By Anshuman Kamila (St. Stephen's College)
“Gandhi
was inevitable. If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived,
thought and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity, evolving towards a world
of peace and harmony.”
The
aforementioned words were uttered by Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the prominent
leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. If civilization means an
aggregated effort on the part of the masses to stride forward in social
progress, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was indeed the torchbearer of modern
civilization. By demonstrating what an incredible force of non-violence could
do to awaken a nation beset with more divisions than probably the finer lines
of distinction conceivable, and to compel an iron-fisted colonizer, proud of
perpetual sunlight in their empire to beat retreat from this country, Gandhi
indeed translated his preaching into practice. Gandhi’s imprints can be noticed
even in today’s political upsurges. This indeed justifies Gandhi’s inclusion in
TIME Magazine’s three most
influential persons in its 20th Century issue (alongside physicist
Albert Einstein-a genius who had confessed to being deeply intrigued by
Gandhi).
What makes Gandhi everlastingly relevant is
his charisma which made people fearless in the face of superior brute force.
More categorically, he emphasized this for men and women alike, thus razing to
dust the idea of bravado being an inherently masculine characteristic. He was
among the first statesmen to have treated women at par with men. In Tahrir
Square or Tunis, the protestors who defied the Army were commoners
overwhelmingly inspired by Gandhi. We witnessed women marching alongside men
adopting Gandhian methods of struggle and resistance. Perhaps that’s the reason
we anticipate an equal status being conferred on women right from the beginning,
as these countries turn a new leaf in their history, instead of male dominance,
akin to the post French-Revolution period, when women had to fight their own,
long drawn battle for emancipation. Among his noteworthy achievements was his
success at moulding people into tenacious crusaders, unfazed by armed
adversaries. Lessons learnt from the Indian independence movement, in recent
past at Tahrir Square and Tunis are being actively pursued in Bahrain and
Yemen, and even during the bloody confrontations in Syria. Gandhi empowered the
unarmed victims of oppression with the invincible weapons of courage and faith.
As US President Barack Obama opined, “…Gandhi
as an inspiration because he embodies the kind of transformational change that
can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things...”,
Gandhi has to be credited for igniting the flame for peace and non-violence in
revolutionary icons like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Thanks to
this man’s simple and transparent humanity, that the world saw far little
bloodshed than what would have occurred otherwise.
Gandhi’s
comprehensive policies and vision for a progressed nation in consonance with
standards of conduct continue to shape ours. His postulate of being frugal in
his demands on the natural ecosystem forms the foundation of today’s
environmental deliberations. His strategies for the uplift and bolstering of
indigenous crafts and cottage industries production as means of heralding an
equitable economy are effortlessly found annealed in today’s welfare schemes,
be it the package for weavers or the decision to procure a stipulated amount of
purchases from the MSMEs by the PSUs. Needless to say, contrary to popular
perceptions of Gandhi’s ideals being buried under voluminous texts on the same,
they have found their way into present day developments.
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