150 YEARS OF CELEBRATING MAHATMA
Relevance of Gandhian Principles
On a warm sunny afternoon in 1893, a young man boarded the 1st élans compartment of a train at Pietermaritzburg station. As he was about to sit, a grumpy aged white man objected that he cannot sit there as he was colored and the coach was meant to be only for the white folk. But the young man, even though a ghosted at the humiliation, told the old man that he has a valid travel ticket and so, the right to travel. The old man on this, called in the ticket collector, who on knowing about the situation, at one throw the colored young man out of the train. The young man stood there kept watching as the train departed. But, on the scene, had arrived the to be mahatma of future. It was no other than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi himself and there took birth, the resolve and with him, his principles that would assist him in his journey to fight for justice.
It’s been almost 125 years to that incident and the world has changed a great deal in modern times and so we ask today, in this essay, 150 years after the birth of the Mahatma, are his principles still relevant?
Gandhian principles – Blessing or Burden in 21st century?
It is said, “Do not be a man of success, but be a man of principles.” It was the very principles of Gandhi to which he adhered in his life in his death that made not only him a great man, but helped this great nation get rid of the shackles of slavery.
And in it, played a great role of – AHIMSA and SATYAGRAH, Ahimsa stands for non – violence and Satyagrah for the force of truth/Passive resistance.
As terror and violence spreads its nasty tentacles in our society, they become all the more relevant in various struggles for autonomy & freedom around the world. The recent Hong – Kong Protests of 2020 for democracy, the peaceful response by new Zealand to horrendous Christchurch shootings, or the CAA – NRC protests by students across India, the philosophy of Ahimsa, satyagrah still hold their weight.
These ideals of Gandhi, as he said, were not for the weak and coward but for the strong who is even willing to sacrifice his life for upholding them, from south African experiments of Gandhi to today’s unnamed resistance movements for ideals of democracy, it helps in moral development, it helps in moral development of personality at the cost of various vices like every, hatred, ignorance, etc.
Based on the above two principles, he was able to influence an temporary leaders like Martin Luther king Jr, Anna Hazare, Nelson Mandela, etc. -producing great leader.
Not only in public life, have gandhian principles found relevance in economic sphere too. As they would witnessed the lopsided development & growth of capitalism and equal misery of communism, gandhian philosophy of Trusteeship and his modal of socialism could help rid our modem problems – The recent Oxfam report says 73% of India’s wealth owned by 1% of Indians; we have to follow his principles to cure this disease. Gandhi called coup orates as not the owners but trustees of the wealth they owned. For him, wealth belonged to society and hence, the corporate should help use it for equitable development of all in the society. The modern concepts of CSR (corporate social responsibility) and Narayan Murthi’s compassionate capitalism signify Gandhi as relevance today.
And when the corporate follow his model, it will not only be beneficial to society but also help their moral development. The Gandhian principles of SARVODAYA & ANTYODAYA will be truly achieved then.
Sarvodaya – socio – economic development of all and antyodaya development of the most vulnerable, the last one standing in the line. Modern day nation – states const -tutors imbibe the very same ideals whey talk about welfare state, social benefits & affirmative systems.
At a time when half of the world’s children are undernourished (UNICEF), a quarter of India’s population service on less than a dollar per day & a women is raped every hour (NCRB), these ideals gain much more relevance.
Sarvjan Hitay, Sarvjan Sukhay
With a developed body comes a developed conscience and society. As the world faces ethical & moral breakdown, Gandhian principles of tolerance, love, brotherhood and religious unity are a blessing to the world. The recent beheading of Samuel Paty in France for hurting religious sentiments, the ethnic genocide of Rohingyas, illegal unethical and forced detention of thousand of Uyghur’s in Chinese re-education camps have shown the world that these ideals still hold all the more relevance for a peaceful and humane global society.
Be the change you wish to see in the would – Gandhi
The Mahatma as we know today was neither born, nor become that in a day, but constantly evolved by learning from his error and experiences. This evolved discourse on race from Africa to India rifled his ideals of courage to accept your fault & striving to improve.
In today’s world where everyone follows poach what you don’t even practice; where mediocrity is becoming the norm and change has been hard to come by, states and multilateral institutions have a lot to earn from his principles.
By changing, we evolve and by evolving, we sustain. Not only in personal life, Gandhi’s message echoed in his public life, in the sphere of environmental ethics. Gandhi believed – Earth has for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed. The principles of UN sustainable development goals (SDG) reflected in Gandhian as today espoused by reformers like Anna Hazare. Gandhi’s frugality was ever – known. He used to use an object of utility till it could be used, he would do his daily chores and led a simple but yet sophisticated life. Man’s greed has caused great harm to our planet IPCC report says melting glaciers due to increasing global temperatures could submerge island countries like Maldives before the end of century. Man has wiped off almost half the species – leading to anthropogenic extinction. Natural disasters like amphan cyclone, California & Amazon fives have become lot more common. Gandhian principles do hold relevance to pres, conserve & restore this planet.
The message of Gandhi echoes not only in environmental sphere but political too. In an era of man party defections ivory capitalism, and nexus corruptions have reached dangerous heights, Gandhian concept of gram swaraj and a stateless society should be incorporated as did by 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment, PESA Act, FRA (2006) act, etc. There is need to strengthen ethical & legal framework as per Gandhian ideals of fugacity, content, trusteeship along with transparency and accountability. For Gandhi, spirituality was more important than materialistic pursuits that have made our world commercialized. The recent horse trading allegation in Karnataka, Maharashtra, MP state assembly point out the unfortunate truths prevailing today we need more of Gandhi in our lives today not less.
With more of Gandhian ethics, our spiritual & psychological health will improve too. Gandhi believed in taking food like medicine otherwise human will have to take medicine like food. With growing incidences of lifestyle diseases today, Mc Donalisation of food habits, India face a double burden of malnutrition – extremes of wasted, stunning children and obese teenagers. Gandhian principles of – simple riving, high thinking could help us achieve the SDGs like SPG – 1 (poverty), SDG – 2 (hunger), etc. The growing incidents of suicide & mental health issues highlighted by unfortunate demise of actor Sushant Rajput are a result of our growing materialism & can be solved by applying Gandhian principles of spirituality.
In addition, for Gandhi, woman was goddess. The recent hathras rape incident of dalit girl shows that the deep rooted issue of casteism and patriarchal mindset still exist. Gandhian principles of Harijan & Savama both – Vaishnav Jan & respect for women needs to be imbibed.
As we saw, even after 150 years, that colored young man who was thrown out of the train at Pietermaritzburg, his principles & ideas of Ahimsa, Satyagrah, Sarvodaya, antyodaya, public trusteeship, peace brotherhood, love, humanity, gram swaraj & his famous Talisman still hold much more relevance in today’s globalised world than ever.
Unfortunately, people tried to kill his ideas when a radicalized young godse shot the Mahatma, hoping to kill his idea of Hindu – Muslim uniting & brotherhood; but as they say, you can kill a man but not his ideas. They live on to influence encourage & future generations yet to come. And just like he strove for peace in his life, we too need to adopt, practice & strive for achieving his principles to make this world a better place.
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