Do we deserve Gandhiji?

- By Nani Palkhivala*

On Friday, January 30, the greatest apostle of non-violence fell a victim to the assassin’s bullet. So bright and luminous a spirit has rarely cleansed civilization. The Mahatma’s life-work and position in world history were memorably summed up by Albert Einstein:

‘The veneration in which Gandhi has been held throughout the world rests on the recognition, for the most part unconscious, that in our age of moral decay he was the only statesman who represented that higher conception of human relations in the political sphere to which we must aspire with all our powers. We must learn the difficult lesson that the future of mankind will only be tolerable when our course in world affairs, as in all other matters, is based upon justice and law rather than the threat of naked power. Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”

The younger generation in India, who enjoy the fruits of Gandhiji’s countless sacrifices and his ceaseless labours, will not know the magic of his personality. A leader of his people, unsupported by any outward authority; a politician whose success rested, not upon craft or guile, but simply upon the moral grandeur of his soul; a victorious fighter who pushed back the mightiest empire on earth without the use of force; a spirit of profound wisdom and captivating humility, armed with only an iron will and inflexible resolve; a frail man who confronted the brutality of military strength with the dignity of a simple human being. As Will Durant observed, centuries hence the Mahatma will be remembered when of his contemporaries hardly a name will survive. Seldom has any life known to history been so marked by gentleness, disinterestedness, simplicity of soul, and forgiveness of enemies.

To the Mahatma, Truth was God and non-violence was religion. At his memorable trial for sedition in 1922, he said. “Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.” In non-violence bravery consists in dying, not in killing. His compassion and humanity were as boundless as the universe. “Gather together”, he said, “under one banner all men from all religions and races of India and infuse into them the spirit of solidarity and oneness to the utter exclusion of all communal and parochial sentiments”. And again, “My Hinduism is not sectarian. It includes all that I know to be best in Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Truth is my religion and ahimsa is the only way of its realization.”

He aroused the people, more widely than anyone had done before in history, to the evils of social injustice. He took it upon himself to awaken the conscience of the human race. The world saw the astonishing phenomenon of a revolution led by a saint. He was no “ineffectual angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain”. He claimed and proved himself to be a practical idealist and showed how goodness can be made effective. He strove successfully to liquidate the system of indentured labour in South Africa. He fought more valiantly than anyone else against the horrors of untouchability and the other social wrongs which are a blot on Indian society. In 1925 he said, “Untouchability is our greatest shame. The humiliation of it is sinking deeper.” To him, the injunction of the Gita was to regard a brahmin and a harijan as equals. His historical struggle against imperialism and colonial rule led not only to India becoming free but helped to create a world atmosphere conducive to the liberation of a hundred countries.

Gandhiji has been often branded as an idealist in economics, by those who have not taken the trouble to understand the basis of his convictions. To Gandhiji, the spinning wheel was a symbol and means of identification with the hungry masses. They were his first care and his last. He recognized no God “except the God that is to be found in the hearts of the dumb millions”. He did not rule out the use of machinery or the aid of science, provided they were adapted to the economic and social needs of the masses. “I have no objection”, he said, “if all things required by my country could be produced with the labour of thirty thousand instead of that of three crores; but those three crores must not be rendered idle or unemployed. The central idea is... to utilize the idle hours of the nation and thus by natural processes to help it get rid of its growing pauperism... The entire foundation of the spinning wheel rests on the fact that there are crores of semi-employed people in India and I should admit that if there were none such, there would be no room for the spinning wheel...

I would favour the use of the most elaborate machinery if thereby India's pauperism and resulting idleness could be avoided.”

He was untiring in his efforts to eliminate or reduce unnecessary State controls. He said, “I look upon an increase in the power of the State with the greatest fear because, though apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality which lies at the root of all progress.”

To Gandhiji all private wealth was to be held upon public trust; its possessors had to use it for the good of their fellow-men. In his own words, “The relation between mill agents and mill hands ought to be one of father and children or as between blood brothers. You should hold all your riches as a sacred trust to be used solely in the interests of those who sweat for you and to whose industry and labour you owe all your position and prosperity. I want you to make your labourers co-partners of your wealth...” What belongs to you is “the right to an honourable livelihood, no better than that enjoyed by millions of others”. The rest of your wealth “belongs to the community and must be used for the welfare of the community”. With characteristic perspicacity, he did not call himself a socialist but a believer in social justice.

Gandhiji held that the life of a good citizen was the life of karma — action in the service of the country. “My writings should be cremated with my body,” he said. “What I have done will endure, not what I have said or written.” Our century has produced few better examples of dedicated action than the Mahatma’s life of good works —a life marked by infinite patience and infinite love, immaculate sincerity and indomitable courage.

Our systems and ideologies may be relevant at one time and irrelevant at others. But the teachings of this great and benign lamp of wisdom and humanity are for endless time. He gave us the priceless gift of self-respect and the sense of dignity as a nation.

The hatred and fanaticism which consumed the body of the Mahatma did not touch his great soul. Let us go back to his imperishable teachings so that we, who did not deserve Gandhiji during his life, may at least deserve him a little after his death.

Courtesy: This article has been adapted from the book, We The People, by Nani Palkhivala

* Nani Ardeshir Palkhivala (16 January 1920 – 11 December 2002) was an Indian jurist and liberal economist.