(Online Course) GS Concepts : Mordern Indian History - Methods of Gandhi and Reasons for His Popularity

Topic: Methods of Gandhi and Reasons for His Popularity

Question : Give a brief description of Methods of Gandhi and reasons for his popularity ?

Answer:

It is not overtly difficult to imagine the British- officials and non-officials along with many Indians- cringe with apprehension and foreboding every time Gandhi took up a cause and set out to deal with it. Curiously enough, he managed to do this, and guided and urged Indians towards freedom through peaceful means Satyagraha. The most potent legacy of Gandhi to India and also to the world is the technique of Satyagraha of which truth, ahimsa, and self-suffering are integral tools. However, these tools are not meant to be confined to political fight but to be lived by Gandhi did not refute the external influences in the formation of his ideas and thoughts, yet the manner in which they were executed and expanded, bears his particular hallmark.

Satyagraha developed as passive resistance during his protest against the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance in 1906, South Africa. But soon he adopted the term ‘Satyagraha’. Satya is derived from the Sanskrit roots ‘sat’ that means truth’, and ‘agraha’, which means ‘grasp’. In 1921, Gandhi announced that it literally meant ‘holding on to truth and therefore ‘truth-force’ or ‘soul-force’. It intended to replace methods of violence with a movement based entirely upon truth. According to Joan Bondurant, it is basically an ethic-principle, the essence of which is a social technique of action. It involved peaceful violation of specific laws mass courting of arrests, nartals, and marches. It also gave scope for negotiations and compromises which were more than often not clearly understood by the people themselves.

There is an essential difference between Satyagraha and passive resistance. Passive resistance either suggests lack of capacity to employ violence or tends to be a preliminary step to violence. It can also be employed side by side with violence. The extent of sacrifice in passive resistance is also limited. Satyagraha on the other hand, comprising of three main elements - truth, ahimsa, and self-sacrifice, constitutes a larger conception. Countering claims that this was cowardice, Gandhi claimed Satyagraha as the weapon of the strong. This claim is based on his belief that it is easier to injure other than one’s own body. However, an essential difference was made between cowardice and non-violent conduct. Given a choice between violence and cowardice, Gandhi admitted that he would prefer violence, as cowardice is always demoralizing and non-violence is not. In fact, he opined that ‘...the votary of non-violence has to cultivate the capacity for the, sacrifice of the highest order to be free from fear... He who has not overcome all fear cannot practice ahimsa to perfection’ (Harijan 1940). Essential to understanding the technique of Satyagraha is the role and place of its three elements - Truth, ahimsa, and self-sacrifice, and their inter connectedness.

In short, the connection between the three elements of satyagraha ran as follows. Every form of protest or search is to be done by means of truth, nonviolence and self-suffering. The protester is not to fight for what he believed in with hate, dislike or violence. It was the responsibility of the fighter to win over the opponent by showing him the latter’s wrong doings and mode of operation was through love and out of a sense of responsibility (on behalf of the satyagrahi) ‘The test of love is tapasya and tapasya means self-suffering’ (YI 1922). Gandhi was against submission to humiliation and opined that in every case a satyagrahi must refuse to do that which his conscience forbids him to do and must do all to preserve his dignity even at the cost of his life. According to Gandhi, problems and issues can be resolved through reason and suffering, which can only be strengthened by the eyes of understanding.

Reasons for Gandhi’s popularity- According to Ravinder Kumar Gandhi’s charisma and his us of religion account for a part of the wide response he generated. He opines that an essential reason for Gandhi’ success lay in the fact that he was astute enough to know and gauge where the social loyalties of the people lay and in the manner in which these loyalties could be evoked. These loyalties lay in religion, caste and communities rather than class. Religion was the main arena of the loyalty and this belief is evident from Gandhi’s appeal to the Muslims to join him by bringing into the Indian sphere the issue of distant Turkey during the Khilafat movement.

Sumit Sarkar opines that the non-violent methods and a carefully controlled mass participation found acceptance amongst the business groups and locally well-off sections of the peasantry as they all would have suffered loss on account of a uncontrolled and violent mass participation. Gandhis criticism of everything related with modern industrial civilization as outlined in Hind Swaraj while unrealistic found resonance in the people who had suffered on account of the modernizing forces under the colonial rule. Thus, his programmes of Khadi, village reconstruction and Harijan welfare promised improvement however limited they might be.

The role of rumours also cannot be denied in spreading the popularity of Gandhi in a predominantly illiterate society which was also undergoing a period of suffering and tensions. Gandhi was ascribed with powers, often superhuman, and a Messianic personality was bestowed upon him by the oppressed. Gandhi’s strong religious tendencies .and the manner in which he wove it in his message related with upliftment, village reconstruction, and condition of the country among others was understood by the people. His use of plain language made him more approachable and identifiable to the people. Moreover, Gandhi picked on issues and examples which million of Indians either felt acutely about or could easily identify. For example, cow while was an important religious symbol was also economically central to the peasants. Hence the various remonstrations on abuse and off hand care of the cows were heard by the people. During the Khilafat Movement, Gandhi realized the importance of the Caliphate as an Islamic symbol for the Indian Muslims and he sought to utilize it for forging Hindu-Muslim unity. Similarly, Gandhi with his knowledge understood the grievances of the peasants with the Salt Laws one chose to start the Civil Disobedience Movement by breaking the Salt Laws and gained mass participation in the process. In addition, Gandhi’s style of dressing, travelling by third class, eating simple meals, spinning, etc all added to his appeal. Yet on the other hand, his constant use of religion especially Hinduism, served to cause discomfort amongst the Muslims The need to the peasants to be saved by God-like figure might sound elitist but remains an undeniable fact during the national movement this Godhead was the Mahatma Gandhi. And this deep seeded belief also accounts for the continued popularity of Gandhi in spite of repeated failures of various movements started by him.

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