The state of dialogue between people, groups and communities with different views is almost at an end. Allegations and counter-allegations keep being heard in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies. Looking at the activities of most of the honorable people, it is clearly visible that nothing is more important than elections. In the politics of selfishness, Gandhi’s thoughts and values have gone backwards.
There are countless examples of the fact that the influence of a book or the intentional or unintentional participation in an event can enhance a person’s personality by radically changing the art and philosophy of living. One incident and one book in Gandhiji’s life had absorbed his ideology and his pure practicality from individual to population. In this change, the culture he received from the family was not only helpful, but even more, his own innate subtle observation and analysis helped.
From the very beginning they were not ready to tolerate traditions like untouchability. When he reached Durban for the first time, he saw the rude behavior of Abdullah Seth, who had come to pick him up. He was very upset as to why Abdullah Seth was tolerating it. After that he started experiencing it himself. He himself corrected the grisly humiliation and violence at Peter Martijberg railway station. Mahatma Gandhi later called that episode the most dynamic occasion of his life. That night the young barrister MK Gandhi thought that even if he avenged his insult, what would be the big gain? Why not rid them of the pain, injustice and humiliation that generations have endured! Since then the philosophy of ‘Sarvabhuta Hite Ratah’ started taking a practical form in his conscience.
The second occasion was the effect of a book. In 1904, Gandhi read John Ruskin’s short book Unto this Last given by his friend Pollack on a train night journey. Since then his life changed. Gandhiji has written it in his autobiography in a very powerful and heart-touching way – ‘What was deeply hidden in me, I saw a clear reflection of it in Ruskin’s Grantha Ratna. And because of this he established his kingdom on me and made me implement the ideas given in him.’ The next morning, he started the work of establishing the Phoenix Ashram. Later he also did a Gujarati translation of this book which was published under the name of Sarvodaya.
The impact generated by the study of that book gave him the ideas that became the core concept of Sarvodaya. He wrote- ‘I have understood Sarvodaya in this way- One, our good is in the good of all. Two, the work of both a lawyer and a barber should cost the same, because everyone has the same right to a livelihood. Three, simple hard work, the life of the farmer is the true life.’ (Autobiography, p. 271). He was also familiar with Tolstoy’s concept of ‘labour necessary for bread’ that it is the duty of every human being to do physical labor for the basic necessities of life. According to him, this rule was also applicable to those who did intellectual work! Although the opinion of the people on this was expected to differ and will always remain so.
In 1947, Mahatma Gandhi was asked- Why should we insist that Rabindranath or Raman earn their food by manual labour? Wouldn’t this be an abuse of his high talent? Both do social work in their own place and way. Gandhiji’s answer was that the work of the mind has a special place in life. But physical labor is necessary for everyone. No one can escape from this, it can only enhance the intellectual achievement of those who do brain work.
At the same time it was also asked whether workers, farmers, doctors, administrators etc. should all get equal pay for personal needs? On 16 March 1947, his reply was- ‘If India is to conduct exemplary conduct, then every section should get equal pay for the work done honestly. Intellectual work has its own importance and separate environment and conditions should also be provided for it as required, but labor will be useful for such people also, it will make their intellectual work and product more level!’ Today’s policy-makers will marvel at this and almost everyone will agree that it is impossible. Gandhiji also knew that this may never be practically possible in India, but India should aim for this. Surely he would not have got support for this even then, but it definitely had an impact on many people.
In a democracy, the duty of elected representatives at every level must be accepted by rising above party politics, that exemplary conduct is their first responsibility. They don’t have a choice! It is also true that no one is unaware of how much it is being followed. This has happened and is happening because Gandhi’s ideas and his following have rapidly disappeared. In seven decades it has become clear to the public that the distance between the voter and the winner of the election has steadily increased.
Most of the public representatives have become so engrossed in themselves and their loved ones that not only have they turned away from their voters, but they have also lost sight of the moral obligations that Gandhi had prepared many generations of the country to live according to. People like Dr Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzari Lal Nanda, even after being in power, made Gandhiji’s immortal sentence meaningful that ‘my life is my message’.
The administrative system of the country and the class responsible for it, ministers, courts, bureaucracy and all the officials and officials from top to bottom are so entangled in the day-to-day problems that there is hardly any time for study, persuasion, contemplation! The state of dialogue between people, groups and communities with different views is almost at an end. Allegations and counter-allegations keep being heard in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies. Looking at the activities of most of the honorable people, it is clearly visible that nothing is more important than elections.
In the politics of selfishness, Gandhiji’s thoughts and values have gone backwards. Till a few years ago, Gandhiji’s portrait was put up in government offices. Some politicians felt that it was no longer of any use. The new government of Punjab not only broke the tradition of putting the portrait of the President and the Prime Minister, it also removed the portrait of Gandhiji. There are pictures of Amar Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Both these sages are respected and respected by everyone in the country. But was it necessary to insult Gandhiji for this?
The youth who are in politics today need to broaden their horizons in the interest of the country. If they adopt self-study and concentrated thinking, they will also see eighty crore people who are taking free ration. It can be said with confidence that they do not like it from their conscience. Returning their self-esteem through integrated development would be possible only by such youth. The belief is to be created everywhere that if Gandhi could have succeeded by broadening the horizon, why can’t I? It is the responsibility of the youth to rid the country from the mentality of sick politics of hatred and malice. They have to remember Gandhiji’s ‘man standing at the extreme end’.