Swaraj : The Gandhian Vision
Odisha ReviewAugust - 2015Swaraj : The Gandhian VisionAlok Kumar RayGandhi did not contact any idea, institution andindividual that he did not transform. Ideas gatherednovel meaning and significance, individuals wereinspired by new messages and aspirations andinstitutions acquiredadded relevance afterassociation with Gandhi.Swaraj is one of thosemany ideas that obtainedGandhian imprint when itpassed through the prismof Gandhian thought.Thus Albert Einstein said,Generations to comewill scarcely believe thatsuch one as this ever inflesh and blood walkedupon this earth.The term Swarajor independence as it iscommonly understoodwas not a t erm ofGandhian coinage. Theterm Swaraj had alreadygained considerable currency in the politicalvocabulary of India before Gandhi gave seriousthought to it. Of course Swami Dayananda gavethe war-cry of Swaraj is our birth right . Theterm was used by Bal Gangadhar Tilak as late as1896-97. Lala Lajpat Rai though was in Americaduring partition of Bengal in 1905 advocated theslogan, Swaraj that India was for Indians. Theextremists within the Congress had won anideological victory onhaving Swaraj acceptedas the goal of theCongress and announcedas such from its platformat Kolkata. The Kolkatasession was remarkablefor the slogan Swarajwhich Dadabhai gave andwhich at that time caughtthe people of the countryin a frenzy of effort for theattainment of that ideal.The termSwaraj appeared inGandhi s writings for thefirst time on Nov 3, 1905while Gandhi was writingabout Shyam KrishnaVerma, an India patriot,scholar, administrator and humanist who hadabandoned his lucrative profession in India andhad gone to England, donned the life of an asceticand had accepted an indicative mission to convertIndian students to the doctrine of Swaraj. Gandhi5
August - 2015gave serious thought to the question of Swaraj inthe year 1903 and during his return from Londonto South Africa, in answer to the Indian Schoolof Violence and it s prototype in South Africa, hewrote for the columns of the Indian opinion, aseries of articles on Swaraj that subsequentlyappeared in book form with the title HindSwaraj . The spirits of Swaraj expounded in thisbooklet remained almost the throughout Gandhi slife with slightest modifications in matters of details,hence his first blue-print on Swaraj.For quite a long time, Gandhiji s use ofthe term Swaraj did not signify anything beyondenjoyment of dominion status within theframework of British Empire. That under Gandhi sleadership the Indian National Congress had madethe campaign of Non-Co-operation in 1920implies Gandhiji s policy of co-operation with theBritish Government till this time even whileparticipating in the nationalist struggle for HomeRule i.e. Self-Government. His objective wasnever snapping of relationship with Britain or withthe British people. Even the ultimate objective asper Gandhi s own admission was, Swaraj withinthe Empire if possible and without if necessary .In Congress session of 1928 Gandhi moved theresolution on Dominion status against the demandof Swaraj or independence of progressives likeNehru and Bose.In subsequent years completeindependence or Purna Swaraj became Gandhi simmediate goal. However if completeindependence or Purna Swaraj implied falling ofthe fetters of British political control it did notsignify for Gandhiji. With advancing years incourse of his conversation with Fischer duringSecond World War he said, I am not interestedin future promises. I am not interested inindependence after war. I want independencenow. All the same he did not wish that an6Odisha Reviewindependent India s contact with British peopleand the British Government shall be snappedforthwith. After independence India would notpersue a policy of isolationism but healthycooperation with British people. Hence althoughGandhi was the champion of Swaraj as EarlMountbatten of Myanmar styled him, he was realfriend of British people. He laid a solid foundationfor the development of Indo-British friendship.The Gandhian concept of Swaraj has afar broader and deeper significance than Englishequivalents like freedom or independence. Swarajfor Gandhi had both negative and positiveimplications. Negatively speaking it of courseimplied severance of political relationships withBritish and particularly termination of Britishpolitical control over India. It was meant the endof western culture, western system of value andwestern political system of which Britain stoodas the living symbol. Hence Gandhi realized thatwhat is very much significant for the attainment ofSwaraj is not mere freedom from political controlbut freedom from the vicious influence of westerncivilization. The western civilization had promotedman s goodsness instead of goodness andworldliness instead of Godliness and under theirweight India and Indians sank deeper and deeper.The materialistic civilization of the west wasfounded on machinery. The real Swaraj of Gandhiwas freedom from the baneful effects of machineryor craze for machinery.Besides, Swaraj in the political sense ofthe term did not mean for Gandhi mere freedomfrom British control, he also meant therebyfreedom from western political influence. Not onlyBritish system of government, but all foreignsystems of governments were discarded by him.Thus negatively speaking Swaraj for Gandhimeant freedom from the influence of westerncivilization, western system of value, machinery
Odisha Reviewand above all foreign type of political institutionsapart from freedom from political control.The termination of the darkness of thenight may not necessarily presage the birth of theglorious day. The dawn may be the harbinger ofa misty and foggy morning, a gale and stormladen day and an inclement afternoon. Likewisefreedom from foreign domination, of the clutchesof western civilization sense of value and politicalinstitutions may not bring the desired outcome.Swaraj must aim at bringing far-reaching changesthat will herald a new dawn where as he pointedout performance of duty will get optimumimportance as he again said that civilization is thatmode of conduct which points out to man the pathof duty. What is more important for Gandhi,Swaraj as a positive concept signifyingdevelopment of the nation in a definite direction.This positive aspect of Swaraj to Gandhi was fourdimensional i. e. political, social, economical andmoral. The positive aspects of Swaraj constitutethe kernel, where as negative aspect like freedomfrom foreign domination form the shell or sheathof Swaraj.Political Dimension of Swaraj :Gandhi s predecessors who indulged inmuch of intellectual and political gymnastics onSwaraj, considered Swaraj mainly from thepolitical angle. Besides, this political aspect ofSwaraj primarily concerned with the freedom fromBritish imperialistic domination and transfer ofpolitical power from the British into the hands ofIndians. They felt that once political power isacquired by Indians the power will be so utilizedthat Indians in general will profusely benefit. ButGandhi since the day he gave serious thought tothe question of Swaraj gave equally importantthought to the issue of instrumentality for theexercise of such power and the manner of suchexercise. Gandhi believed that freedom fromAugust - 2015British yoke and introduction of Indian rule maynot solve the real riddle. Nature of governmentand its spirit was more important for Gandhi thanthe colour of skin and the nationality of governingpersonnel. He was well aware of the oppression,humiliation and repression perpetrated by Indianprinces over millions of innocent people of thattime. He feared transfer of power might beconcentrated in the hands of few Indian princes.Thus Gandhi while thinking of Swaraj understoodit in the sense of people s Swaraj. The peasants,the workers, the disabled and the incapacitatedwould not be excluded rather there would beemphasis on the lot of the weaker sections of thesociety. There must be democratization in thematter of possession and exercise of power andthe purpose of such exercise would be in line withthe language of Abraham Lincon that, thegovernment should be one of the people, by thepeople and for the people.Social Dimension of Swaraj :While thinking of a type of people sSwaraj Gandhi had in mind a state of socialexistence where each individual irrespective of hisreligion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, residenceor parentage will enjoy equal social status. Thusthe society shall be an integrated communitydevoid of any artificial and manmade distinctions.It shall be a society inspired by the spirit of socialequality, equality of status and identical dignity ofall of its members irrespective of a variety ofnatural and manmade distinctions. Gandhi waseven prepared to concede to the physically,mentally and economically deficient peopleadditional privilege in order to enable them tomake up their deficiencies. In his address atSisgunj Gurudwara he emphasized that PurnaSwaraj was the complete possession of all,because it was as much for the prince as for thepeasant, as much for the rich land owner as for7
August - 2015the landless tiller of the soil, as much for theHindus, as much for the Muslims, as much for theParsis and of the Christians as for the Jains andSikhs, irrespective of any distinction of caste orcreed.Economic Dimension of Swaraj :Swaraj as conceived by Gandhi has itseconomic dimensions too. Political domination ofthe country by Britain led to economic subjugationof India and provided an opportunity to the rulingpower and the ruling class to indulge in an act ofexploitation of India. Hence Gandhi like hiscompatriots realized that termination of British rulein India would free Indian economy from foreigncontrol, put a halt to economic exploitation ofIndia, prevent the draining out of resources fromIndia to the metropolitan country, open thefloodgates to India s economic prosperity and thuslead to economic Swaraj apart from the Swarajof the political sense of the term. The concept ofeconomic Swaraj of Gandhi has an economic bias.Swaraj to Gandhi was a means to the economicemancipation of the masses. Gandhi was painfullyaware of the conditions of destitute masses. Hencewhen Gandhi thought of Swaraj he considered itas poor man s Swaraj. Swaraj for Gandhi signifiedremoval of poverty, hunger, destitution,deprivation and exploitation. Negatively speakingeconomic Swaraj implied elimination of theexploiters and positively it meant providing someadditional facilities to the poor and unprivilegedso that they enjoy freedom or Swaraj from theexcruciating pains of wants, scarcity, poverty, anddestitution. Swaraj laid as much stress on materialprosperity of all as on their intellectualdevelopment, moral upliftment, physical fitnessand social elevation.Moral Dimension of Swaraj :Without the moral dimension of Swaraj,the political, social and economic dimensions of8Odisha ReviewSwaraj will lose their real significance. Gandhitreated Swaraj as a synonym of Ram Raj withoutany Hindu doctrinaire sense of the term. By thishe meant Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God. Ramasymbolized justice and equality, truth and charity.Under Swaraj moral precepts, sense of idealism,spiritualism and divine qualities and virtues shouldinspire the conduct of individuals and so also thepolitical, social and economic system. Gandhirealized the irreligious and immoral tone in westerncivilization. Thus he warned against the vices ofwestern civilization, materialistic craze andadvocated freedom from its clutches.Gandhi was a practical idealist and whenhe thought of Swaraj he also gave serious thoughtto the question of appropriate technique for theattainment of the same. But what is very muchsignificant is that his approach to the question oftechnique for the attainment of Swaraj is as muchnovel as his concept of Swaraj itself. Like his ideaof Swaraj, the techniques of Swaraj, describedbelow are multi-dimensional in nature.Non-Violence : Gandhi rejected violenttechnique in favour of non-violent one as variousconsiderations weighed the balance in favour ofthe latter. He was sure that violence was not theappropriate answer to eradicate the ills of India.He emphasized a technique that was in conformitywith Indian cultural heritage. His idealisticemphasis on the indivisible bond between the endand the means and practical, pragmatic andutilitarian outlook necessitated to adopt nonviolence as the most appropriate technique forattainment of Swaraj. For him means and end wereconvertible terms and the nature, quality andcharacter of the end were completely dependenton the nature, quality and character of the meansadopted for the attainment of the same. He wasconvinced that if the end was good and noble,it could not be attained by evil means. When
Odisha Reviewhe rejected violent techniques as inappropriatefor the attainment of Swaraj he advised a militantsort of non-violent technique that was differentlystyled at different times as passive resistance, civilresistance and Satyagrah with non-cooperationand civil disobedience as the modus operandi.Gandhi was an apostle of non-violence, yet hewas not an apostle of cowardice. Non-violencefor him was not the non-violence of the weak andthe coward but the strong and the brave.Self-Control : Gandhi argued India lost herfreedom because her people shunned self-controland were enamoured of licentious conduct. Theywere tempted to the dazzling British wares bywhich the latter s trade flourished in India. Ifsacrifice of her time honoured conduct of selfrestraint and self-control spelt loss of freedom,readoption of the same norm may usher in an eraof freedom. Indians would shed their passion forthe dazzling wares produced in British factories.Then the British economic interest would receivea setback. He said the real home rule was selfrestraint or self-control. The reaffirmation on selfcontrol would halt the corrupting influence offoreign value system and materialistic civilizationof the west. Economically self-control wouldenable the millions to share the propertypossessed by few. Socially it would lead to socialequality. The higher caste people could mix withthe so-called untouchables only by practicing selfcontrol. Self-control on the part of the rulers is anindependent state will enable the ruled to enjoyliberty and freedom. This will be a healthy andnon-violent check on the power obsession of themen in power.August - 2015Gandhi had thorough knowledge about howpeople s liberties were being crushed in bothcapitalist and communist states. Centralization ofpower leads to tyranny in socialist countries. Insuch countries political and moral Swaraj ofindividuals suffered grave casualties because ofits concentration of political, economic powers inthe hands of the state. Gandhi also witnessed thatin the so-called free world or the capitalistic worldSwaraj in the social and moral sense was absent.He realized that in order that Swaraj shall be realpeople s Swaraj, people in general should possesseconomic and political power for all practicalpurposes. In Purna Swaraj all must beprosperous, happy and villages would be selfcontained villages and also village communities.Every village should be a republic or panchayatshaving full power. Every village has to be selfsufficient and capable of managing its own affairseven to the extent of defending itself against thewhole world.To sum up the Gandhian doctrine ofSwaraj is different from others in the sense that itis positive in nature. Apart from signifyingtermination of domination by British the positiveaspect of Swaraj is a four dimensional conceptand the means to achieve it is also threedimensional in nature. Therefore as Srinivash said,he is untouchable and unapproachable, he hadreached the summit of purity.Decentralized economic and political power :Swaraj presupposes adoption oftechnique of polit ical and economicdecentralization for the sake of its realization.Alok Kumar Ray, Lecturer-in-Political Science, VHJMahavidyalaya, Nikirai, Kendrapara.9
Indian students to the doctrine of Swaraj. Gandhi Swaraj : The Gandhian Vision Alok Kumar Ray. 6 August - 2015 Odisha Review gave serious thought to the question of Swaraj in the year 1903 and during his return fr
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A Gandhian critique is, of course, a critique done from a Gandhian economic position, that is Erom the perspective of Gandhian economic philosophy. So at the outset itself it becomes necessary to state what constitute the Gandhian economic position and what are the main constituen
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