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Relevance of Non-Violence:GANDHI, KING & THEIR LEGACY, by Dhurjati Mukherjee,30 January 2009 Print E-mail

Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 30 January 2009

Relevance of Non-Violence

GANDHI, KING &  THEIR LEGACY

 By Dhurjati Mukherjee

Terrorism and violence has pervaded every nook and corner of our society. There are reports of widespread violence in different countries of the Third World, including India. Indeed, it is distressing that violent trends in human society should grow at such a fast pace when developmental activities have also been taking rapid strides. All efforts of international and national institutions as also respective governments have not been successful in curbing the violent trends in human society and rooting out the causes for such occurrences.

While materialism and the resultant greed, generated by such values have contributed to the increased violence in society, there is need to think seriously of ways and means to curb such trends. In India, there has long been the legacy of non-violence propagated by Mahatma Gandhi. It was used by Gandhiji successfully in mobilizing the masses to fight the British, which ultimately was forced to leave. But what is significant is that in addition to the removal of foreign rule, he wanted to establish a democratic order, free from political, economic and social exploitation. The success of this strategy became the subject of much discussion and analysis and volumes have been written on the Gandhian technique of ahimsa or non-violence.

As is well known, truth and non-violence were the basic tenets of Gandhian philosophy. Moralization of politics had been the dream of many political thinkers, to make it a reality had been Gandhiji’s endeavour. As he aptly remarked: “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind.” Referring to the problems of humanity created through exploitation of man by man and group by group, he thought these could be solved through satyagraha, the organized use of truth, non-violence and the purity of means. Gandhiji’s satyagraha attempted to guide the individual towards the goal of higher life and also solve political and social problems.

Gandhiji’s belief that injustice can be removed through truth, non-violence and purity of means has been considered too idealistic to be put into practice. Those who make this criticism forget that by these means alone Gandhiji achieved a great measure of success in the movements he led both in South Africa and India. He did not believe that the practice of non-violence in the political field was beyond the capacity of man, as he said: “The first condition of non-violence is justice all round in every department of life…. The votary of non-violence has to cultivate the capacity for sacrifice of the highest type in order to be free from fear. He who has not overcome all fear cannot practice ahimsa to perfection”.       

The philosophy of satyagraha and non-violence had been adopted by Gandhiji from his religious beliefs. Some Western thinkers believe that he got the idea from the New Testament, specially from the Sermon on the Mount. It is true that Gandhiji was greatly influenced by the Sermon. But he found that it only confirmed his own Vaishnavite faith. As is generally known the Vaishnavites, the Jains and the Buddhists believe that ahimsa or non-violence is the highest virtue. And Gandhiji used this philosophy to the solution of political, economic and social problems.

Though non-violence may not seem to have any authority in Hindu religion, Gandhiji had his own way of interpreting the Gita. He did not consider it a book on politics or political or military strategy but a religious scripture. It showed the way to self-realization through right action undertaken as one’s dharma (duty) without consideration of its fruit, favourable or unfavourable. Whether Hindu scriptures sanction violence in asserting one’s legitimate rights or not, may be a question under dispute but Gandhiji believed that they lay emphasis on ahimsa or non-violence as a great virtue.

It needs to be pointed out that in the North West Frontier Province Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, inspired by Gandhiji, used non-violence to give strength to his movement. The masses went ahead on the path on civil disobedience by remaining non-violent for the sake of justice and freedom.

Similarly, in America Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy influenced Dr. Martin Luther King who combined this with Christian faith to inspire the historic Civil Rights Movement of the Negroes. Before Dr. King, Phillip Randolph and others were also deeply moved by his philosophy and attempted to model their struggle against injustices along the lines propounded by Gandhiji. The influence of the Mahatma in black Americas cannot be denied as most of King’s supporters appreciated the moral force of non-violence.

Echoing Gandhiji’s ideal of non-violence, Dr. King said after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo: “…. violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in distraction for all. It is immoral because it seems to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding, it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible”.      

Though there has been considerable debate whether the Civil Rights Movement was based on satyagraha,  Dr. Homer A Jack notes that the movement has been working out new ways of using love and not hate to correct social injustices. The after effects of his movement gained respectability and rights for the Negroes and today the US has an African American President.  

It may be pertinent to mention here that Gandhiji believed and showed that civil resistance is the inherent right of every citizen and is a sovereign remedy in the hands of the people. His political theory and action can only be appreciated if this note of defiance of evil and resistance to any irresponsible authority, irrespective of political forms, which tramples on the individual’s liberty and freedom, is duly recognized.     

The legacy of Gandhiji, Dr. King and many others stands to be seriously challenged at this juncture of human history. Both of them as also several political thinkers have viewed violence and democracy as incompatible. But Gandhiji’s interpretation gains relevance and appreciation from communist thinkers as he considered any sort of exploitation of man by man indistinguishable from violence.

Dr. G. N. Dhawan interpreted Gandhiji’s quest for a predominantly non-violent society and the realizable goal in the following terms: “The ideal non-violent society of Gandhiji, unattainable due to human imperfection, indicates the direction rather than the destination, the process rather than the consummation. The structure of the state that will emerge as a result of a non-violent revolution will be a compromise, a via media, between the ideal non-violent society and the facts of human nature. It will be the attainable middle way of Gandhiji, the first step after the revolution, towards the ideal”.

It is not possible to indefinitely bear injustice and tyranny. The unchecked violence of tyrants degrades human beings. Pioneers in every field have always worked for freedom of belief, expression, movement etc. If nations do not adopt Gandhiji’s philosophy of non-violence to remove injustices and resolve national and international disputes, there is no escape from hate, violence and war. There is also no escape from weapons of war becoming sharper and ever more destructive. Today, we have reached a stage when their use will not only destroy civilization but may also destroy the human race itself.    

The obvious question which arises is: whether a non-violent society is foreseeable in the distant future. While attitudes have to change, so does the character of the state and its relations and behaviour with the people. One cannot deny that not until humanity dies will Gandhiji’s philosophy have relevance for us…it was a voice against injustice and oppression – the eternal voice of humanism. ---INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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