslim relationships. "Hinduism, with its essentially liberal and broad-minded streak, could captivate Muslims by the power of its compassion which is its very essence. …We (Hindus) can win over the Muslims this very day, if we are sufficiently imbued with that spirit of brotherly love."
The orthodox Hindu leadership accused Gandhi of unduly favouring the Muslims. But his affection for the Ali brothers did not dissuade him from rebuking Mohammad Ali in May 1919, for indulging in verbal violence:- "I consider your memorial was too undignified for the great cause (of Khilafat) you are espousing and of which I have felt you are pre-eminently the embodiment. Your language was inflammatory and too full of declamation for a memorial. Your statement of the Mohammedan claim, instead of representing irreducible minimum is an exaggeration. I am sure you do not propose to raise questions affecting issues that were, rightly or wrongly, settled long before the war. I would like you, even now, to redraft your memorial. Make a seasoned and logical statement that must arrest and command the attention of the world."
Though Gandhi was fighting against British colonialists, he did not hate them. In May 1921, Lord Reading, the then Viceroy of India, wrote to Edwin Montague, the Secretary of State for India at the time, in London:-
"Gandhi came to visit me in a white dhoti and cap, woven on a spinning wheel, with bare feet and legs, and my first impression was that I should have passed him by in the street without a second look at him. When he talks, the impression is different. He is direct and expressed himself well in excellent English, with a fine appreciation of the value of the words he uses. His religious views are, I believe, genuinely held , and he is convinced to a point almost bordering on fanaticism that non-violence and love will give India its independence and enable it to withstand the British Government. His religious and moral views are admirable. Our conversations were of the frankest; he was supremely courteous with manners of distinction. He held in every way to his word in the various discussions we had… Altogether you will judge that I liked him, and I believe there are possibilities in the future …"
Finally, Gandhi detested extravagant public functions. Criticising the "gorgeous Show" put up for the Viceroy at the inaugural function of the Benaras (Varanasi) Hindu University, he said:- " Sir, whenever I hear of a great palace rising in a city of India, I become jealous at once and I say, "Oh, it is the money that has come from the agriculturalist."
These selected excerpts from Mahatma Gandhi's writings abundantly demonstrate the misrepresentations or misunderstandings, at least in application, of his vital principles and philosophy of life, no less relevant today in free India as it was in British India. It is also necessary to stress here that Gandhi himself practiced what he preached. Among the practical, historic lessons we must learn from Gandhi are the need to refrain from indulging in vandalism and violence, empty slogan-mongering, holding inflammatory mass-rallies and delivering sermons. The virtues and values, commended to the people, such as austerity, rectitude and discipline, must first be practiced by the leading cadres, of public workers themselves. Like Gandhi, they have to set worthy examples - be the pace-setters".
(The reviewer is an eminent journalist. . "Indian Perspectives" October '90, with Kind Permission)
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