Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Devi Charan Baruah Girls’ College,
Jorhat, Assam, India
Abstract
Non-Violence is the foundation stone
of Gandhian Political Thoughts. According to Gandhiji, Non-violence requires
fearlessness. Cowardice is violence. A non-violence soldier should develop an
attitude of non-attachment in the material things of life. Gandhiji regarded
material possessions incompatible with non-violence. Non-violence is the
greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest
weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man. In this context Gandhi
talk about Satyagraha. According to him the principle of Non-Violence could be
exceuted only through Satyagraha. Critics of Gandhian thoughts may say that the
concept of non-violence has become obsolete today. But it is not true, rather
Gandhi’s idea of non-violence has more and more utility and relevance at
present world. This paper is an attempt to analyse the relevance and utility of
Gandhian Principle of Non-Violence at present world.
Key
Words:
Non-Violence, Satyagraha, Peace
Non-Violence
is the central idea of Gandhi’s Political Philosophy. For Gandhi, non-violence
was not a mere philosophical principle, it was the rule and breathe of his
life. Non-violence or ‘Ahimsa’ means non-killing, but for Gandhiji it has a
much wider meaning. It signifies avoiding injury to anything on earth in
thought, word or deed. A harsh speech is a form of violence. To think bad of
others is violence. A non-violent man should not consider any one as his enemy.
He should harbour no evil against anyone. The Prime objective of Gandhiji’s
concept of non-violence is to establish peace and harmony in human society by
chainging the nature and attitude of man by heart and soul what Gandhiji called
self purification. Critics of Gandhian thoughts often say that in present days
Gandhi’s concept of non-violence has lost its importance and has become
obsolete. Even sometime we people also
feel that, yes non-violence has become irrelevant today. Everyday, everywhere
we witness only violence and brutality. But, it is not true, because lots of
people today have faith on non-violence. They practice it and use non-violent
principle in their day to day life.
2.Objective of the
study
The
prime objective of this paper is to investigate and verify whether Gandhian
Concept of non-violence has lost its importance at present time or it has
relevance today.
3.Methodology
This
Paper has been prepared based on Secondary data sources collected from books,
journals, periodicals, research articles. Analytical approach is used and
discussed the topic with the concerned resource persons. Personal observations
and interpretation were also added here.
4.Results and
Discussion
Non-violence
is the law of the human race and is infinitely greater than and superior to
brute force. Non-violence affords the fullest protection to one’s self-respect
and sense of honour, but not always to possession of land or movable property,
though its habitual practice does prove a better bulwark than the possession of
armed men to defend them. Ranjan (2009) stated that Non-violence, in the very
nature of things, is of no assistance in the defence of ill-gotten gains and
immoral acts.
4.1 Non-Violence
According
to Gandhiji, non-violence pre-supposes the ability though not the willingness,
to strike. He said that Man for man, the strength of non-violence is in exact
proportion to the ability, not the will, of the non-violent person to inflict
violence. Non-violence is the quality of the brave and strong, it is not possible without fearlessness. It
is not the quality of the coward. Cowardice and Ahimsa do not go together. A
coward runs away from danger instead of facing it. If a choice is to be made
between cowardice and violence, Gandhiji would have preferred the latter. To
him, violence was superior to passive and helpless submission. It is better to be violent if there is
violence is our breast than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover
impotence. According to him, There is hope for a violent man to be some day
non-violent but there is none the coward. Non-violence is superior to violence.
In a struggle the victory of the non-violent is sure. Against a non-violent
man, there is no hatred and no personal ill-feeling. If Gandhiji could win
freedom for India, the credit goes to the non-violent character of the struggle
that he carried on. A non-violent man strikes a responsive chord in the heart
and conscience of his opponent. Non-violence ennobles not only him who wields
it but also him against whom it is directed. The requisites of non-violence are
truth, inner purity, fearlessness, non-possession and perseverance. Truth is
the basis factor of non-violence. To Gandhiji, God is Truth and Truth is God.
Truth was the sovereign principle (Bhagwan and Bhushan, 2007).
Non-violence
is a power which can be wielded quality by all children, young men and women or
grown up people, provided they have a living faith in the God of Love and have
therefore equal love for all mankind. When non-violence is accepted as the law
of life, it must pervade the whole being and not be applied to isolated acts.
It is a profound error to that, whilst the law is good enough for individuals,
it is not for masses of mankind (Ranjan, 2009).
Gandhiji
believed that to meet the end our means must be moral. He says that immoral
means cannot lead to truth and justice. Moral means will inevitably lead to a
moral end. Violence, fraud, deceit and treachery have always disrupted human
unity. Humanity can be united only through the practice of non-violence in
individual and social conduct. Gandhiji said that where the means are clean
there God is undoubtedly present with his blessings. He was confident that law
of love rules mankind. Had violence rules us, we should have become extinct
long age. Hence in human interest we should accept non-violence as the panacea
of our ills at all levels.
4.2 Satyagraha
Gandhiji
evolved a new way of resisting evil through the technique of satyagraha. The
idea and practice of satyagraha constitutes the heart and soul of Gandhism and
is Gandhiji’s unique and distinctive contribution. It was the technique of
resisting all that was evil and unjust, impure or untrue, by love,
self-suffering, self-purification and by appealing to the divine spark in the
soul of the opponent. Gandhiji also called it ‘love–force’ or ‘soul-force’.
According to Gandhiji, Satyagraha is a vindication of truth by bearing witness to it through
self-suffering, in other words, love.It is the opposite of coercion and is the weapon of
the strongest and the bravest. A satyagrahi seeks to resist evil through love and takes suffering
upon himself instead of inflicting the same on the opponent. All conflicts are
sought to be resolved by the mighty weapon if satyagraha by lifting those from the gross physical plane to the
elevated spiritual and moral plane where they can be adjusted by the union of
souls, by the deep calling into the deep. As a satyagrahi never injures the opponent and always appeals either
to his reason by gentle argument, or to his heart by the sacrifice of self, Satyagraha is twice blessed; it
blesses him who practices it, and against whom it is practiced.Gandhiji opined that Suffering is the mark of the
human tribe. It is an eternal law mother suffers so that her child may live.
Life comes out of death. No country has ever risen without being purified to
the fire of suffering, the purer the suffering the greater is the progress.
Gandhiji's theory of satyagraha is thus based on the concept of suffering.
Suffering saves three purposes:
(i)It purifies the sufferer, (ii)It intensifies favourable public opinion. (iii)It makes a direct appeal to the soul of the oppressor(Bhagwan and Bhushan, 2007).
Gandhiji
developed some techniques of Satyagraha, these were –
Non-cooperation: It
means withdrawal of cooperation with government by Hartals, Social ostracism or
picketing, a peaceful way of protest against injustice of government machinery.
Civil Disobedience: Disobedience
to the unmoral statutory enactments of government by peaceful way.
Hijrat: A
Satyagrahi, in order to protect his self respect may voluntarily exile
permanent place of residence.
Fasting: Fasting or refuse to take food is
another meaningful technique of Satyagraha according to Gandhi.
Strike: Strike
is the weapon of the workers for the redress of their grievances.
The
cause of Satyagraha should be legitimate and just. Satyagraha is a permanent
vindication of the individual’s right of resistance against coercive authority.
Satyagraha
is gentle, it never wounds. It must not be the result of anger or malice. It is
never fussy, never impatient, never vociferous. It is the direct opposite of
compulsion. It was conceived as a complete substitute for violence. The fight
of Satyagraha is for the strong in spirit, not the doubter or the timid.
Satyagraha teaches us the art of living as well as dying. Birth and death are
inevitable among mortals. What distinguishes the man from the brute is his
conscious striving to realize the spirit within. (Prabhu and Rao,1967)
4.3 Relevance of
Non-violence
If
we look into the present society from the practical point of view we can
realise that in outer look Gandhian concept of non-violence has become obsolete
today. Nobody in the present society is interested to practice this ideology.
Critics of Gandhian philosophy also strongly argue that concept of non-violence
is remain as mere an ideology, it has no practical use. But it is not true, the
concept of non-violence may not have practical use in present society or we may
not follow it, but for the survival of mankind, for establishment of peace and
harmony, for development of civilisations the concept of non-violence is the
only solution through which we could attain our goal.
Anna
Hazare’s non-violent protest against corruption at Government level is the
stunning example of relevance of the concept of non-violence in present time.
We have witnessed how the young generation of India came out to the street and
supported Anna Hazare’s non-violent protest against corruption by wearing the
‘Gandhi toopi.’
5.Conclusion
In
conclusion we may say that Gandhiji was a saint and a revolutionary with the
weapon of non-violence who lived and died for truth. It is a great irony of history that a votary
of non-violence met his death at the hands of a violent assassin and that too
of his native land. Infact, history repeated itself as another Christ was
crucified.
References
- R.K. Prabhu and U.R. Rao. The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1967, p.168.
- R.Ranjan. Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi, Swastik Publications, Delhi, 2009, P.163.
- V.Bhagwan and V. Bhushan. Political Theory, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi, 2007, pp.287-289.
- V.R. Mehta. Foundation of Indian Political Thought, New Delhi: Monohar Publishers, 1992.
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