Dr Joe D’Souza
To understand Gandhiji and his relevance to India and the world at large, we have to first accept that all of us have a latent potential to make our lives relevant to our community, the nation and above all to the cosmos as a whole. Today we are celebrating 150 years of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. But while singularly acknowledging his contribution, we must not ignore and discard the multitude of complexities and the challenges which catalyzed into the making of the Mahatma.
The purpose of this essay is to understand Gandhiji and at the same time acknowledge little-known heroes like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who played a role in the Indian freedom struggle. The greatness which Gandhiji acquired for being considered as the Father of the Nation should reflect the contribution of other lesser-known heroes of the Independence movement.
Gandhiji could unify the highly-divided Indian society and polity into one voice, directed towards a non-violent mass movement against the Britishers. Since Savarkar and Netaji were considered as violent personalities, the Britishers were comfortable dealing with Gandhiji, as he was the person open to discussion and dialogue. History tells us that after Gandhi was thrown out of the train in South Africa, it propelled him to react and inspired him to return to India, where he initiated the freedom struggle. Hence it is pertinent to note that every violent approach by the British, be it at the Jallianwala Bagh massacre or the Dandi March, where Indian protestors were brutally beaten for challenging the salt tax, we see the interaction between the positive and negative forces at play.
Needless to emphasize, and assert that Gandhiji drew his inspiration from Jesus Christ, a man, who silently bore the brunt of oppression and violence. Gandhiji always asserted that eye for an eye would make the whole world blind. Hence passive resistance and Satyagraha became extremely effective tools used by Gandhiji. However for Savarkar, who was much younger, being born on May 28, 1883, the mantra was to drive out and eradicate forces of exploitation and parasitism as quickly as possible.
Strange as it may appear to many who are unaware of Savarkar’s biography, the eminent lawyer was a rationalist and a man of scientific temper and a forceful reformer. In my school years, nothing was ever mentioned about Savarkar being a non-vegetarian, and a strong believer of the powers of scientific validation and progress.
Gandhiji and Savarkar were two sides of the coin, complemented and supplemented each other, catalyzing and thus leading to India gaining its independence. Gandhiji did go to jail many times, but it was for civil disobedience. The Father of the Nation also went on several hunger strikes including fast unto death to ensure India remained as one nation without partition, but Jinnah was able to convince the Crown that the birth of Pakistan was imperative and important to keep away communal riots and violence after the Britishers left India. Just like Gandhiji’s love for one nation, one people were misunderstood by Jinnah so also Savarkar’s brand of Hindutva was not clearly presented to the minorities. Hinduism was a religious belief whereas Savarkar focused on cultural unity far from faith and ritualism.
We all know Gandhiji respected all religions and was a firm believer in religious secularism. The rights afforded to religious minorities was the essence of Gandhi’s philosophy. He revered and respected all faiths and never meddled in ritualism and ceremonies. He always asserted diversity in religions and culture were the strength of Indian democracy.
Gandhi was against the continuation of the Congress party after Independence in 1947, as he thought that its role was to achieve freedom from the Britishers and that people of India must regroup themselves into new political formations for self-rule and governance.
On the other side, India was unable to benefit from Savarkar’s vision and abilities. He was forced to apologise to the Britishers. After he tried to escape from prison, he was screened, monitored and subdued. The British police, courts and administration kept a close eye on his movement and his actions were restricted.
Gandhiji had his heart centered around alleviating poverty. He always said that the earth has enough to fulfil human needs but not enough to satisfy human greed. Hence Gandhiji was frugal in his eating habits. He wore bare minimum clothes and at all times wanted the fruits of India’s development to reach the poor. However, Savarkar and Jinnah did not shy away from materialistic needs and comforts. Produce more to remove poverty was the rightist approach but Gandhi was of the view that the rich should share their wealth with the poor.
Whilst celebrating 150 years of Gandhiji, the Indian government must infuse and enthuse the secular vision of the Mahatma with the rational nationalism of Veer Savarkar. Thoughts of both need to co-exist to propel India in the 21st century towards scientific and technological growths.
We must acknowledge the vision and mission of our bygone leaders and shun religious fanaticism centered around lynching of fellow human beings by terming them as beef eaters or cow killers.
Let religious sentimentalism not permeate beyond our homes to generate terrorism and hatred in our society.
Next 100 years of India must be directed to transform the country into a land of plenty of milk and honey generated on our green terrain. Long live India for eternity.
