October 2 is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti all over the world. Will Non-Violence preached by Gandhi prevail over Violence?
Is Mahatma Gandhi relevant today?
By Tushar A Gandhi
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Rajmohan Gandhi column Gandhi Home
Is life relevant?
Is truth relevant?
Is morality relevant?
It has become a fashion to question the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi today. I suspect the people who ask this question are the ones who are convinced that he is irrelevant and useless. I want to ask them if they feel life, truth and morality are also irrelevant? Because the corner stones of the Gandhian philosophy are life, truth and morality.
In this age of nuclear weapons and the recently popularised term ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ the only philosophy or rather way of life that ensures our longevity on earth is nonviolence.
It will take only a pull of the nuclear trigger to wipe every trace of life from this earth, and turn it into a nuclear wasteland. Today with irresponsible, fragmented and fanatical regimes acquiring nuclear capabilities and delivery systems, how will we create a world where nuclear or any other deterrent becomes unnecessary? It will only come about when we adopt Nonviolence as our creed, our way of life.
Violent and aggressive civilisations have thrived momentarily but in the end they have all met a very violent end, it is the comparatively more humane and nonviolent societies that have been blessed with longevity. It is utopian to imagine a world without violence some amount of violence has and will always exist as long as there is life; but to let violence, aggression and dominance by terror be the dominant principles in life only hastens our slide towards obliteration.
The English Irish dispute did not end till such time as both sides discarded violent means of suppression and retaliation. The accord in Ireland came about when both the sides gave up the gun and started talking to each other.
Closer to home in Sri Lanka till the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government kept fighting there were no signs of the conflict ever ending. Although a solution is still a mirage, they have moved towards a solution only after both the sides gave up arms and came to the negotiating table. Kashmir will never find peace till guns and bombs are in use.
Nothing can prove the power of nonviolence better than the liberation of South Africa and the fight for civil rights in USA; both happening in relatively recent times, in the age of WMDs, in times when Gandhiji’s relevance had begun to be questioned.
Nelson Mandela started of as a very militant leader and an advocate of violent freedom movement against the Apartheid regime but after he studied Gandhi during his long imprisonment, he brought about a change in his country without bitterness or bloodshed. For long it was believed that South Africa would witness a blood bath when the majority black population would rise and overthrow the brutal apartheid regime imposed on the country by a minority white ruling class. But South Africa became free with a minimal of bloodshed and there was not much witch hunting or cries for revenge either.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission which went into investigating the thousands of brutal crimes committed by the Apartheid regime saw to it that the perpetrators felt true remorse and the victims solace without drawing blood or seeking revenge.
In the US too Dr. Martin Luther King fought against race and colour prejudice and got dignity and equality for his people by resorting not to bombs and bullets, in a country where belief in guns and bullets is only next to if not as important as God, but to nonviolent methods of mass civil disobedience and passive resistance.
The much hyped ‘War Against Terror’ is going nowhere, with all the weapons at their disposal the American War Machine has been unable to curb the Al Qaida, has not been able to bring Osama Bin Laden and Mulla Omar to justice and is unable to locate Saddam Hussein, the Taliban are regrouping al Qaida functions freely and the most wanted three remain out of their grasps, so much for the power of violence.
For their belief in violence neither Israel nor Palestine have achieved their goals. Neither is the Israeli citizen safe from terrorist violence nor is the Palestinian any closer to freedom and safety, both live under the constant shadow of death and destruction.
In our own country, we have failed to curb terrorism with violence alone. When violence as the only weapon is used against a forces that believes only in the use of violence we have an escalation of violence. History is witness that total and permanent subjugation has never happened neither have those succeeded who tried to annihilate or obliterate the vanquished. Some may say that we successfully curbed terrorism in Punjab with violent means but this is not true.
In Punjab along with tough police and military actions the reason for the end of terrorism was because the people of Punjab turned against the terrorists and the terrorists could not find recruits for their cause. In the end, in Punjab the terrorists had become extortionists and were harassing the people more than fighting a political cause. After hurting the sentiments of every Sikh by the attack on the Golden Temple and the massacre of Sikhs in 84 it was difficult to bring them back into the nationalist fold, even moderate non-believers in the ideology of Khalistan were hurt and alienated by Blue Star and the 1984 massacre of the Sikhs.
Along with the work of Ribiero and Gill it was the alienation of the Punjab terrorist from the people of Punjab that saw an end of terrorism. Kashmir will also find peace only when both sides bid a farewell to arms and sit down at the negotiating tables with the conviction of finding peace.
The Narendra Modis of this world will never be able to subjugate the fanatic elements in Islam by unleashing the fanatic Hindus. For every Narendra Modi seemingly avenging the carnage at Godhara, there are the Jehadis who will attack Akshardham and Ansaris who will bomb the innocents of Mumbai.
Mahatma Gandhi maintained, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” If we believe that nonviolence is irrelevant we will leave behind a world on the verge of destruction caused by a mankind blinded by hatred and prejudice.
So is life relevant?
The writer is the great grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He is a social activist and is actively involved in spreading Gandhi’s message of peace and non-violence.