Post Modern Gandhi and Other Essays

This book by former professors of political science at the University of Chicago could not have come at a better time. With Lage Raho Munnabhai having revived interest in Gandhism, and even having given us a new term—‘Gandhigiri’—the youth have suddenly become willing to experiment with the idea. Gandhigiri, for instance, inspired some youth in Lucknow to distribute roses as their form of protest against a wine shop rather than adopt any aggressive way. That Gandhi was always relevant—in fact, more so now than the times he lived in—was clear to anybody with even a slight interest in the man. The Rudolphs’ book analyses Gandhi’s thoughts, especially from his Hind Swaraj, and demonstrates that Gandhi was well ahead of his times.

For instance, while the world was overwhelmed with the modernisation project, Gandhi was already critiquing it. He opposed machines whenever they took away jobs. Fittingly, when the government decided for the first time in independent India to give its poorest citizens an Employment Guarantee Act, machines were banned under it. Gandhi advocated celibacy or restraint in sexual behaviour and we are already advising our citizens publicly about this as part of aids awareness programmes.

Gandhi stood for Gram Swarajya, that is, a decentralised political system and control of local people over their resources. We are beginning to realise the pitfalls of mega development projects and centralised decision-making. Gandhi supported non-violent methods of struggle to gain one’s rights and we’ve witnessed how groups believing in violent ways of resistance, like the People’s War or separatists in Kashmir and Nagaland, have shown more willingness in recent times to discuss issues across the table. Similarly, the way people across the world are coming out in large numbers on the streets to protest against American military misadventures echoes a commitment to the Gandhian values and non-violence. We may not explicitly refer to Gandhi everytime we follow some values dear to him, but we do justify his philosophy by many of our actions.

I differ from the Rudolphs on other counts. They dwell at length on the comparison between Gandhi and Christ. It almost seems that it is hard for Christians to digest the fact that the one man in history who most closely resembled Christ in thought, words and deed was not a Christian. There is also a separate chapter on ‘Gandhi in the Mind of America’. One can’t understand why this should be so, since America then wasn’t as important a player in global politics as it is today and Gandhi never visited the US nor had many associations there. Probably, Gandhi in the mind of the British or South Africa or even Pakistan would’ve made a more interesting case study.

The book also gives the western world credit for most of Gandhi’s progressive ideas. It is a moot point whether Gandhi would have developed the same worldview that he did had he not had a chance to go to Britain. If we look at Gandhi’s choices—vegetarianism, celibacy, truth, non-violence, giving up western clothing in favour of the traditional Indian dhoti, his emphasis on using the right means to achieve right ends—it is quite clear that Oriental streams had more influence on Gandhi than the West. Also, going by Gandhi’s childhood and youth, the values of truth and non-violence were inherent in him. Even if he had not left the shores of the country, chances are that he would have arrived at the same point through a different set of experiences. This makes the book’s basic premise—that the credit for Gandhi’s holistic, democratic and humanitarian worldview goes to his exposure to the western world—flawed.

This apart, Gandhi comes across in a positive light and the book may inspire a few more individuals to adopt Gandhigiri as a lifestyle.From that standpoint, this is a very valuable piece of work, a collection of essays which, even though academic in nature, would have great practical value. Any work on Gandhi, if it cannot inspire a few more individuals to act in similar ways, would not be considered worthwhile, given the fact that Gandhi was a practitioner and an activist in addition to being a theorist.

By Sandeep Pandey