Essays

At one lime Jawaharlal Nehru remarked that he doubled the clarity of the Mahatma and also his own association with him. Explaining this paradox Nehru writes thus: "Personality is as' indefinable tiling, a strange force that has power over the soul man and he possesses this in a remarkable measure..... He attracted people..... They did not agree with his philosophy of life or even with' many of his ideals... and we went with him although we did not accept his philosophy."

What gave this enormous spell to the personality of Gandhiji? He epitomized the traditions of India. His emphasis was always on action, reminding one of the Karma Yoga in the Gita which has been the most pi scripture of the Hindus since the sixth century A.D. Although he was simple in and saintly in thinking, he permitted himself to be involved neck-deep in the struggle of the country. And all his actions were translated in the Hindu id "Defiance of law and order was non-cooperation with evil; hartal was 11 protest; Satyagraha was the technique for the realization of truth that is God.”

 Secondly, he openly asserted that the concept of Truth (God) is l unattainable, each one is endowed with a fraction of Truth, has almost the meaning as the cardinal principle of the Upanishads that salvation lies in them of the individual's soul with the universal soul.

Thirdly, his stress on simple living and abstemious habits of dietary in li cast a spell on the masses of India. Indeed, he did skip over two stages of traditional ashrams known for two millennia in India. He became the apple off of the common man because sainthood has always had a profound appeal to the masses reminding them of the various charkas like Sankara and Madhavaan saint-singers of the Bhakti movement. Although the middle class did not like hi knobbing with the Harijans, they could not but admire him, for deep down in their they knew that they were in the wrong, not the Mahatma. Besides, there was a surreptitious veneration for meditation and fast, for they constitute a part of! traditions. And with regard to the rich class, he adopted a shrewd policy of a and expediency: he talked of the moral and material up liftmen of all but wanted the Rich to hold all the property as the trustees of the community. Thus, all classes of people ice taken in by the Mahatma. In the words of Percival Spear: "He translated his Boral into popular terms and so made the whole political movement seen move Ufa pilgrimage than a war."

While carrying the traditions of lndia in his wake. Mahatma also succeeded in incorporating some of the dynamic values of modem times. Time and again he stated the he was a great devotee of non-violence and Satyagraha as the only true means for achieving truth, he included a great number of riders to his fundamental beliefs which bring out the stamp of his legal and political knowledge of the modem times. His remark that if a cow comes to kill an individual, he should kill the cow goes to confirm his belief in the right to live. His contention that if monkeys destroy the crops and thereby endanger the very survival of man, he would himself organize a party to kill the monkeys is his acceptance of the modem truth that only through existence, man can realize what he is and also what should be his equation with the ultimate.

 Apart from his modernity, his personality and programme incorporated in a subtle manner the work of the previous makers of modem India. The very expression 'non-violence of the strong' reminds us of Swami Vivekanandas emphasis on powers and strength. His intensive sympathy for the alleviation of the masses reminds us of both Ramkishana Parmesans and Swami Vivekananda. His own confession that the use old non-violence, partly worked out as violence, achieved what all he aimed at and his approval of the use of Satyagraha as a policy of the Congress . Without the Congress safety gratis conforming to the presumptions of Satyagraha, further prove that he carried the legacy of extremism and terrorism in his wake. To be more explicit, Gandhi talked of three levels of non-violence; without an inner conviction one can lake lo non-violence as it gives practical results; without conviction it can be used as a better method than force to achieve good; and to those for whom non-violence is an inner impulse, it serves as a means to convert the opponent by the power of love and suffering. Moreover, he always acted as a restraining influence on the youthful revolutionaries without losing his strategy of keeping the British guessing. In the phraseology of Percival Spear: "the Mahatma contrived a method to be constitutionally unconstitutional."

The Mahatma's contribution begins from the year Tilak passed away. It was after his death that the Congress adopted the policy of non-violence, non-cooperation under the guidance of the Mahatma. in general, Gandhiji applied his techniques three times when a span of little more than 20 years: the first was in 1921, the second in 1931, anil the last, the quit India movement in 1942. The first two movements were math drat n because they tended to grow violent. And the last movement was put down anvils by the British Raj in the very beginning; and the quick decision of the government of England to grant independence, destroyed its rational. Apart chief movements. Gandhiji was also responsible for the Congress rescinding! Its early decision to contest the elections held under the Montagu Chelmsford reforms and alibi" resignation of the Congress ministries in 1939 with the policy pursued by  ministries during the two years of their stay.  

The civil disobedience campaign of Chauri-Chaura in 1921 was abandoned because a few policemen were burnt alive. The campaign of the thirties was abandoned because of no definite reason, although his Dandi March created a sensation. "I’ll hard to defend his pact with Irwin on any rational ground, unless il were a admission of failure and inability to continue the Civil Disobedience Movcnicnmi' further. It is harder still to understand why the great Movement which was decN by Gandhi himself to be a fight to finish, was suddenly abandoned for the sake of comparatively minor issues of separate electorate to the depressed classes."The lilt and the last movement was almost nipped in the bud because the British Raj carry out preventive arrests and declared the Congress an illegal organization. And tarn significant was the repercussion of the other two acts. When the Congress ret ‘stilt cooperate with the elections held under Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, they forever the famous announcement of Montagu: the government of England introduce self-government by gradual stages while the Congress party, as guided the Mahatma, hustled the British government to abandon gradualness are evidenced): the Government of India Act of 1935. Commenting on this, Copland wiles: "Thus there was no long period of transition during which the natural umpire was there to watch it." Again the non-cooperation of the Congress, after the Seoul World War broke out, destroyed the chances of making the federation a success! the language of Sir Percival Griffiths, "It is no exaggeration to say that by ill unhappy timing of these campaigns the Congress helped to kill the federal, and perhaps destroyed the last chance of preserving a united India." BcsiiiesKj stand taken by the Congress ministries accentuated the cleavage between the MusllntB and the Hindus. The Muslim League was told point-blank that it could obtain in the offices only fit became a part of the Congress party, while at the same time lll Congress started a mass contact movement to shepherd the Muslim masses Into the Congress fold. This put off the Muslim League and in 1940 they resolved Forli. attainment of Pakistan. Apart from resigning the ministries, the Congress policy ml^ thirties as guided by the Mahatma is a matter of controversy. 

Leaving aside the subsidiary steps taken by the Mahatma to achieve independent we have to discuss the following controversial issues in evaluating his role into emancipation of the country. The Mahatma denounced violence and those who stool for extremism, but violence probably did influence the decision of (the British government to leave the country. According to Dr. R.C. Majumdar, "political leaders Of both England and India agreed with the value of terrorism as a means for freedom. For example, Sir Curzon Wyllie was shot dead in 1909, At this time B George expressed admiration for the patriotism of Madan Lal Hhingra, R'llurchill, too, shared the same view." A terrorist leader Justin tied his programme thus: "We did not mean or expect to liberate our country by killing a few liihmen. We wanted to show people how to dare and die." The confidential  of Lord Minto showed that the government was very much worried over the revolutionary activities. Contending that the revolutionist movement should be given its due place in the liberation of the country. Dr. R.C. Majumdar writes: "Popular approval of these acts is still to be found in the folk songs about the martyrs in Bengal and oilier parts of India." Secondly, Dr. R.C. Majumdar also contends"... dandlii himself, put a seal of approval to the often-repeated exam of Indian Muslims that they formed a separate nation that they were in India but not of India." Added to this, according to this writer, it was Gandhi ji and his followers who refused !o co-operate with the Muslim League in 1937 and thereby forced them out. "The Congress virtually refused to form coalition ministry with the Muslims unless they liquidated the Muslim League and repudiated all vestiges of their claim to form a separate political entity. Nobody who had any knowledge of the background of Muslim politics could imagine for a moment that the Muslim League would commit political llarikiri at the bidding of the Congress." Thirdly, the role played by the Indian national army of Subhash Chandra Bose. He contends that the granting of freedom was because of various factors. "Their (the British) physical strength, no doubt, deteriorated, but that was due to the hammering blows of Hitler, the victories if Japan and the impossibility of placing reliance on the Indian spays after the formation of the Indian National Army."

Before concluding this topic we have also to mention the other forces which facilitated the declaration of independence in 1947—the rise of nationalism and democracy all over the world, the rise of the communist movements all over the world and as supported by communist Russia, the basic humanitarianism and liberalism of Great Britain, etc.

In this manner, the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi was indeed immense, provided ue keep in view that he was the perfect embodiment of the traditions of media and also the heritage of all who walked before him in the freedom struggle of our country. It is undisputable that it was under the guidance of the Mahatma that the Confess became a mass movement-picking up the tradition from Tilaak and also a reflationary movement-picking up the traditions from the extremists and the "it’s That is why the concluding sentence of Dr. R.C. Majumdar is the following "......While Gandhi will live in history as one of the greatest apostles of peace and i min-violence in a war-stricken world, the credit now given to him for his political acumen which led the Indians to the final victory, cannot command unlevel assent and needs a great deal of objective thinking".

Vocabulary

1. paradox—a self-contradiction. 2. ideals—model of excellence or perfection of a kind one having no equal. 3. epitomized—be typical of. 4. defiance—intentionally contemptuous behaviour or attitude. 5. endowed—provided or supplied or equipped. 6. Salvation - the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil. 7. explicit—precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable; leaving nothing to Implication- 8. Conviction - unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence. 9. Hob-knobbing hanging out. 10. surreptitious—conducted with or marked by hidden aims or method. 11. veneration—religious zeal; willingness to serve God. 12. confession—an admission of misdeeds or faults. 13. presumptions—an assumption that is taken for granted. 14. contrived—make or work out a plan for: devise. 15- tacit—silent. 16. Repercussion-a remote or indirect consequence of some action. 17. impulse—an instinctive motive. 18. virtually—without exaggeration. 19. preserving—the activity of protecting some from loss or danger. 20. abandon—forsake, leave behind. 21. Hammering-beat with or as If with a hammer. 22. deteriorated—become worse or disintegrate. 23. acumen-shrewdness shown by keen insight. 24. emancipation—liberation from any on controlling influence. 25. denounced—speak out against. 26. repudiated—refuse to acknowledge or recognize. 27. embodiment—a concrete representation of another nebulous concept. 28. apostles—an ardent early supporter of a cause or reform.