Death anniversary today:
Mahatma Gandhi’s weapon was Satyagraha
Chelvatamby MANICCAVASAGAR
Mahatma Gandhiji’s technique of spirituality in action and his
teachings will undoubtedly redeem millions of people from violent,
hatred, fear and tension.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi appeared on the political scene in 1915
accordingly and reverentially hailed as the ‘Father of the Nation’ He
played a very important and crucial role to India’s attainment of
independence in August 1947.
Mahatma Gandhi |
The briefless barrister as he was once called at the time of his
journey to South Africa, he had a special role to play in the country.
He returned to India at a time when the country in general and the
Indian National Congress in particular needed very much his valued
guidance, wise counsel and astute leadership. He did not fail the party
nor the country.
The weapon adopted by Gandhi was Satyagraha and through civil
disobedience and peaceful non-co-operation he completely unsettled the
mighty British Empire which was ruling the country for more than a
century. The peaceful non-violence methods adopted by Gandhi disarmed
the British rulers.
In fact, Mahatma Gandhi was fundamentally incomprehensible to the
supercilious high brow western intellectuals who were blatantly boastful
of their superior civilization which precariously and perilously plunged
the whole nation into the vortex of nuclear disaster.
Mahatma Gandhi had the nobility to handsomely acknowledge the virtue
of those who differed. He never forgot that his detractors were made of
the same flesh and blood and endowed with the same instincts and
passions, hopes and aspirations. He knew the art of differing without
bitterness.
Talks between Gandhi and Lord Irwin the Viceroy took place in New
Delhi in 1931. Winston Churchill did not like it at all. He was revolted
by the nauseating and humiliating spectacles of this one time Inner
Temple lawyer, now a seditious Fakir, striding half naked up the steps
of the viceroy’s palace to negotiate and parley an equal terms and with
the representative of the King Emperor.
When Gandhi heard about this, he wrote a delightful rejoinder, “you
are reported to have expressed the desire to crush the Naked Fakir as
you are said to have described me. I have been long trying to be a Fakir
and that too naked, a more difficult task. I therefore regard the
expression as a compliment though unintentional”.
On another occasion there was a debate between Rabindranath Tagore
and Gandhi on the meaning of culture. Tagore expressed great joy and
satisfaction he derived from the beauty of nature and art, the glories
of dawn, dusk, the procession of season, the freshness of trees and
flowers.
In reply Gandhi said that “it is good enough to talk of God, the
beauties of the nature and art while we are sitting here after a nice
breakfast and looking forward to a nice lunch. But, how am I to talk of
God to millions who have to go without one meal a day.”
The communal virus took such deep roots that Gandhi was considered
more a hindrance to one section of the people. A fanatic took an unusual
course. A plot was hatched and it was carried out at the last prayer
meeting to be addressed by Gandhi on Friday, January 30, 1948. Nathu Ram
Vinayak Godse came very close to Gandhi, greeted him with folded hands
and then pulled out a revolver and shot at him from close and point
blank range.
This sad news conveyed to the country by Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru. He went on National Radio shortly after the bullets struck and
speaking extemporaneously with tears and emotions he said, “The light
has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere and I do not
quite know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader Balu
as we called him, the father of our nation is no more.”
Nehru further said: “the light that shone in this country was no
ordinary light. The light that has illuminated this country for many
more years and thousand years later that this light will be seen in this
country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable
hearts.
Indeed, Mahatma Gandhi was the spokesman for the conscience of all
mankind. |