It is August of 1947. The seminal year when India awoke to freedom. The task at hand in front of our leaders is to make a constitution for our country that would form the basis of India. But the question troubling our leaders is, what then would form the basis of our constitution itself? To solve this dilemma, the great Dalit leader, Babu Jagjivan Ram goes to meet Gandhi at his ashram, where Gandhi is busy spinning his charkha. Babu Jagjivan Ram asks, “Bapu, what should be the one thing I should keep in mind when I sit in the constituent Assembly?” It is here that Gandhi gives his ever eternal Talisman – “When in doubt remember the face of the poorest person you have seen and ask yourself whether the action you are going to perform would be of any help to the poor man.” Babu Jagjivan Ram’s eyes are filled with tears. He takes blessings of Bapu and leaves.
Today, even Bapu has left us. But Bapu’s principles still form the basis of our constitution, our society, individual, and our nation. This essay would begin defining a journey of a man who became “The Mahatma”. We would then discuss principles that made him Mahatma and the relevance of those principles today, i.e. after 150 years of the birth of Mahatma.
From a plush job of a lawyer in South Africa to a half-naked, bald, and dhoti-clad man with a stick, Gandhi’s journey has been nothing but truly inspirational. Gandhi, when thrown out of a train for being a “man of color” in South Africa, took up the challenge to rout out the British empire.

In South Africa, he fought for the rights of indentured laborers of Indian origin. After initial success, he came to India, where through movements like Champaran Satyagraha to Non-cooperation movement to civil disobedience movement to finally Quit India movement, he led India from slavery to liberation. In all his struggles, he developed ideas, philosophies, dogmas, and principles that hold relevance even today. Let us take them one by one.

Gandhi is synonymous with the word “Nonviolence”. The United Nations celebrates the International Day of Nonviolence on 2nd October every year, the birth of the Mahatma. Non-violence as an idea is more than relevant in today’s world because we are witnessing civil wars in the Middle East, instances of terrorism in Europe, India, New Zealand, Afghanistan, murders in the USA [due to liberal arms laws], and riots in India between Hindus and Muslims, with one as recent as in Delhi, 2020.

These instances show that the answer to violence is not more violence but non-violence. To achieve non-violence Gandhi advocated satyagraha. This means the right to protest but while keeping complete adherence to truth and non-violence. Gandhi’s method of satyagraha was used by Anna Hazare in India against corruption movement, wherein without resorting to violence, he sat on a hunger strike and forced the government in power to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill.

The idea of corruption is closely related to the excessive needs of man. Gandhi said “There is enough for a man’s need, but not enough for a man’s greed”. This greed of man is fulfilled through rapid capitalism and industrialization. Gandhi was against the above two phenomena. For him machine must augment man’s efforts but not replace man. We can see that Industrial Revolution 4-0 is rendering many people jobless. In fact, Yuval Noah Harari in his book “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” says “workers will not rise against the person who gives low wages but against the person who doesn’t need them”.

This brings us to the rights of the worker class. Gandhi through his Ahmedabad mill strike fought for workers. His ideals have been incorporated in the Directive Principles of state policy that talk about workers’ participation in industries and provision of living wage to workers. These principles have been incorporated in the recent labor codes passed by the government that strive to build a harmonious relationship between the workers and owners.

This relationship between two classes, i.e., the haves and the have-nots brings us to Gandhi’s theory of “trusteeship”. Unlike Marx, Gandhi does not talk about abolishing private property but like Aristotle he talks about private ownership and common use. This synthesis of “private” and “common” is the essence of a “welfare stick”. And a welfare state is what is the aim of our constitution. Mentioning of constitution, most of its articles are derived from Gandhian thought and are supremely relevant today.

Article 14 to 18 talks about equality. Gandhi had a special focus on treating women at par with men and treating Dalits at par with Brahmins. This is highly relevant today due to instances of domestic violence, rape and degradation of woman in today’s world. Similarly instances of violence against Dalits make headlines almost every day. These are employed in menial tasks that are not respected in society. Here Gandhi’s theory of “bread labor” must be mentioned which asks for treating every person with respect even though he may be performing the most basic of tasks.

We should ask ourselves do we respect the sweepers or people who collect garbage? Talking of garbage, the Swachh Bharat Mission to make India open-defecation free and clean was the dream of Gandhi that the country is on the path to fulfill. Apart from “Swachh Bharat”, the other most heard phrase is “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”. The idea of “Atma Nirbharta” founds its basis in the charkha of Gandhi wherein Gandhi made his own cloth spinning the charkha.

The spinning of charkha is analogous to the spinning of the Ashoka Chakra. This spinning charkha symbolizes “India on the move.” And the spinning charkha symbolizes the cycle of life. A life that must be guided by Gandhian principles. Hence not just after 150 years, but I can imagine a student writing an essay on the topic “1500 years of the Mahatma: Relevance of Gandhian principles”. Because the Mahatma is eternal.