Relevance of Gandhi
in Twenty-first Century
By Rajen Barua
Looking at the presentstate of affairs in India,
the birthplace of Gandhi, one would probably surmise that Gandhism, whatever the term may mean, cannot have any relevance in
this twenty-first century. Gandhi is rightly called the Father of the Nation
because he single handedly stood up against the mighty British Empire, without
any arms, and brought her independence. However, today, just after 60 years of
his assassination by a fellow Indian, Gandhi is mostly forgotten and his relevance questioned even by his
ardent devotees. Today Gandhi is remembered in India mostly on his birthday
which is celebrated as a national holiday rather as a ritual.
As a matter of fact, India is not following any of
Gandhi's teachings which are mostly confined to text books. As a military super
power in Asia, India is definitely not following the teachings of Ahimsa (non violence) in dealing with
its neighbors, be it Pakistan, Bangladesh (East Pakistan) or China; nor it is
practicing non violence in dealings with its numerous insurgencies be it in
Kashmir, Punjab, central India or in the North Eastern states of Assam,
Manipur, Nagaland or Mizoram. In fact, since independence, the country has
witnessed many violent communal riots in this multi communal country. Two of
countries prime ministers, two more Gandhis, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi
(not related to Mahatma Gandhi) were assassinated by countrymen in broad
daylights. Gandhi's message of 'swabalambi', self sufficiency with home
spun 'khadi' cloth is not used now a
days even as a social slogan. Statistics show that the country is definitely
not following ‘sarvodaya’, a broad Gandhian term meaning 'universal
upliftment' or 'progress of all' reaching the masses and the downtrodden. On
the contrary, India today has the unique distinction of being the only country
in the world which has the richest man in the world while at the same time more
than 30 per cent of its population lives in dire poverty where films like ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ shows the embarrassing
reality of other India. To say the least, Gandhism
is under severe test in India if not already dead. If one takes a survey, most
Indians would probably say that Gandhism
is a flop ideology just like communism and it is, at
best, not practical in this twenty-first century India.
From the above, it would however be wrong to
premise that Gandhism is dead in the
world. Today, Gandhism may be a very
confused ‘ism’ in India where politicians use the term merely as a slogan and
the common man make it out of reach by making Gandhi an
unwilling ‘avatara. But the
same may not be true outside India. Like Buddhism,
which is mostly prevalent now a days outside the country of its birth, Gandhism today is alive and well outside
India. In fact today there is hardly any country in the world where some
activities are not going on along Gandhian
lines. There are very few countries in the world where something or the other
is not being done, achieved or organized in the name of Gandhi. In short, there
is a global non-violent awakening and awareness after Gandhi. The name of
Mahatma Gandhi transcends the bounds of race, religion and nation-states, and
has emerged as the prophetic voice of the twenty-first century. Today, Gandhi
is remembered for his passionate adherence to the practice of non-violence and
his supreme humanism, in every corner of the world.
One would wonder, what may be the relevance of
Gandhi in this all-pervading materialistic, agnostic and consumerist culture?
What is the significance of Gandhi to the modern world and what is the secret
of his success? Gandhi has been a great light for the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama
who puts Gandhi's success in right perspective. He said, "Many ancient Indian masters have preached ahimsa, non violence as
a philosophy. That was mere philosophical understanding. But Mahatma Gandhi, in
this twentieth century, produced a very sophisticated approach because he
implemented that very noble philosophy of ahimsa in modern politics, and he
succeeded. That is a very great thing."
And that is precisely the greatness of Gandhi and
that is the message of Gandhi to the modern world. In the past century many
places in the world have been drastically changed through the use of brute
force, by the power of guns – the Soviet Union, China, Tibet, Burma, many
communist countries in Africa and South America. But eventually the power of
guns will have to be changed by the will of the ordinary people. As Dalai Lama
said, "We have big war going on
today between world peace and world war, between the force of mind and force of
materialism, between democracy and totalitarism." To fight these big
wars the common ordinary people in this modern age need Gandhism.
If we try to analyze the secrets of Gandhi's
success, we would probably find Faith and Action and Populism, the three most
important aspects of his life. Gandhi's extra ordinary communion with the
masses of ordinary people was another of his secrets. In contrast to many of
our present day leaders of this highly democratic world, Gandhi was a true
leader and friend of the people.
Disaku Ikeda, the Japanese Buddhist leader who
takes great inspiration from Gandhi has this to say about him. "His activism is not mere action but
contains many aspects of a spiritual 'practice' that is inspired by the inner
urging of the conscience. “
The phenomenal success Gandhi registered in far
away South Africa fighting for human rights and civil liberties has great
significance when we find that later his teachings were adopted not only by
Nelson Mandela, the South African freedom fighter, but it was also subsequently
revealed that the former South African president De Klerk was greatly
influenced by Gandhi's principles.
In fact, from Dalai Lama to Desmond Tutu and from
Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela, many world leaders were inspired by
Mahatma Gandhi, all in their own different ways.
Dr. Martin Luther King was very much inspired by
Gandhi. Like Gandhi, King liked Thoreau's idea – ‘that men should not obey evil or unjust laws’; and he found that
Gandhi had won freedom for his country from British rule acting on that very
principle. Like Thoreau, Gandhi believed that men should gladly go to jail when
they break such laws. He told the people of India to resist the British by
peaceful means only. They would march, they would sit down or lie down in the
streets, they would strike, they would boycott (refuse to buy) British goods,
but they would not resort to violence. There is great resonance of the historic
Salt March at Dandi with the
courageous Montgomery Bus Boycott
against racial segregation in United States. Dr King said, "……..If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived,
thought, acted and inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world
of peace and harmony."
Barack Obama, the present US President, sees
Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration and has a portrait of the apostle of peace in
his office. He commented, "In my
life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he
embodies the kind of transformational change that can be made when ordinary
people come together to do extraordinary things."
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader under house
arrest, derives great deal of inspiration from Gandhi. From Gandhi she learnt
that for a doctrine of peace and reconciliation to be translated into practice,
one absolute condition needed is fearlessness. Aung San Suu Kyi knows this. One
of her essays opens with the statement that "it
is not power that corrupts, but it is fear." It is from Gandhi that
Jawaharlal Nehru and all the Indian leaders for independence learnt how 'not to
fear' the British gun. Nehru also described him as “A powerful current of fresh air … like a beam of light."
And so Gandhism
is alive and well in the modern world. He has inspired and will continue to
inspire many political, social and religious leaders all over the world.
Whether is Joan Baez , the Czech human rights activist, or Cesar Chavez, the
social activists in California, or Joanna Macy, the activist, or Mubarak Awad,
the non violent Palestine leader and many others get different inspiration from
Gandhi in their fight.
Thich Nhat Kanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist leader
takes great inspiration from Gandhi's action which stresses on the process more
than the end. Nhat said, "I think we
may fail in our attempt to do things, yet we may succeed in correct action when
the action is authentically non violent, based on understanding, based on
love." And that is Gandhism.
Gandhi left many valuable sayings for the modern
man to fight for goodness in society in a non violent way. "Good" Gandhi said "travels
at a snails pace." "Non violence" Gandhi said 'is a tree of slow
growth. It grows imperceptibly but surely." And then "Mere goodness is not of much
use." Gandhi stated. "Goodness
must be joined with knowledge, courage and conviction. One must cultivate the
fine discriminating quality which goes with spiritual courage and
character." The modern man can also take great wisdom from what Gandhi
said the seven social sins: Politics without principles; Wealth without work;
Commerce without morality; Education without character; Pleasure without
conscience; Science without humanity; Worship without sacrifice.
Was Gandhi a Saint? Gandhi objected when people
called him "a saint trying to be a
politician." He said he would rather be "a politician trying to be a saint." Gandhi was not a
Saint. He was a common man, but a common man in modern world in the footsteps
of Buddha and Jesus. He said, "I
have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the
hills". It may be said that, after the great Buddha and Jesus, Gandhi
once again demonstrated that non-violence could also be an effective instrument
of social change in modern times. Gandhi successfully demonstrated to a world,
weary with wars and continuing destruction that adherence to Truth and
Non-violence is not meant for individual behavior alone but can be applied in
global affairs too.
If we say that the twenty-first century is the
century of the common man, then we see that Gandhism
has even more relevance in this age, and Gandhi will inspire generations of
individuals fighting for goodness of the society. If today we find that Gandhism is in severe test in countries
like India, it is not because there is certain inherent weakness in Gandhism, but it is because we have not
seen in India strong leaders with the required courage and conviction to fight
the evils in society. We may borrow Gandhi’s own words on Ahimsa, and say that Gandhism
is only for the courageous people.
I would like to conclude with a
tribute to Gandhi that Albert Einstein gave: "Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such one
as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth".
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