Mahatma Gandhi undoubtedly the most modern political thinker India has ever had. He imbibed the best from the East and the West and developed an organic a political philosophy that created miracles in India. Today, Indian politics enveloped in wide scale corruption, perhaps there is a need to rediscover Gandhi, and the support that the followers of Gandhi like Anna Hazare is getting in the country has their distinct dimension.
Mahatma Gandhi is still an integral part of Indian politics as his political philosophy encompasses an assortment of elements embedded with basic humanistic outlook.
As Gandhi opined in his famous journal, Harijan: "There are eternal principles which admit of no compromise, and one must be prepared to lay down one's life in the practice of them."
He always remained attached to his principles in all walks of his life and even extended them in his attempt to create a resurgence of the nationalistic spirit among the common Indians.
Former West Bengal's Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya highlighted in his research work titled Evolution of the Political Philosophy of Gandhi: "Mahatma Gandhi can be credited for belonging to the most modern type of mass leader."
In the historical year 1919, when Gandhi took up the reins of the Indian National Congress, he introduced a new thinking and orientation in spirit to the struggle for the people of India. He advocated the concepts of nonviolence and non-cooperation, which not only suited the superior resources of the British Empire but also became the pragmatic process of protest by indian masses against the Government of India Act (1919) and the Rowlatt Act (1919).
The Non-Cooperation Movement, taken a definite shape after the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh, which compelled him to comment that "Cooperation in any shape or form with this satanic government is sinful."
The spirit of nonviolence and non-cooperation that Gandhi infused in Indian politics is equally relevant in modern times.The violent uprise, antipathy in addressing common issues and lack of a pragmatic dialogue among various political folks that characterise the Indian political system, emphasizes that a dedicated follow up of Gandhian political doctrines have become the need of the nation.
The political ideology of Gandhi was a harmonious combination of western and eastern thoughts, did not accept this near totalitarian concept of the state. Inspired by western thinkers such as Thoreau, Tolstoy and so on, he declared that the political authority was not an end in itself.
Several people have expressed that Gandhi regarded power to be "one of the means of enabling people to better their conditions in every department of life".
This gratitude speaks of his awareness of the reality that is firmly embossed on his political thought. His political proceedings were directed towards attaining power which, according to him, should not be concentrated in the hands of a few but disseminated among the masses.
This political ideal becomes more and more noteworthy in the present socio-political scenario, when there is an escalating tendency of power concentration in the hands of the privileged few.
Another aspect that is conspicuous in the Hindu political thought and has a significant impact on the psyche of the people is that revolt is one of the recognized rights of individuals and groups.
This concept is deeply imprinted in the mass psyche and played a significant role in the isolated uprisings that were a vital part of the Indian freedom struggle.
The duty and accountability of the king is also clearly indicated. A king who did not abide by the dictates of ethics and justice was endangered with dire consequences in hell as well as revolt.
In Mahabharata, Bhishma Pitamah goes to the extent of saying that the king who fails to protect his people should be slain by his subjects like a mad dog. Gandhi's clarion call for nonviolent revolt against the British is therefore a continuation of the Indian tradition.
Fascinatingly, though Gandhi acknowledged the traditional injunction in country and the way Anna and Ramdev Movement is getting response from the common man it is going to be another Civil society movement and this time Gandhi’s philosophy is playing again a big role in India.
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