Hyderabad: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), known as Mahatma, was an extraordinary man and was a leader of extraordinary achievements during the freedom movement in India. He was an apostle of non-violence and a revered spiritualist who was involved in the political movement of the country. The Indian tradition of rishis and saints was that they never got involved in the administration and political events, Yet, Mahatma Gandhi was an exception to this tradition, and he followed his spiritual path while being active in the freedom movement of the country.
Margaret Bourke-White, a photographer and documentary producer of 'Life' magazine, who was the last media person to interview Gandhi, a few hours before his assassination, confessed in her book 'Half Way to Freedom': "It took me the better part of two years to respond to the undeniable greatness of this man." At the time of his death, Gandhi was not the Prime Minister of the nation or a politician to fight for power. Yet, the top leaders, Prime Ministers and Presidents of different nations mourned his death.
Louis Fischer, the author of the book, 'Life of Mahatma Gandhi' commented that on the day of Mahatma Gandhi's death, he was "a private citizen without wealth, property, official post, academic distinction, scientific achievement or artistic gift. Yet men with governments and armies behind them paid homage to the little brown man of seventy-eight in a loincloth. The Indian authorities received 3441 messages of sympathy, all unsolicited and from foreign countries."
Because Gandhi was an embodiment of non-violence, he showed it in his actions. Gandhi became the leader of the masses during Independence and was aptly called the father of the nation. One foreign author described two kinds of leaders: transactional and transforming. A transactional leader indulges in power-brokering, and the transforming leader creates a fundamental change through transformation of public attitudes and behaviour. Thus, Gandhi belonged to the second category of leaders, and he aroused and elevated the hopes and demands of millions of Indians whose lives and personality were enhanced in the process. Because he was a transforming leader, he could offer a solution to any problem in the world. He propagated three principles of his ideology for any problem in life and they were Swaraj or self-rule, empathetic service to others including opponents, and prayer. Stephen Hay, an American professor wrote that by following these three principles of Mahatma Gandhi, the present mankind could solve the four major present and future problems of the world viz., 1) physical violence within and among nations, 2) socio-economic problems such as poverty, illiteracy, and the needs of women and children, 3) further degradation of the planet’s atmosphere, water, soil and consequently life itself, and 4) decay of strands of moral conduct.
As a leader, Gandhi communicated with the masses in order to inject fearlessness, a passion for Independence and a belief in their own capacity to achieve it. He used a communication strategy that was unparalleled in human history to influence the mighty British Empire and force the Empire to quit the country, although the British planned to stay a longer period in India. Gandhi's method of Satyagraha was invented by him to oppose the British Empire, and a man with a loincloth walking on the streets of the country was not understood by the British officers that he could wield a permanent influence on the country-men and the world. For instance, the British judge saluted him and respected him for his arguments when sedition was tried against him in a court. He included all sections of leaders and people in the freedom movement and brought them all on a single thread to fight the British power.
The innovative method of leadership and his use of words, like satyagraha, swaraj, sarvoday, ahimsa and harijan were comprehensive enough to explain his ideology and convey a meaning of sanctity and purity in their approach. Gandhi used traditional cultural symbolic systems to propagate new ideas, behaviours and values among the masses. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi undertook the Dandi March for the abolition of tax on salt consumed by common people. He utilised the Dandi March as an instrument of protest to communicate the feelings of the common people to the then British government, and he identified himself with the majority of the people.
Expressing his angst to the Viceroy Lord Irwin, Gandhi addressed a letter on March 2, 1930. Gandhi wrote:
"…Even the salt he (peasant) must use to live is so taxed as to make the burden fall heaviest on him, if only because of the heartless impartiality of its incidence. The tax shows itself still more burdensome on the poor man when it is remembered that salt is the one thing he must eat more than the rich man… The drink and drug revenue, too, is derived from the poor. It saps the foundations both of their health and morals."
As a journalist, Gandhi wrote in Harijan, on August 18, 1946, that "as giving ideas, I have originality. But, writing is a by-product; I write to propagate my ideas. Journalism is not my profession." As a principled journalist, he elaborated that "my writings cannot be poisonous, they must be free from anger, for it is my special religious conviction that we cannot truly attain our goal by promoting ill-will … There can be no room for untruth in my writings, because it is my unshakable belief that there is no religion other than truth…My writings cannot but be free from hatred towards any individual because it is my firm belief that it is love that sustains the earth."
Mahatma Gandhi influenced and inspired people to a large extent. Some of them were Kulsum Sayani from Gujarat, AT Ariyaratne of Sri Lanka, Martin Luther King Jr. in the USA, Albert John Luthuli from Africa, academicians like Johan Galtung, Dennis Dalton and so on. Inspired by Gandhi, after her interaction with him, Kulsum Sayani started adult educational programmes in India and also went abroad to participate in international programmes in the early 1930s. Also, Ariyaratne launched the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka for village development. Martin Luther King Jr. in the USA adopted the principles of non-violence and civil disobedience movement to fight white racism. Gandhi too influenced Albert John Luthuli, the president of the African National Congress and a Nobel Prize Laureate, belonging to the Zulu warrior tribe, to champion non-violence.
Indeed, Gandhi was also understood as a person who brought Independence to the country. In an opinion survey conducted in 1962 by Johan Galtung in two villages of Kerala in Southern India in connection with the Indo-Norwegian Project operating at that time, he made an attempt to ascertain the impression of Mahatma Gandhi from the respondents. The majority opined that Gandhi brought Independence to the country.
Influenced by Gandhi’s philosophy, eminent Anglo-Indian writers depicted characters in their novels who followed the Gandhian methods of life. For instance, the theme of Mahatma as a powerful force found expression in writers like Mulk Raj Anand, R K Narayan and Raja Rao. Mulk Raj Anand’s work Untouchable in 1935 highlighted the state of an outcast, Bakha the sweeper who solaced himself with the words of Mahatma when he was humiliated in the society. Gandhi appeared as a character in R K Naryan's novel W'aiting for the Mahatma' in 1955. Gandhi as a moral theme was significant in that it prevailed upon the fortunes of the hero Sriram and heroine Bharati. The Mahatma preached simple living and universal love which had a profound impact on Sriram who took to spinning while taking part in the Quit India Movement of 1942, while Bharati who was completely swayed by Gandhian ideology was prepared to defend the self-respect of women. Raja Rao, in his novel Kanthapura in 1938 referred to the quintessence of Gandhian philosophy and the part played by men and women of the village of Kanthapura in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Mahatma Gandhi’s influence even spread to the broadcasting policy of India. According to media observer Robin Jeffery, the stalwarts who held the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting after Independence - Vallabhbhai Patel, R R Diwakar, Dr B V Keskar followed Mahatma Gandhi while formulating broadcasting policies for the first fifteen years of Independence: Vallabhbhai Patel himself from 1947 to 1950; and his two close associates R R Diwakar (1894-1990), from 1950 to 1952 (having been the junior minister under Vallabhbhai); and the legendary Dr B V Keskar (1903-84), from 1952 to 1962. For instance, Vallabhbhai Patel as influenced by Western education initially embraced the Gandhian way of living - spinning, khadi, vegetarianism, and the puritanical ethic that went with Gandhi’s programme.
In 1956, when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of the country, the government of India launched a project of preserving the writings and speeches of Gandhi, and it took 38 years to complete. A total of 100 volumes, known as Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi running into 50000 pages cover a period of 64 years from 1884 to 1948. In the introduction to the volumes, the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, in his homage wrote:
"Here are the words of the master covering some six decades of a superbly human and intensely active public life—words that shaped and nurtured a unique movement and led it to success; words that inspired countless individuals and showed them the light; words that explored and showed a new way of life; words that emphasized cultural values which are spiritual and eternal, transcending time and space and belonging to all humanity and all ages."
Further, during the last 60 years innumerable books, journal articles, research reports, and newspaper articles were published dealing with Mahatma Gandhi’s life and role during freedom struggle and also his influence on various facets of life. For example, lakhs of references are found in the Google search on Mahatma Gandhi and it can be inferred that the Mahatma is popular, inspirational and influential figure in the 20th century. Even at the time of his 150th birthday, he is remembered and cherished all over the world, and the concept of non-violence is accepted all over the globe when any nation aspires peaceful existence.
Read: The Historical Significance of ‘Indian Opinion’ – Gandhi’s first Newspaper
