Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi was a man of millennium ‘who imparts the lesson of truth,
Non- violence and peace. The philosophy and ideology is relevant still today.
The philosophy of Gandhi was based on truth, sacrifice, non- violence selfless
service and cooperation. In modern times, nonviolent methods of action have
been a powerful tool for social protest. According to Gandhi one should be
brave and not a coward. He should present his views, suggestions and thoughts
without being violent. One should fight a war with the weapons of truth and non
violence. Gandhi said that, There is no god higher than truth. According to
Gandhi‘s thoughts non- violence is ultimate solution of every kind of problem
in the world. Gandhi was single person who fought against the British with the
weapons of truth and Non-violence by persuading countrymen to walk on the path
of non-violence. Gandhi leading a decades-long nonviolent struggle against
British rule in India, which eventually helped India, wins its independence in
1947. By the efforts of Gandhi India became independent. Gandhi initiated non
violence activities like Quit India movement and non-operation movement. Gandhi
could never have done what he did alone – but with his ability to identify a
seed here, a seed there and nurture it, he was able to create a forest of human
change. He understood that it was not enough to be a leader, but to create
leaders.
In
quite simple and clear words, Gandhism consists of the ideas, which Mahatma
Gandhi put forth before human world. Along with that, to the maximum possible
extent, Mahatma Gandhi treated his individual life in accordance with these
ideas. Clearly, Gandhism is a mixture of Gandhi‘s concepts and practices. I do
not hold merely his theory to be Gandhism. The basic ground ship of Gandhism
happens to be non-violence. The non-violence is the most ancient eternal value.
This non-violence is the ground of ancient-most civilization and culture of
India. Mahatma Gandhi said on this very account while making his concepts and
practices based on non-violence: ―I have nothing new to teach you… Truth and
non-violence are as old as hill. As we know, non-violence and truth are two
sides of the same coin. After knowing Gandhism, it is imperative for us to know
clearly the concept of non-violence also as it accords the ground for Gandhism.
Gandhi‘s importance in the political world scenario is twofold. First, he
retrieved non-violence as a powerful political tool and secondly manifestation
of a higher spiritual goal, culmination in world peace. For Gandhi, means were
as important as the end and there could be only one means - that of
non-violence. As a situation opposite to violence is non-violence, we can
firmly state, ―Total non-violence consists in not hurting some other one‘s
intellect, speech or action per own thought, utterance or deeds and not to
deprive some one of his life.‖ Mahatma Gandhi fully agrees with above-mentioned
derivation of non-violence. He himself has said, ―Non-violence is not a
concrete thing as it has generally been enunciated. Undoubtedly, it is a part
of non-violence to abstain from hurting some living being, but it is only an
iota pertaining to its identity. The principle of non-violence is shattered by
every evil thought, false utterance, hate or wishing something bad unto
someone. It is also shattered per possession of necessary worldly things. In
this chain Mahatma Gandhi clarified in an edition of Young India: ―…To hurt
someone, to think of some evil unto someone or to snatch one‘s life under anger
or selfishness, is violence. In contrast, purest nonviolence involves a
tendency and presuming towards spiritual or physical benefit unto every one
without selfishness and with pure thought after cool and clear deliberations… The
ultimate yardstick of violence or non-violence is the spirit behind the action.
There are many examples of their use like resistance, non-violent resistance,
and civil revolution. Mahatma Gandhi had to struggle in his whole life, but he
never disappointed, he continued his innate faith in non-violence and his
belief in the methods of Satyagraha. The significance of Satyagraha was soon
accepted worldwide. Martin Luther King adopted the methods of Satyagraha in his
fight against the racial discrimination of the American authorities in 1950.
Gandhism is very much contextual today on this accord. It is significant. We
should grasp importance of Gandhism while analyzing it.
Communalism is one of the most serious problems that India has to
face after her freedom from colonial rule in the mid of 20th Century. This
problem, which has existed among the followers of two principal religious
communities- Hindus and Muslims – many times raised a great challenge before
the secular structure of India. In the name of religion such acts have been
committed that are no doubt shameful and a act of fleeing from the message of
Mahatma Gandhi who lead the country to the door steps of freedom through
non-violence, the sacred human value. Mahatma Gandhi devoted his entire life for
propounding communal harmony. He wished in ‘India of his dream’, “I shall for
an India, in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country in whose
making they have an effective voice; an India in which there shall be no high
class and low class of people; [and above all] an India in which all
communities shall live in perfect harmony.”
Communalism is the political assertiveness
of a community to
maintain its identity
in a plural society which
is undergoing modernization. (Modernization and politics of communalism - a theoretical perspective-the American Political Review, vol.64).
Communalism is generally associated with “a narrow, selfish, divisive and perspective aggressive attitude on the part of a religious
group.” It is a type of blind loyalty of the people towards the community which is placed above their loyalty
to the State to which they
belong. In a negative sense, it is a
kind of hostile attitude shown towards
"other communities or religions, while living within the same body-politics.” Communalism exploits
both religion and politics. Communalism
is the enemy of progress, revolution, democracy and of federal nation-state building on rational scientific lines. Hence, in its totality,
communalism is a “political strategy opposed
to nationalism as an aggression on multi- ethnic,
multi-religious and multi-lingual community."
During freedom
struggle two leaders– Mahatma Gandhi and M.N.
Roy –
took
serious note of communalism
and the Hindu Muslim question.
Almost all other leaders under the Congress
umbrella, including Jawaharlal Nehru maintained that once the British left, this problem
(as
also the question of human right violation caused by the hierarchical
system) would be
solved in no time.
Gandhiji, however, often said,
in most unambiguous terms,
that unless these two evils are done away with, India has no right
to Independence from British Raj. Ultimately
he fell a victim to an intolerant cult-nationalism.
Gandhiji was a religious
man, and he had the same respect
for other religions that he gave to
his own, Hinduism. And he wanted the Hindus,
as also other Indians, to follow his
example and solve the
Hindu Muslim question. Regrettably this approach has
not helped in combating communalism.
M.N. Roy wrote
a book, while in Jail in 1930-36,
Historical Role of Islam with a view to solving the Hindu Muslim question. He wrote: “although Islam came to India after it had played
out its progressive role, and
its leadership had been
wrested from the learned and cultured
Arabs, the revolutionary principles of the days of its origin
and ascendancy were still inscribed on its flag.”
A critical study of
history would reveal that Brahmanical orthodoxy having overwhelmed the Buddhist revolution; India of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries must have been infested
with multitudes of persecuted heretics who would eagerly
welcome the message of
Islam”. Roy maintained
that we must be clear as to the causes of
the Muslim conquest of India so
that we get rid
“of the prejudices that makes the orthodox Hindu
Look upon his Muslim neighbor as an inferior being. Unless a radical
change of attitude
is brought about by a sober sense of history, the communal question will never be solved.”
Addressing
the Muslims, Roy wrote: “few
Muslims of our days may be conscious of the
glorious part played
on the stage
of History by the faith they profess.” Roy therefore urged upon both
Hindus and Muslims
to revive the positive
aspects and
the creative heritage of Islamic culture. “Indians, both Hindus
and Muslims”, Roy concluded, “Could profitably draw inspiration from…
[The] knowledge of Islam’s contribution to
human culture and a proper appreciation
of the Historical value of that contribution would shock the Hindus out
of their arrogant self satisfaction,
and cure the narrow- mindedness of the Muslims for our day by bringing them face to face with the true
spirit of the faith they profess”. Our government and opinion makers must take Gandhi’s approach minus the mystique and Roy’s scientific
approach to a solution
of the problem seriously.
Gandhi
fought for communal harmony and at last laid down his life
for it. He was
a devout Hindu
but held equal respect for all religions and
upheld the right of all the religious
minority groups
to profess and practice their respective religions freely
at footing with the majority
group. Gandhi was not opposed to
the Varna or caste based
system in Hindu
society, but, he
insisted that it must
carry no connotation of pollution or purity, which generated into the evil and offensive practice
of untouchability. Another evil of the Varna system he castigated was the consignment of some castes to
manual labour, carrying with it
lower social esteem reserving
the socially esteemed intellectual work for the others. Gandhi felt that by removing
this individual distinction, a socially
useful re- construction
of the caste system was possible.
Communalism has been a
serious threat to
national integration in India. It has destroyed other
three elements of modern India, such as, secularism,
democracy and fraternity unity. Religious
fanatic has taken the ugly shape of communal tension and riots in India,
leading to the partition of
India (1947), killing of Mahatma Gandhi
(1948) and Smt. Indira Gandhi (1984), riots in Meerut (1987), Aligarh and Muzafarnagar
(1988) and Bhagalpur (1989). Issues like Babri- Masjid and Ramjanmabhumi. Godhra incident have fomented communal tension and threatened national
integration badly. The secular Indian polity has failed to check obscurantism, religious fundamentalism and communal fanaticism which have taken the worst shape of communal violence/
riots frequented between 1947 and 2002.
Gandhian Strategies:
Though Gandhi was an orthodox Hindu even
he went against the sentiments or the feelings of
the Hindus in
order to maintain communal
harmony. The famous Vande Mataram’ song had
proved an inspiration during those days. Bengali community
almost worshipped the
song. But
when Jinnah, the president of Muslim League and a handful of his follower Muslims objected,
disregarding the nationalist sentiment of the song, Gandhi put a ban on it and forced
the whole nation
to abandon it. In 1940,
Congress announced a decision
that the words Vande Mataram’ should
not be used by Congress
members in any public speeches
and announcements. Gandhi also put a ban on Shiv Banvani. Shiv Banvani is a
small inspiring poem by poet Bhushan. The poet had written that if Shivaji had
not been born, entire India would have been converted to Islam. The poet had
used exact words to correctly depict the fierce fanaticism and intolerance
preached within Islam. Gandhi imposed a ban on this poem to keep the sentiments
of his Muslim brothers’.
Khilafat
movement was an attempt by the Indian Muslim community to unite together in
support of the Turkish Empire ruled by the Khalifa. The Muslims considered the
Khalifa as the custodian of Islam. Under the leadership of prominent Muslim
leaders, the Khilafat movement was launched in most parts of North India.
Gandhi suggested the Muslims - “If the peaceful non-cooperation movement does
not succeed in getting justice, then, they have the right to follow the path
shown in the Holy Books of Islam and I whole-heartedly support this path.”
Gandhi
whole-heartedly supported the Khilafat Movement in order to bring Hindu- Muslim
unity. When the Indian Muslims invited the Amir of Afghanistan to attack India
and to convert this Darul Harb into Darul Islam, Gandhi supported this move
also. Once, when he went to Delhi he held his prayer meetings in a Hindu temple
in the sweeper’s colony. Ignoring the strong protests of the priests he
adamantly read few passages from the Koran as part of the prayer meeting inside
the Hindu temple.
In
1947, millions celebrated the independence that they had won through decades of
struggle. But the year was also marked by a holocaust of violence and ethnic
cleansing that accompanied Partition. Seventeen million people were forced to
migrate and 1 million people were killed. Hundreds of thousands of corpses
littered the streets of cities like Calcutta and Delhi. There are descriptions
of train cars arriving full only of dead people.
While
riots raged in Punjab, Gandhi told a leader of the Muslim League: I want to
fight it out with my life. I would not allow the Muslims to crawl on the
streets in India. They must walk with self-respect.
At
the time of India Pakistan partition violent Hindu-Muslim riot took place.
Millions were uprooted from their ancestor’s territory and massive violence and
slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. At the lowest estimate, one
million people perished and fourteen million became homeless. When hundreds of
thousand Hindu and Sikh refugees entered India, Gandhi showed utmost sympathy
for them. Gandhi said– "I am grieved to learn that people are running away
from the West Punjab and I am told that Lahore is being evacuated by the
non-Muslims. I must say that this is what it should not be. If you think Lahore
is dead or is dying, do not run away from it, but die with what you think is
the dying Lahore. When you suffer from fear you die before death comes to you.
That is not glorious. I will not feel sorry if I hear that people in the Punjab
have died not as cowards but as brave men.”
Gandhi,
in his late seventies, personally journeyed to areas where communal violence
had broken out and did his best to persuade people to stop, walking barefoot
through the riot-torn slums and threatening “to fast unto death.” His moral
authority was able to stop the violence sometimes, but when he left, all the
social and economic problems that led people to see another religious group as
their main enemy were still in place.
Furthermore
Gandhi presented an Ahimsa formula to the Hindu refugees. He advised the
Hindus, “The Hindus not to die helplessly. But they are to die without a
murmur. Only then the riots will stop.”
In
another incident, Gandhi addressed the homeless Hindus at the end of one of his
Prayer Meetings and said, “After all, who are the killers ? They are our Muslim
Brethren, none other. Does a converting into another religion break the bond of
brotherhood ?”
In
a speech on April 6, 1947; Gandhi again advised the destitute Hindus, Even if
Muslims decide to wipe out the Hindu race, there is no point in Hindus getting
angry on Muslims. Even if they slit our throats, we should be patient and
accept death. Let them rule the world, we will pervade the world and merge with
it. At least we should not be afraid of death. The providence is made of life
and death. Why feel unhappy about it ? We will enter a new life if we face
death with a smile. We will create a new Hindustan [India].
On
September 23, 1947, during a prayer speech, Gandhi said, “[Even if Muslims]
killed our relatives, our people, why should we be angry with anyone ? Those
who got killed met with a proper end. We should know that they attained heaven.
Let this happen with Gods’ wish with each one of us. God should grant us this
kind of death. If you want to ask God for anything, let it be this.”
On
Muslim slaughter of Hindus and Sikhs, Gandhi elsewhere said. “I would tell the
Hindus to face death cheerfully if the Muslims are out to kill them. I would be
a real sinner if after being stabbed I wished in my last moment that my son
should seek revenge. I must die without rancor. ... You may turn round and ask
whether all Hindus and all Sikhs should die. Yes, I would say. Such martyrdom
will not be in vain.” Gandhi died for upholding Muslim equality, assassinated
in 1948 by a Hindu fascist. The killer, Nathuram Godse, had been trained as an
organizer in the RSS in the 1930s.
Conclusion:
In
our country people belonging to various religions live in harmony, but there
are occasions when the communal fabric gets disturbed, often on trivial issues.
It is the responsibility of all sections of society to ensure peace and
brotherhood so that all round development of the country takes place rapidly.
To eliminate communalism must be our first and top priority. All Indians as a
true sons and daughters of motherland must come forward to untiringly fight the
forces of communalism which have been putting a grave strain on the health of
our nation.
Thus, in order to get rid of the problem of communalism in India,
there is a need of collective efforts. All will have to discharge their duties.
If we do so, definitely harmony will prevail. Everybody will prosper. This must
be done; this was the dream of Mahatma Gandhi for a free India. The
main cause of worry today is intolerance and hatred leading to violence and it
is here the values of Gandhi need to be adhered to with more passion. He is
relevant not yesterday or today but forever!!
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