All- India National Education – Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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All- India National Education – Mahatma Gandhi

 

The Vidyapith owes its origin to the non-co-operation movement, and, as I said some years ago, the object of the Vidyapith is the attainment of swaraj. All those studying in national educational institutions and connected with them must do all the things that the country has to do, and must go through the same discipline as the country has to go through for the attainment of swaraj, so that they may be ready to offer themselves willing sacrifices when the time comes. Ours is a movement of self-purification. There are some who think that morality has nothing to do with politics. We do not concern ourselves with the character of our leaders. The democracies of Europe and America steer clear of any notion of morality having anything to do with politics. Bad characters are often great intellects, and they can manage certain affairs well enough by the force of their intellect. The private character of some of the leading men of the House of Commons will not bear examination. We too have often carried on our political movement in the same fashion; we did not concern ourselves with the morals of the Congress delegates or leaders.

But in 1920 we struck an entirely new departure and we declared that since truth and non-violence were the sole means to be employed by the Congress to reach its goal, self-purification was necessary even in political life. Today there is not much open opposition to the idea, though there are many who secretly believe that politics should have nothing to do with morality. That is why our progress is so slow and in some respect even nil. If we had acted up to our creed of 1920, we should not have taken nine years to arrive even at the present stage. If swaraj was not meant to civilize us, and to purify and stabilize our civilization, it would be nothing worth. The very essence of our civilization is that we give a paramount place to morality in all our affairs, public or private and as one of the functions of the Vidyapith is to civilize us, the battle of swaraj calls for the greatest sacrifice from the national educational institutions. I want you all to realize the implications of our creed. If you think that truth and non-violence constitute not the creed but the policy of the Congress, I do not know where I should be. But if you are convinced that they are your personal creed, I need not expatiate on them. The very fact that a person belongs to the Vidyapith should be sufficient guarantee of his truthfulness and non-violence.

The first thing therefore that this national educational conference and those who are attending it should do is to ask themselves whether all their doings have been in consonance with that creed. If you have gone about your work, following truth and non-violence as a policy, there will come a day when you might be tempted to alter the policy. For instance my friends the Ali Brothers accepted truth and non-violence as a policy, and they never made a secret of it. They always said that they could not accept them as a creed. There are many others of their way of thinking, and they undoubtedly have their place in the service of the country, but for you, students and teachers of national educational institutions, that attitude will not suffice. You must accept both the principles as your creed and they should be part and parcel of your being. If all make of ahimsa a policy, and I remain the only votary of it as a creed, we can make very little progress. Let us therefore ask ourselves once again, and make sure, that we will in no circumstances harbour untruth and violence for the attainment of swaraj. Then everything will be well. The constructive programme has sprung out of the creed of truth and non-violence. Let us examine every item of it. Hindu-Muslim unity will be impossible so long as the Hindu cherishes violence against the Mussalman and the Mussalman against the Hindu. The Congress resolution at Lahore on the communal question was a corollary to the creed. The Sikhs wanted bare justice, but the resolution, as you will have noticed, has gone further, and it is meant not only for the Sikhs but for all the communities of India. Then take the removal of untouchability. While talking of this question, some think of removing physical untouchability, some talk of the removal of the so-called untouchables’ disabilities as regards the use of public wells, schools and temples. But you should go much further. You should love them even as yourselves so that the moment they see you they might feel that you are one of them.

Then and then only will you be able to have their co-operation in the constructive programme. The same is the case with prohibition also with the khadi programme. But need I talk about it here? This work is so concrete and tangible that a man who maintains a regular diary of his day’s work can give a clear account of how much he has added to the national wealth. If we had approached the task in that spirit we should have made considerable headway by now. The Foreign-Cloth Boycott Committee has told us what we have been able to achieve even by means of our very little work of last year. To my mind it is trifling, but if all of us had done the thing with a will and an active faith, what would have been the result? We badly need true and efficient workers. But I know that even amongst you there are quite a number of men in whom the will and therefore the capacity are both lacking. We have to shed our inertia, our want of faith, and the capacity will follow as a matter of course. I have told you what to do.

I shall tell you know something as to what not to do. Literary training, scholarly research and linguistic pursuits, study of English and Sanskrit and fine arts had better take a back seat. All our national schools ought to be converted into factories of our national ammunition, viz., and constructive work. There are millions of children in India today who have to go without any education, much less national education and the other big things I have mentioned. Why then can’t we do without them until at any rate we have won our freedom? The Working Committee has appealed to the country to enlist members and volunteers. Why should there be any other organization necessary for this work? You can all be members and volunteers and take charge of the work. Think what the students in Europe did during the Great War Are we prepared to make the sacrifices that they made? If deep down in us is the conviction that we may not even breathe in peace until we have freedom, we will live and move and have our being in carrying out the constructive programme. Lastly, may I sum up in a word what is expected of you? Even as we have to be pure, let us shed the fear of death. An Englishman has recently told us that though Gandhi may think that India will be none the worse if Englishmen left India, he has no doubt that not a rich man’s property will be safe and not a virgin will be inviolate the moment his countrymen leave India.

That shows what a low opinion he has of us Indians. But how can it be otherwise? We are so fear-stricken today that we have to maintain the services of hired men for the defence of our property and our honour. The moment we shed the fear of death, we shall escape from this wretched plight. I expect every maiden studying in the Vidyapith to wake up and muster sufficient moral strength to withstand even the touch of a wicked individual. I want you all to shed the fear of death, so that when the history of freedom comes to be written, the names of the boys and girls of national schools and colleges may be mentioned therein as of those who died not doing violence but in resisting it, no matter by whom committed. The strength to kill is not essential for self-defence; one ought to have the strength to die. When a man is fully ready to die he will not even desire to offer violence. Indeed I may put it down as a self-evident proposition that the desire to kill is in inverse proportion to the desire to die. And history is replete with instances of men who by dying with courage and compassion on their lips converted the hearts of their violent opponents. In reply to a question at the end of the speech, Gandhiji said: If I am so keen on the students’ share in the struggle, why I not pressed for the boycott of schools and colleges, you ask. I say there was no atmosphere. But I hope you will not retort that if there was no atmosphere, what can even these students do? They can do a lot. Had their devotion to their mission been intenser than it has been, they would have created an atmosphere that would have compelled the students of Government schools and colleges to leave them. What they have not been able to do hitherto, they can do even now. Do not be agitated because I have said this. On the one hand, you must be prepared to die, while on the other hand you must bury yourselves in your present duties as if you were immortal and would never perish.

 

References:

Young India, 23-1-1930