“Strength does not come from physical capacity, it comes from an indomitable will.”
~Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi was born on Oct. 2, 1869, in Gujrat. He played a very prominent role in the Freedom Struggle of India and is known as the “Father of Nation”. Gandhi’s ideology is so insightful and followed by many people. Gandhiji was the person who taught everyone the gospel of love and nonviolence. He believed that nonviolence is more impactful than violence. Nonviolence and truth were his way of life, with these two things, Gandhi Ji played a very important role in the attainment of freedom and fighting against the mighty British Colonial power. There are lot many people who criticize the ideals of Gandhi and believed that Gandhi Ji is not really the person who made the attainment of freedom easy, and say that the 2nd World War happened and Germany played a vital role, because of which the position of British was weakened. I think, these also might be the factors but wholly invalidating Gandhi’s contribution is not fair and desired. Gandhi’s role was not at all insignificant. Gandhism really worked in the attainment of independence and solving other ground-level issues.
Gandhi Ji believed in inclusiveness pluralism and Hindu-Muslim unity. He always cherished the role of rich, poor, whites, blacks, downtrodden, marginalized people, and the Harijans. So he always wanted communal Harmony. He knew well how to unite the people from different human-made sections or I would rather say the hierarchy. So he was focussing on Pluralism. This was indubitably seen in his freedom struggle many a time, and how Hindu-Muslim unity was seen in the khilafat issue which was launched in non-cooperation. So it is evident that his concern was also to unite Hindus and Muslims in order to unitedly combat against the Britishers. His sole ideology was Communal Harmony and he believed that it could be achieved by Peace and love, by building cooperation between Hindus and Muslims and denying the use of lethal power, violence, and potential threats. So basically Gandhism says, nonviolence is the powerful weapon for the unification of diverse India.
Interfaith harmony, tolerance, truth are the basic and the known ideologies of Gandhi, or I would say Gandhism. He believed, being intolerant is equal to being violent. One should always respect others’ faith. Gandhiji always followed rationalism and he talked about Ram Rajya. According to him, Ram Rajya is not symbolizing Lord Ram, he says that the state should be a model state, where there is no corruption, no social menaces, no diseases. So he diversified the meaning of Ram Rajya to a state, being serene, with morality and harmony is always upheld. This is a prosperous state he always dreamt of. I think no one of us should misinterpret Gandhism. It is really a divine ideology. Many instances are in front of us, like that of the “Untouchables”, who were so excluded and not seen as a part of the common mainstream, but what Gandhiji did for them, how he lifted their social status, he gave them the name of “Harijans” means, the people of Lord Krishna.
Gandhiji undoubtedly propounded love, and peace in his life. He talked about the trusteeship, honorship of all, it was the style of I would say Gandhian socialism. He was a philosophical anarchist, I would say. He talks about humanistic globalization .so mutual respect, toleration for all, interfaith harmony, nonviolence (Ahimsa), truth, communal harmony were his divine attributes and ideologies of his minimalistic life. Gandhi and Gandhism influenced Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other great personalities. Now the question is Gandhism relevant in today’s world? after seeing the violent situations throughout the world and the emerging violent tendencies? I personally believe that the existing disparities, global violence, and emerging violent tendencies are the result of the disobedience to Gandhian principles and most importantly disobedience to humanitarian ethics. His ideologies are no longer cherished and followed, maybe because people have certified Gandhism redundant somehow in this nuclear and so-called civilized world.
People have wholly forgotten the worthy endeavors of Mahatma Gandhi, and are preferring violence over nonviolence and serenity. A living example is in front of us today that is Afghanistan Issues. People are full of lust for power and capturing the territory unlawfully. If I talk about the social aspect, I feel so sorry to say that I’m unable to spot proper cooperation, toleration, respect, unity, and life security of people.
I’m saying this because I came across a lot of news this year and every year about the rape cases of various Dalit and non-Dalit girls, and in the future, there are undoubtedly more tendencies of brutality and rapes of minors, marital rapes, and domestic violence. It is our misfortune that even after 75 years of independence, Indian societies are still flooded with social evils. So does all this reflect Gandhiji’s ideology?! The answer is BIG NO! We all every day haplessly come across some news of national or international level which really shakes our inner conscience. For the past few years, we have seen the tendency of a war, or I would rather say the tendency of war threats between India and Pakistan, sometimes over Kashmir issues or sometimes even on something different.
We all as the crown of all creations should always prefer love, peace, truthfulness, honesty, courtesy. These are not just Gandhian ideals but are most importantly humanitarian values. We need to rejuvenate the Gandhian philosophy of Ahimsa because it is the need of the hour. I salute this great man of strong will and powers for his great endeavors and lessons.
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
JAI BHARAT!