MY DUAL CONSONANCE WITH GANDHI- REFLECTIONS ON HIS BIRTHDAY
What is the keyword that rings your senses when you hear the name Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi? In a contextual discussion, this is a rhetorical question, for a bulk of the Indian
populace would hark equivocally – ‘Mahatma’.
During my childhood, I recount various instances where I kept on staring dumbfounded at my
text books when I first realized that ‘Mahatma’, in fact, was not Gandhi’s first name, but a
moniker adduced as a tribute to his countless contributions in shaping the country that we live in.
In the years since, my understanding of Gandhi and his principles has significantly revolved
around this reference, fluctuating between its absolute endorsement and its blatant rejection, with
the strait-gates of rationale wondering what exactly it is that makes Gandhi definitively human
and, simultaneously, an unquestionable icon.
Textbooks of Indian history can often be too commonplace. The laxity with which they often
etch the past of India’s independence struggle in glorious hues of black and white leaves
claustrophobia for curious minds to view the silhouettes and grey zones of life. In my
rudimentary and adolescent years, I found Mahatma Gandhi’s achievements spread all over my
books. While there was an occasional paragraph or two on Subhas Chandra Bose, a chance few
lines on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a chapter (a bit of an exaggeration) on Jawaharlal Nehru, and
mini-references to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Gandhi was more prevalent than a comma,
guarding the eponymous narrative of Indian Independence.
Even before I had arrived at other relevant luminaries like B.R. Ambedkar and M.A. Jinnah, I
swooned over Gandhi – the epitome of non-violence (ahimsa), satyagraha and civil
disobedience. Representations on celluloid, ranging from Richard Attenborough’s one
dimensional portrait to Bollywood’s commoditization of the Mahatma’s ideas in films like Lage
Raho Munna Bhai, only fuelled the idea that here was a man who, if not superhuman, was at
least close to being that. A delirious essence of everything that was good about the spirit and
ideals of Gandhi.
On reaching my twenties, however, I decided to analyze my real take, my perception of Gandhi
once more, scurrying through his own writings as well as critical, trenchant works on him by the
likes of Ramachandra Guha and Arundhati Roy, to name a few.
Even after 74 years of our independence, it is an undeniable fact that for all of Gandhi’s
stubbornness and, at times, subsuming non-violence, his was a stellar political faction, that
animated the anti-imperial struggle par excellence. He may have committed many strategically
perplexing moves, such as calling off the Non-Cooperation movement hastily in 1922, in wake
of the Chauri Chaura incident, but he remained the steely anchor of non-violence and calm, an
attribute that the youth, and political leadership today simultaneously needs to imbibe.
The fact that Gandhi went on to inspire leaders across the world, from Martin Luther King Jr. to
Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama, along with the religious doyen, Dalai Lama, speaks highly of
the accessibility of his principles- in a whirlwind era of countless revolutionaries and political
thinkers, Gandhi is, by some distance, the most enduring and simplistic to understand.
Had it not been for Gandhi’s mediations between Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, two of the most
important personalities in independent India’s first government, the country would have tottered,
if not tumbled, in realizing its “tryst with destiny”. It would not be proliferation on my part to
conclude that Gandhi helped redefine the art of tact and diplomacy through his trademark style, a
concoction of Kant and definitive, neo-liberal approach.
When Gandhi first talked of Swaraj, he used the term in a sense of self-rule. He heavily
influenced the mass idea of building a societal and institutional hierarchy of self-control, free
from external control or influence. The very fact that we reside in a sovereign, secular, socialist,
democratic republic- are all cherished ideals in which Gandhi has had his due share,
intellectually and aesthetically through his dissemination of ideas.
His soul rushed deep into the rural hinterlands and he sought alleviation for the poor in that
regard. The fact that we have we have the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act named
after the visionary is nothing short of poetic justice. In fact, if one were to drown themselves into
“India of my Dreams”, a vivid mention of the Panchayati Raj systems to build a self-sufficient,
agrarian yet politically informed rural folk would be found, however the governments have failed
to live up to the potential that the idea carries.
A diktat of Gandhi which ought not to be ignored at any cost is that of boycotting foreign goods,
while vying for the adoption, promotion and consumption of locally manufactured and
distributed goods, or as he’d say, Swadeshi products. In a modern age sparked by insane levels of
competition, economic sustainability is quintessential. The country and the world in general is
grappling with the horrors of the CoVid-19 pandemic. When the Prime Minister of the world’s
largest democracy requests his subjects to go “Vocal for Local”, he ends up mirroring the
Gandhian idea which, till now, seemed antiquated and unconventional for today’s consumer-
driven society.
Besides the principles which he built on, one cannot help but feel awed by his intellectual
dynamics. His principles were an acute reflection of the compendium of philosophies that he had
stacked up within himself. Ranging from the vicissitudes of sacrifice, restraint and idealism from
the Bhagwad Gita, the ideas of transcendental institutionalism of Kant and Thorreau, the ethical
compass and principled set of rules for leaders by Mazzini- his works are a beautiful
amalgamation of the aforementioned.
There is no static lens with which we can appreciate Gandhi, or his volume of work. For those
who pronounce all of his ideas as “dead, reek of cynicism and unwavering ignorance towards a
study of India’s realpolitik. On the other hand, those who swear by all of what the great man had
put forth, verbatim, in today’s globalised world, loses out considerably on external relations,
technology, and the like. The visionary that he was, his principles, though aged, exceed
conditional morality.
Happy Birthday, Mahatma.
