A Prophet for All Time

- By B. R. Nanda

From 1919, when Gandhi emerged as the dominant personality in Indian politics, till his death twenty-nine years later, if there were one thought which possessed him above all others, it was the freedom and unity of India.

His entry on the Indian political stage came rather late in life- in his fiftieth year patriotism had been kindled long before, when as a budding politician in South Africa, he was leading the struggle of the small Indian communities in Natal and Transvaal for basic human rights.

The issues on which he fought had ostensibly little in common with the central issues of Indian politics. But he gradually learnt to see even this limited battle in South Africa as a prelude to larger struggle which he might one day have to wage in his homeland.

In his correspondence with Indian leaders, Gandhi took pains to lift the Indian's honour and patriotism. It was not merely a defense of the vested interests of Indians who had emigrated to British colonies overseas.

Gandhi took particular pride in fact that his adherent in Natal and Transvaal - Who included Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Paris, and hailed from different parts of India - were united in their resistance to the unjust laws of the colonial regime. In Hind Swaraj (1909) he stressed the imperative need for harmony among the various communities.

He wanted them against the machinations of "selfish and false religious teacher's, who deliberately fostered suspicion and hatred. "The English have not taken India." He wrote. "We have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength, but because we keep them."

Gandhi's own views on religion had evolved during his long sojourn in South Africa. He discovered and underlying unity in the teaching of all religions.

There were numerous passages in the Quran, which he thought, should be acceptable to the Hindus, just as there were passages in the Gita to which Muslims and Christians could take no exception. He had no doubt that the quarrels between Hindus and Muslims harmed both.

The best course for them was to avoid conflicts, and simply refuse to be provoked. After that Gandhi became aware of the social gulf between Hindus and Muslims. He was continually thinking of ways of bridging it. He did not see why festival, such as Diwali, Dussehra Id, could not be jointly celebrated.

Indian Opinion carried a report in its issue of November 16, 1907, about "a gathering of Hindus... in the building of Mr. Abdool Latif in Grey Street in Durban to Celebrate Diwali". Two years later Gandhi was the guest of honour at a dinner in London arranged by Indian students belonging to different religions and provinces, to jointly celebrate Viajya Dashmi (Dussehara).

There were other divisions too in the Indian community in South Africa of which Gandhi became conscious, for example between the caste Hindus and the so-called untouchables. "We who resent the pariah treatment in South Africa" Gandhi wrote on December 23, 1905, "will have to wash our hands clean of this treatment of our kith and kin in India, whom we impertinently describe as 'out-castes'.

It was again in South Africa the Gandhi first notices the barriers which divided rich and poor Indians between the opulent merchants and barristers on the one hand and the indentured laborers on the other.

Thus, it was during his political apprenticeship in South Africa, when he had no turned forty, that Gandhi acquired in-sights in the strengths and weakness of Indian society which were to stand him in good stead when he assumed the reins of the struggle against the Raj in his homeland.

His initial in sights into the disruptive factors in Indian society acquired in South Africa were further strengthened by his experience during the three decades when he stood in the centre of the political storms in the homeland. During these years he traveled from one end of the country to the other, and obtained at first hand a unique knowledge of the psychology of the Indian people.

He sought to unique the people link common struggles and common tasks. He knew the diagnosis of the ills of Indian society. He also knew the remedies; but the only means he had of re-educating the people was thought his speeches and writings.

His word did not carry the same weight all the time to all sections of the people, but he never faltered in his indefatigable crusade for communal unity, for removal of untouchability, for a national language and for a new deal for the long-suffering rural masses which could help to form a durable foundation for Indian nationalism.

His writings and speeches, even though they were responses to contemporary situations and problems, contain warnings and exhortations, which we ignore today at our won peril. One of these was about the incalculable risks of political violence in the Indian context.

"They (revolutionaries) can and do applaud, "Gandhi wrote in 1942, "the actions of Mustafa Kemal Pasha and possible Devalera and Lenin, but they do no realize that India is not like Turkey or Ireland or Russia, and that revolutionary activity is suicidal at this stage of the country's life, if not for all times, in a country so vast, so hopelessly divided, and with the masses so deeply terror-stricken."

Intellectuals and radical politicians in his life-time made no secret of their suspicion that Gandhi had a bee in his boonet about non-violence. However, as we look back non-violence seems not a lofty principle, but the only possible foundation on which a viable democratic polity can be built in out multi-lingual society.

I could hardly resist a smile upon hearing the name of Hungary's Finance Secretary: Attila Madarasi. There was much good - natured banter when our Finance Secretary Venkitaraman came for talk with his counterpart. Two Madarasi they said, were getting together. Incidentally, one of the provinces in Hungary is Called Bihar, and they also pronounce it the way we do. Some one should try and find out if there is anything more to this than meets the ear.

- M J Akbar in Budapest Diary (The Telegraph -18 June 88)

Source: The Indian Express, 2 October, 1988, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

* B.R. Nanda, Mahatma Gandhi's biographer, recounts the Mahatma's vision of national harmony, which is still very relevant today.