Military Science 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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Military Science and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

Military science finds no place in our education. Personally, I am not unhappy over this. I even regard it as an accidental gain. But the people want to learn the use of arms. Those who do so should not be denied the opportunity of learning it. But this science seems to have been completely lost sight of, as it were, in our scheme of education. 1 The insinuation made by the writer in the Lancet is baseless and vicious. At the time the operation was performed I was certainly a prisoner, but I was given the choice of having my own surgeon to perform the operation. I did not distrust Col. Maddock, the British surgeon referred to, and the late Dr. Dalal and Dr. Jivraj Mehta (my surgeon and physician respectively) not having arrived in time, the operation was performed by Col. Maddock, whose care and attention I have acknowledged more than once. I have never felt the dearth of Indian surgeons or physicians of the highest caliber. Indeed, I have sent several of my European friends to Indian surgeons and physicians and they have derived full benefit from the skill of these Indian medical men. It is in military science alone; thanks to the British policy that India perhaps stands in need of assistance from European instructors. But, so far as I am aware, in every other department, if the British withdrew India could be self-contained without the slightest difficulty and that in spite of open or veiled obstruction from the ruling caste. 2

It has been suggested that Congress Ministers who are pledged to non-violence cannot resort to legal processes involving punishments. Such is not my view of the non-violence accepted by the Congress. I have personally, not found a way out of punishments and punitive restrictions in all conceivable cases. No doubt punishments have to be non-violent, if such an expression is permissible in this connection. Just as violence has its own technique, known by the military science, which has invented means of destruction unheard of before, non-violence has its own science and technique. Non-violence in politics is a new weapon in the process of evolution. Its vast possibilities are yet unexplored. The exploration can take place only if it is practised on a big scale and in various fields. Congress Ministers, if they have faith in non-violence, will undertake the explorations. But whilst they are doing this, or whether they do so or not, there is no doubt that they cannot ignore incitements to violence and manifestly violent speech, even though they may themselves run the risk of being styled violent. When they are not wanted, the public will only have to signify its disapproval through its representatives. In the absence of definite instructions from the Congress, it would be proper for the Ministers to report, what they consider is violent behaviour of any member of the public, to their own Provincial Congress Committee, or the Working Committee, and seek instructions. If the superior authority does not approve of their recommendations, they may offer to resign. They may not allow things to drift so far as to have to summon the aid of the Military. In my opinion, it would amount to political bankruptcy when any Minister is obliged to fall back on the Military, which does not belong to the people, and which, in any scheme of non-violence, must be ruled out of count for the observance of internal peace. 3 

One thing more we all praise Subhas Babu’s intelligence and courage for mobilizing the Azad Hind Fauj. And he does deserve our praise, for while he was out of the country he felt it would be worthwhile to organize an army. He was not a soldier. He was an ordinary Indian like any lawyer or barrister. He had no military training. He might have learnt horse-riding as is usual with men in the Civil Service. But he must have studied military science later on. Now, I gather that two officers of the army he had raised, and whom I had met while they were in prison and outside also, has joined the aggressors in Kashmir. This hurts me very much. They used to carry out special assignments under Subhas Babu and used to be always with him. Subhas Babu could not have kept anything secret from the army personnel because he had to work through them. It hurts me that those very persons are now going about as leaders of the freebooters. Through the newspapers, if they are getting any, or if they care to listen to me, I would ask them in my failing voice why they should involve themselves in this affair and bring down Subhas Babu’s name. Why should they side either with the Hindus or the Muslims? They should not take a communal stand. That was not Subhas Babu’s way. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Harijans, all used to rally round him. There was no discrimination against the Harijans or anyone else. There was no communal distinction among the Indians in that army. Of course all of them adhered to their respective religions; none of them had abandoned it.

Subhas Babu had taken possession of their hearts, not of their bodies. It was not as if those who refused to join the Azad Hind Fauj were to be slain. He was not going to bring freedom to India by killing people like this. That is how he became great and earned fame. Why should these people now stoop so low and get involved in such mean things? If they really want to do something, let them do something for the whole of India. Let them restrain the Muslims and the Afridis from committing atrocities, plundering the people and burning the villages. Let them persuade them to write to the Maharaja and Sheikh Abdullah that they want to meet them. They must tell them that they have not gone there to plunder. If they do so I can understand their point that they have gone there to show that Islam is being crushed. Then they would be lending glory to Subhas Babu’s name and would become true teachers of the Afridis. I do not know how the Afridis live and if there are any plunderers among them. But in my view even they are human beings. The same God resides in their hearts and hence they are my brethren. If I were to live among them I would ask them why they indulge in loot and plunder and show anger towards others. I would not ask them to give up their arms. I would ask them to keep their arms, but in order to protect the people who are scared, to protect the indigent, the women and children. What does it matter if they are Hindus or Muslims? I would tell those two officers, whose names I have already come to know, that they should remember Subhas Babu. He is dead but not his name and not his work. 4

I fear, like many experts, General Cariappa has gone beyond his depth and has been unwittingly betrayed into a serious misconception of ahimsa, of who’s working in the nature of things, he can only have a very superficial knowledge. By reason of lifelong practice of ahimsa, I claim to be an expert in it, though very imperfect. Speaking in absolute terms, the more I practise it the clearer I see how far I am from the full expression of ahimsa in my life. It is his ignorance of this, the greatest duty of man in the world, which makes him say that in this age non-violence has little scope in the face of violence, whereas I make bold to say that in this age of the atom bomb, unadulterated non-violence is the only force that can confound all the tricks put together of violence. It would have become the General, unaided as he can only now be, by his British teachers of military science and practice not to have gone out of his depth. Generals greater than General Cariappa have been wise and humble enough frankly to make the admission that they can have no right to speak of the possibilities of the force of ahimsa. We are witnessing the tragic insolvency of military science and practice in its own home. Should a bankrupt, who has been by the gamble in the share-market, sing the praise of that particular form of gambling? 5

 

References:

 

1. Mahatma Gandhini Vicharsrishti
2. Young India, 10-4-1930 
3. Harijan, 23-10-1937
4. Prarthana Pravachan—II, pp. 32
5. Harijan, 16-11-1947