Gandhi seems to be the most talked about political leader and yet the least understood one. He appears to be the man that no one seems to believe that he existed in flesh and blood.
To be honest, from a very young age I have not much appreciated Gandhi, his ideologies, or for that matter his methodologies. I was inclined or rather attracted by the likes of Netaji , Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekar Azaad etc and the leaders who believed in eliminating the British rulers of India through a more straight forward way. As a result of limited information gathered through school text books, for me he was just a person holding the title of ‘Father of the nation’. I really couldn’t understand why out of so many men he was given that title and accepted by many.
Later on, after attaining so called maturity, I had many times tried to revisit, rethink about the man who was a unique leader and a patriot of unusual nature. His small and yet extraordinary victory at South Africa was to become the prototype of India’s freedom movement later. That experiment there gave Gandhi something very unique that his years of polished (and lavish to certain extent) upbringing could not. He realized the true nature of enemy that lies inside each human being. It was not the color of the skin but the bigotry of considering fellow human to be of inferior quality or in the worst case not to consider human at all. And since then his real struggle has been to make his adversaries see the fallacy in their unjust principle. From the very beginning Gandhi knew the futility of killing an enemy, he rather strangely, believed in the concept of killing the animosity and then winning them over by making them realize their mistakes. His path was no easy path and straightforward the least. It required highest order or courage, conviction and unwavering faith in non-violence.
When he came back to India, many wanted to use him as a poster boy to rally in front of the crowds. But the man knew his ground too well, he figured out that the so called freedom struggle of the time was more elitist in nature and was too far removed from the reality of a common Indian. He realized that the idea of freedom was too lofty to attain and before it could be achieved, there was this basic need to define what was meant by freedom itself, for a common man.
Way back then the tyranny and oppression of British was just an over magnified reason of India’s problems. The real issues were poverty, caste system, socio-economic disparity, illiteracy, communal discord, and the elitist view of ruling the lesser mortals (it seems so true even today). India was ruled by handful of British but the their policies and rules were whole-heartedly implemented by the ruling elite of that time as if they got the license to loot people on behalf of the empire. Gandhi knew that the freedom will be attained in due time but he was more concerned about these social maladies that could render the freedom meaningless. Our freedom struggle is a testament to the susceptibility of masses towards the violence. Time and again Gandhi in an undeterred manner came out and opposed any type of violence, even if that meant pushing the freedom date by few more years behind. During these instances he would reiterate that may be India is not ready for my kind of freedom. It seems Gandhi, if ever, was afraid of one thing and that was the devil inside, he sincerely believed that the devil was masked in the facade of protest against British rule, but he knew that when the British will be gone the dormant devil will rise and destroy everything for what many same men worked for their entire lives.
And this is the very specific reason he wanted the freedom struggle to be non-violent. While men, women and children were marching bravely, he wanted through non-violence not only to repel the British but also to kill the devil that was lurking inside looking for an opportunity. He was fighting a two pronged war. Our history is a proof that he won one war and lost the other one, but irony is that it was not the one that he wanted to win the most.
Surprisingly, Gandhi never hated the British rulers, his entire life he opposed them but categorically stated that when time will come he would like the British to part as friends and not as enemies. His strategy worked. He just showed the rulers the mirror that reflected their own demeaning behavior and that lead them to be ashamed of their acts and the final retreat. Gandhi, as unbelievable it may seem, proved that the most cruelest and arrogant empires could be brought down through non-violence. He threw the British not by WMDs but through a fistful of salt and a simple walking stick. Modern leaders indeed need to learn some lessons there.
In spite of giving the world power of non-violence, hope and inspiration to millions, the man was disheartened towards the end of his life. As an old man he witnessed his dream shatter. His vision of India turned into pieces. Prior to partition, he realized that he had lost the war to the Devil, the Devil that he tried to slay down his whole life. Irony was that he could fight with the British but had no weapon to fight the threat within; he could not fight his own people. He couldn’t stop the hatred in hearts and the partition thereafter. Not in his wildest of his dreams he could have envisioned the 1947 that marked the history. I believe, even then, it was not his principle but his people failed him.
Every “neta” (politician) today worth his salt follows the dress code that our freedom fighters dignified, but have failed miserably to imbibe even the single grain of ethos and principle the whole freedom struggle was based on. Many of us today take liberty to ridicule, malign Gandhi at drop of a hat; but no one shed a tear to understand the pain, turmoil the man went through. To put an end to our responsibility we made him the father of the nation, but sadly we all have failed as the sons and daughters of the father of the nation.
The man gave his life for a purpose long time back but his fight is not over, not till the social injustice remain, not till communal discord remains, not till all Indians are treated with respect, not till every Indian can go to bed with peace and an assurance of a better tomorrow. His fight still goes on through his ideals and principles and through the very basic human instinct of living a life of dignity and honor. As a nation we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past, if we want to give our future generations a proud inheritance then we must believe in Gandhi and his principles.
I have read Gandhi’s killers court statement justifying his actions and his motive for killing him. I believe, if this intelligent man (and he was a patriot too) had given Gandhi a chance may be India and its neighbors would have been little different today. There are many who still believe in the killer’s justifications. But I believe firmly that the justifications were misplaced and clouded by misinterpretations. By killing what killer got was Gandhi’s dead body but the Gandhi’s philosophy still continues to live and seeing the madness around the world, I believe even more firmly and strongly that only his principles could save the mankind.
“Eye for an eye will make the world blind” no doubt about it.
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