Crisis and 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

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Crisis and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

 

A crisis means a moment of pressing difficulty. Such a moment shows a man the way out and so makes him a man indeed. If we really feel the pressure, if the adjectives we use truly describe our feelings, why should we not be able to find the remedy? 1 I admit however that during the crisis we are passing through, my moving the resolution was a dangerous experiment. For, whilst we are evolving new codes of public conduct and trying to instruct, influence or lead the masses, it is not safe to do anything that is likely to confuse the mass mind or to appear to be “truckling to the multitude”. I believe that at the present moment it is better to be “dubbed” obstinate and autocratic than even to appear to be influenced by the multitude for the sake of its approbation. Those who claim to lead the masses must resolutely refuse to be led by them, if we want to avoid mob law and desire ordered progress for the country. I believe that mere protestation of one’s opinion and surrender to the mass opinion is not only not enough but in matters of vital importance, leaders must act contrary to the mass of opinion if it does not commend itself to their reason. 2

The only difference, or rather the one great difference, between our struggle and a war is that there is no scope for brute force or armed might in our struggle; in fact, the use of physical force will mean our defeat. The other characteristics of our struggle are those of an ordinary war. As in the usual kind of war, so in this, too, self-sacrifice, training, planning, and so on is indispensable. During a war, people suspend their normal work; in the face of a general threat, people forget their individual misfortunes. The immoral becomes moral, the robber gives up robbing, the drunkard, drinking, and the debauchee gives up his debauchery and the thief, his thieving. There is but one thing on the lips of all: the country’s freedom. In a crisis of this kind, people have no time to go to law-courts; the students join the struggle for national freedom and look upon their part in it as their studies. 3

If one-tenth of these complaints is true I fear that we have not been able to cope with the wonderful awakening and to bring under control all the new additions to the Congress organization. It is possible that it is nobody’s fault that this is so. The Government precipitated a crisis by hurling the notifications about public meetings and volunteers at us. The challenge had to be and was taken up. New and inexperienced men found themselves clothed with office and they were called upon to deal with a crisis which would have taxed to its utmost the capacity even of the experienced leaders withdrawn from public guidance. 4 But a man who is unable to protect himself at a time of crisis is an incomplete man. He is a burden to society. One can defend oneself by soul-force or physical force. Anyone who has not cultivated soul-force is in duty bound to defend himself and his people by means of physical force. Both those who rely on soul-force and those who rely on physical force will have to learn to face death. The man of soul-force will treat his body as of no worth and lay down his life without using force against the dacoits, whereas the other will die killing. Everyone may not be ready to cultivate soul-force. Moreover, “seeker of wealth” and “seeker of the atman” mean quite opposite things. The former can never become a seeker of the atman till he has given up his love of money. But either of them will be a coward if he runs away in the face of danger. Hence, one should cultivate the strength for self-defence to the best of one’s ability. It is the clear duty of those living in suburbs like Ghatkopar that they themselves, that is, some members of their families, take training in personally fighting the dacoits. 5

I hold that it is the duty of every institution jealous of its reputation courageously to face such a crisis if it is convinced that the rebellion is needed for the existence or welfare of the institution itself. It was for that reason that I invited the Committee in the first instance to decide whether a crisis had arisen justifying a change in the constitution without waiting for the Congress session. The majority in favour of an immediate change was overwhelming. I was not, therefore, insistent upon similar majorities in connection with votes for the resolution itself. It now remains for the congress either to endorse the action of the All-India Congress Committee or to censure it by rejecting it or even to censure the action even while accepting its decision, it being an accomplished fact. It was suggested by one or two members that censure was an impossible thing because the resolution of the All-india Congress Committee was to be enforced immediately and that therefore those who would come to the Congress would come naturally under the new franchise and those who benefited by it could hardly be expected to censure the action of their benefactor. Such, however, need not be the case. If the change made by the Committee is resented on pure constitutional grounds, even men who may take advantage of the benefit conferred may still very properly condemn the unconstitutional action of the Committee. They may admit the advisability of the change but repudiate the right of All- India Congress Committee to make it under any circumstance whatsoever.  A crisis now arrived when there could not be any waiting for an auspicious day or hour. Patience was impossible in the face of this insult offered to our womanhood. We decided to offer stubborn Satyagraha irrespective of the number of fighters. Not only could the women now be not prevented from joining the struggle, but we decided even to invite them to come into line along with the men. We first invited the sisters who had lived on Tolstoy Farm. I found that they were only too glad to enter the struggle. I gave them an idea of the risks incidental to such participation I explained to them that they would have to put up with restraints in the matter of food, dress, and personal movements. I warned them that they might be given hard work in jail, made to wash clothes and even subjected to insult by the warders. But these sisters were all brave and feared none of these things. One of them was pregnant while six of them had young babies in arms. 6

I have admitted before now that the making of the change in the constitution was outside the ordinary jurisdiction of the All-India Congress Committee and that it was of the nature of a rebellion. But I hold that it is the duty of every institution jealous of its reputation courageously to face such a crisis if it is convinced that the rebellion is needed for the existence or welfare of the institution itself. It was for that reason that I invited the Committee in the first instance to decide whether a crisis had arisen justifying a change in the constitution without waiting for the Congress session. The majority in favour of an immediate change was overwhelming. I was not, therefore, insistent upon similar majorities in connection with votes for the resolution itself. It now remains for the congress either to endorse the action of the All-India Congress Committee or to censure it by rejecting it or even to censure the action even while accepting its decision, it being an accomplished fact. It was suggested by one or two members that censure was an impossible thing because the resolution of the All-india Congress Committee was to be enforced immediately and that therefore those who would come to the Congress would come naturally under the new franchise and those who benefited by it could hardly be expected to censure the action of their benefactor. Such, however, need not be the case. If the change made by the Committee is resented on pure constitutional grounds, even men who may take advantage of the benefit conferred may still very properly condemn the unconstitutional action of the Committee. They may admit the advisability of the change but repudiate the right of All- India Congress Committee to make it under any circumstance whatsoever.  Again, if any class among the subjects considers that the action of a government is immoral from a religious standpoint before they help or hinder it, they must endeavour fully and even at the risk of their lives to dissuade the Government from pursuing such a course. We have done nothing of the kind. Such a moral crisis is not present before us, and no one says that we wish to hold aloof from this war for any such universal and comprehensive reason. Our ordinary duty as subjects, therefore, is not to enter into the merits of the war, but, when war has actually broken out, to render such assistance as we possibly can. Finally, to suggest that in case the Boers won, and a Boer victory was well within the range of possibility, our last state would be worse than our first, and the Boers would exact frightful revenge, would be doing injustice to the chivalrous Boers as well as to ourselves. To waste the slightest thought upon such a contingency would only be a sign of our effeminacy and a reflection on our loyalty. 7

No ruin, no financial crisis will befall India if prohibition is introduced in India. It is the solemn duty of every one of us to see the use of drink wiped out of the land altogether if we possibly can. If I had the power and if I could have my way, I would do so today. 8 I would support the formation of a militia under swaraj if only because I realize that people cannot be made non-violent by compulsion. Today I am teaching the people how to meet a national crisis by non- violent means. But it is one thing to adopt non-violence for a specific purpose in a time of crisis, and quite another thing to advocate its adoption by all for all time as a philosophy of life. Not that I consider such adoption to be impossible. But I lack the strength for such a mission. I may not therefore resist the formation of a national militia. Only I cannot join it myself. I feel quite clearly within me that a militia is unnecessary but I have not the word that would c