Relevance of Gandhian principles

India’s all abiding tryst with destiny endures even as we stride into the ranks of the emerging powers of the third world. And we face gargantuan challenges as we struggle to come to terms with the real demons; terrorism, factionalism and growing violence in every corner of the globe.

With war clouds that loom menacingly over our skyline, we are compelled to question the relevance of Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence and passive-resistance for us today.

Gandhi’s non-violence was never a call for ‘no action’ in the face of inequalities, injustice, and oppression. Deeply into the teachings of The Bhagavad Gita he remained intensely infused with the philosophy of that epic Hindu treatise on life.

‘Do your duty whether it is to yourself or to your country’, was his prime moral dictat and on this axis, Gandhi’s total philosophy was centered.

To succumb to injustice and domination in the name of non-violence would mean a complete repudiation of the meaning and import of his grandiose principles.

Sadly, the memory of the Mahatma in India is reduced to mere rituals today. His ideals are forgotten and much of what he stood for is remembered only on his birth and death anniversaries, as fading symbols of our fight for freedom, or watching the slapstick Munnabhai resurrection of the prophet of peace for entertainment.

Our youth bred on contemporary ideas of instant-gratification and new-age technology, neither have the patience nor the time to turn ‘the other cheek’ if they are struck on one. They strike right back far more savagely to avenge their insult or injury, if provoked. It is indeed the all-pervading ‘eye for eye and tooth for tooth’ in its goriest and deadliest form today.

And yet, it is hard to forget that lone man, a “half naked fakir” who could stand up to the might of the British Empire and get them to Quit India; to leave it ‘to anarchy or to the Gods!’

It is not difficult to say what has brought about this antagonism in the attitude of the world, particularly the youth, towards Gandhi today. Perhaps, with time we shall learn to look beyond his eccentricities and beyond his halo of sainthood to forgive his frailties as a human. His ordinariness couched within his extraordinariness, demands a certain degree of empathy, and we could view his frailties as those of a God who failed in the eyes of his wife and sons. As for me, I would like to live in an age where Gandhi is immortalised, but for the right reasons.