Mahatma Gandhi’s Relevance
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
India grapples with injustice, violence, caste divisions, inter-religious rivalry et al, away from essential pluralism, away from democratic mores, away from most of what has held such a diversity magically under one flag. Indeed, times are distressing when reading instances of offering of garlands to welcome rapists and criminals as also butchers of fellow human beings as they walk out of jail, of politics being playing over caste census, of mosques being demolished. The society is becoming increasingly violent and divided, with ruling dispensation either tolerating it or even encouraging it, in the name of nationalism or Hindutva. Worse, in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, whose birth anniversary the nation celebrates!
There is an acute civilisational crisis as relationships are breaking down while hatred, jealousy and intolerance are increasing among communities. The understanding and need for social justice may find expression almost regularly amongst our political leaders to cover up their inaction and unethical activities but, in actual practice, this has declined. The assertion that the State must facilitate an egalitarian social order remains a rhetoric. Even strong Dalit and adivasi movements along with feminist struggles have not inducted social justice in our system. Sarvodaya, meaning ‘Universal Uplift’ or ‘Progress of All’, one of Gandhi’s ideologies continues to be blurred.
The importance of satyagraha or non-violent movements that Mahatma Gandhi professed though have gained importance as regimes become autocratic over the years, these have not necessarily had the impact they deserve. However, recent farmers’ movement and the resistance against the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata are examples of the efficacy of satyagraha or non-violent resistance. In fact, it has been found that in such movements, the State uses force to curb such resistance, but if the resistance is non-violent, it can be effective to alter state decisions.
We cannot live in a world pervaded with violence, hatred, jealousy and inequality. Gandhi was against materialist culture and advocated the need for transformation of the human mind so that the craving for more and more does not exceed limits. He obviously did not visualise a society where inequality would increase every year and billionaires and millionaires would corner most of the wealth of the country.
Two other significant aspects of Gandhi’s relevance which need to be underscored are his understanding of faith and the concern for sustainable environment. He refused to define citizenship on the basis of faith and always called for Hindu-Muslim harmony. The Mahatma pursued inter-faith dialogue as well as practised inter-faith social action. His satyagraha’s, whether in South Africa or India, built fearless defiance of unjust laws, with a willingness to suffer and adherence to non-violence in thought and deed.
The other notable aspect of his thinking was his concern for the environment when there was virtually no public outcry over it. He could visualise at that point of time, in the late 20s, of the previous century about the planetary disaster that may come about with steady destruction of nature, over exploitation of earth’s resources, including water and overall degradation of the environment. He had cautioned how human behaviour destroys nature and how a sustainable way of living is the need of the hour. Had Gandhi’s advice been adhered, and the pace of resource-intensive, energy-intensive industrialisation checked, the severe environmental crisis, global warming, would not have engulfed the world.
Gandhi’s economic philosophy was a decentralised order where there would be balanced development, and villages would develop to serve the needs of the local communities. As he aptly remarked: “I do visualise electricity, ship building, iron works, machine making and the like. But the order of precedence has to be reversed. Henceforth industrialisation has been so planned as to destroy the villages and their crafts. In the state of the future, it will subserve the villages and their crafts”. This observation is greatly relevant today as taken in a broader sense, capital-intensive, energy-intensive and mechanised industries are polluting the environment and leading to jobless growth.
As inequality and widening disparity in incomes has been rising, the relevance of Gandhi becomes more prominent as being a perpetual moral rebel, he called for organised movement against social exploitation, economic oppression and slavery. At a time when thinkers in the realm of philosophies and social sciences are trying to take stock of the Eastern heritage and Western thought, the Mahatma stands as a symbol of the conjunction of the East and West.
The service of Gandhi in awakening the soul of Asia and Africa is of immense importance. Dr. Ho-Chi-Minh and Dr Nelson Mandela have testified to the inspiration of the leaders and activists of the two continents Asia and Africa, received in their work from the trials, sufferings and teachings of the Mahatma. Even the Negro liberationists in North America under the leadership of Dr Martin Luther King II received inspiration from him.
Romain Rolland, French Nobel laureate, novelist, dramatist, and essayist, an idealist deeply involved with the fight against fascism, the search for world peace, had recognised the moral significance of the work of the Mahatma. Both Einstein and Tagore testified to the spiritual eminence of Gandhi. At a time, when cultural norms are collapsing and the structure of civilization is imperilled, the deathless spirit of Gandhi stands as a mighty Himalaya, an immense source of strength to those devoted to the emancipation of mankind. Now in the second decade of the 21stcentury, Gandhi is a world phenomenon. It means, as if he has been reborn.
What is need of the hour is to go back to the Gandhian philosophy in letter and spirit and implement the Mahatma’s deeds, actions and thoughts into practice. His relevance in different fields stands unquestionable and unchallengeable, and policies and programmes need to be tweaked. His communitarian spirit and concern for the masses by emphasising on grass-root development needs concerted action and not just piecemeal.
If we genuinely want to bring inclusive development then ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas, sabka vishwas’ cannot remain a mere slogan. Gandhi’s line of action has to be incorporated, and though the political leadership will remember him on October 2, its deeds must match the words. It must remember that failing to bring about the much-needed transformation, future generations shall continue to be bedevilled by insurmountable problems and challenges. — INFA