Remembering Gandhi In War-Ravaged And Polarized Time | Vijay Kumar

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, along with Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela (latter two being inspired by the former), were the three greatest moral personalities of the last century. The ethical resonance radiated through their lived lives has hardly any parallel, and there is no one at the present turbulent time, who comes anywhere near them.

The famous quote of American poet and philosopher, Walt Whitman, that “I am large and contain multitude of contradictions” is more apt for Gandhi. He is too vast to be pigeonholed in ideologies, ism and labelling. After Buddha and Mahavir, Gandhi went down in history as a greatest peacenik. For Conservatives, he was a devout religious man; for Liberals and Secularists, he was a finest example of tolerance and pluralism; eclectic and syncretic practice; catholicity and plasticity — the hallmarks of classic Hinduism, in complete contrast to toxic Hindutva of today. For traditionalists, Gandhi presented the most powerful critique of modernity – not only through practice, but also through his philosophy. And yet, he panned trenchantly patriarchal and hierarchical social structure and worked tirelessly for the emancipation of women and upliftment of harijan and abolition of untouchability, which are attributes of modernity. It is true that Gandhi was against industrialization and was isolated on this aspect by almost all, who termed his criticism as a ‘Gandhian fad’. As climate crisis has become the most serious challenge before humanity, Gandhi was far ahead of his time as an ecologist and conservationist. Therefore, even Gandhi’s critique of modernity is extremely complex and calls for nuanced evaluation. To me, Gandhi was, first and foremost, a great humanist and his others identities come to the fore only in secondary and derivative terms.

Gandhi was also a prolific writer and penned down his thoughts which run into hundreds of Volumes. His vast writings reflect his changing thoughts and priorities. Gandhi was influenced by three writers and their books : Leo Tolstoy’s “The War and Peace” and “the Kingdom of God is within you”; John Ruskin’s “Unto this Last” and Henry Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. According to Prof. Sumit Sarkar, renowned historian of ‘Modern India’, Gandhi read unto this last seventeen times. Given his spacious and larger than life persona, it is indeed very demanding to capture the philosophy and disposition of Gandhi, particularly by this writer who is neither a Gandhian scholar nor a Gandhian in practice.

As an esoteric critique of modernity, Gandhi criticised two pillars of modernity : Study of Law and Medicine. Gandhi was a lawyer and practiced law and went to South Africa as a Lawyer to represent his Gujarati clients settled there. Even his criticism on lawyers is not free from contradictions. Law is a mean to render the justice. “Justice is the first virtue of social institution as truth is of system of thought” is the opening line of most seminal work since post Second World War : A theory of Justice (1971) by John Rawls, one of the tallest exponents of legal philosophy. In Law, the procedure is as significant as substantive right, and thus, means assume as much significance as ends, and this precisely is central to Gandhian philosophy. Gandhi had passionate commitment for justice and truth. Gandhi was leading a normal life of lawyer, and according to Novel Laureates, Amratya Sen’s “The Idea of Justice” (2009) - another most seminal work since the publication of ‘Theory of Justice’, what transformed the life of Gandhi was the fact of he being thrown out from First Class Train compartment, meant to be occupied only by white in apartheid South Africa. His consequential life-long crusade against all kinds of injustice and discrimination; whether by colonial power against occupied colony and by the privilege caste against Dalit in his own country, is well-known and has been scholarly accounted by numerous scholars from all parts of the world.

Gandhi’s brush with the law is not free from the moral and ethical conundrum. When he was charged with offence of sedition, he confessed before the English judge that he thought that provision unjust and it was his duty to breach this, and he did it intentionally and wilfully. This confession, reflecting his courage of conviction, left the judge with no option but to convict him. But the extraordinary moral courage emitted by him stirred the conscience of the judge. The judge, after convicting Gandhi, as he was bound by the letter of the law, recorded in the judgment that he would be happiest person in the event of the Governor General exercising his power of clemency and granting pardon to him.

Unlike other leaders of freedom movement, Gandhi’s concern was not confined to securing mere independence, but he was equally committed to radically transform the rigid and regressive social structure. In many ways, he was radical.

When Gandhi was bumped off, the Constituent Assembly was seized with the monumental task of framing the Constitution. The Constitution of India bears the Gandhian stamp. The abolition of untouchability was made Fundamental Right under article 17 of the constitution. Likewise, throwing the Hindu religious institutions were mandated to all classes and sections, as embodied in article 25(2) (b), was declared as a fundamental right. Other Gandhian concern , such as Village Panchyat and prohibition were incorporated as the Directive Principles.

As a god-fearing man, Gandhi read all the scriptures of all religions, but what influenced him most and deeply was the life of Jesus Christ and reading of the Bible – more than any other sacred text of others religions. It is the teaching and life of the Christ that made Gandhi greatest liberal, pacifist and tolerant. He wanted - indeed practiced – the best of all religions, and thus, he was not dogmatic. Gandhi lived between the two catastrophic World Wars, and he was appalled by the devastation and destruction that made him committed and uncompromising war-hater. When Atom bombs were dropped in Nagasaki and Hirosima, marking the end of Second World War, Gandhi was horrified.

Mahatma’s Finest Hour--- When the Independence came with gruesome reality of Partition, he was dead against it, but found himself isolated and his opposition became voice in wilderness. Undeterred, and solely relying on the strength of his own conscience and Ravindra Nath Tagore’s prescription of “ekla Chalo” (if there is no one to follow you, and if you have courage of conviction, don’t hesitate to walk alone), he committed himself to stop what he called “Madness and Insanity” of Hindu and Muslim in killing each other. Ignoring the warning of intelligence agency, he went to Bengal and succeeded in dousing the communal fire, and thereafter he decided to go to Punjab----another horrific site for communal conflagration, but before he could reach there, a fanatic Hindu pummelled bullets in the frail body of Mahatma on the blackest day of the history of republic, 30th January 1948.

Today the Gandhian prescription of peace, truth and ahimsa are in tatters everywhere, including in his own country. Gandhi internalised and practiced the best of all religions, but the present leaders of the India and the world are embodiment of divisive politics, anchored on the division between “we” and “them”, and thrive on polarization and hatred. The devastating war on Ukraine and Gaza, and now Lebanon and Iran represents apocalyptic moment for the international law, nay moral and ethical catastrophe. The unrestrained and unchecked sabre-rattling of Putin and Netanyahu has replaced the rule of law by the rule of “Might is Right”. The peacenik Gandhi has been forgotten by the world as well as by his own countrymen and women.

As we are torn-apart by war internationally, and ethnic–religio fanaticism domestically, we are enjoined to emulate Gandhi – not in ritualistic sense, as a politician do, but as a humanist. When Gandhi was assassinated, the Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru led the tribute by his address to the nation on All India Radio that “Light has gone out, and everywhere there is darkness”. The greatest tribute to Gandhi, to my mind, was penned down by one of the most brilliant minds and greatest Scientists in history, Albert Einstein. At the time of Gandhi’s assassination, Einstein was touring in the US, and was intensely pre-occupied in giving lectures in different Universities and other centres. When the tragic news of Gandhi’s death reached him, he was too shocked to concentrate on his lecture and stopped all his activities and wrote : “The Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this even as in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.------ A majestic tribute by one of the most gifted geniuses to one of the greatest moral and ethical personalities of all times!

Gandhi was liquidated for working tirelessly for the Hindu-Muslim amity. In a cruel paradox, his assassination succeeded in extinguishing the fire of communal carnage and the restoration of communal harmony. The true tribute to the life of Gandhi would be to commit ourselves to promote social cohesion and cultural interaction and eliminate the scourge of war.

(Author: Vijay Kumar Kumar, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Author Of Recent Book The Theory Of Basic Structure: Saviour Of The Constitution And Democracy)