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Concept of Swaraj and Mahatma Gandhi : A Critical Analysis

16 October - 2015 Odisha ReviewINTRODUCTION:Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thegreatest leader of theIndian independencemovement inBritish-ruled india . Employingnon-violentcivil disobedience, Gandhi led india toindependence and inspired movements for civilrights and freedom across the He ispopularly known as Bapu (father of nation) whodominated the national movement of india from1919 to 1947. He was anapostle of peace, non-violenceand was ardent follower ofPurna Swaraj or His messagehas a universal appeal whichhas profound influence onhumanity till now. On Gandhi sinfluence in Indian politicsPandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote Gandhi s influence is notlimited to those who agree withhim or accept him as nationalleader, it extends to those whodisagree with him and criticisehim, at a time of action andstruggle when india s freedomis at stake they flock to him and look up to him astheir inevitable leader . Gandhian ideology wasan outcome of the synthesis of both moderate andextremist thoughts.

rule and political independence. Even he had devoted his life for that. He wanted to reconstruct India which was more essential to end the British Colonial Rule in India. 9 India was a colonial nation. But British domination was not the only form of subjugation suffered by her. India was the victim of many drawbacks which were her own making ...

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Transcription of Concept of Swaraj and Mahatma Gandhi : A Critical Analysis

1 16 October - 2015 Odisha ReviewINTRODUCTION:Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thegreatest leader of theIndian independencemovement inBritish-ruled india . Employingnon-violentcivil disobedience, Gandhi led india toindependence and inspired movements for civilrights and freedom across the He ispopularly known as Bapu (father of nation) whodominated the national movement of india from1919 to 1947. He was anapostle of peace, non-violenceand was ardent follower ofPurna Swaraj or His messagehas a universal appeal whichhas profound influence onhumanity till now. On Gandhi sinfluence in Indian politicsPandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote Gandhi s influence is notlimited to those who agree withhim or accept him as nationalleader, it extends to those whodisagree with him and criticisehim, at a time of action andstruggle when india s freedomis at stake they flock to him and look up to him astheir inevitable leader . Gandhian ideology wasan outcome of the synthesis of both moderate andextremist thoughts.

2 The different social and politicalworks of the moderates and extremists did notworry Mahatma Gandhi as he considered politicsas a method for social change. He had a vision ofSwaraj and his Concept ofSwaraj was just likeRama Rajya or kingdom of God on the the period when Gandhi sfreedom movement acquired its mass base, heagain and again defined and explained the conceptofSwarajas the goal of freedom struggle, interms of political, economic, social and moralrights of the downtrodden and exploited Indianmasses. BySwaraj, he meantfreedom and self-rule whichshould be practiced at threelevels, In case of individualSwaraj,it is self-control orSwaraj of the self. In case of the country, itis the freedom of india from theBritish clutch, and In case of communitylevel, it is GramSwarajorfreedom of village. The twentiethcentury marked withwidespread nationalmovement. It has been featured as a century ofwidespread democratic upsurge.

3 The first half ofthe century started movement to overthrow thecolonialism in Afro-Asian countries due toliberation struggles. By that time, india witnesseda freedom movement. In that Mahatma GandhiConcept of Swaraj and Mahatma Gandhi :A Critical AnalysisDhananjaya Kumar Rout17 October - 2015 Odisha Reviewhad a pivotal role. He used non-violent directactionSatyagraha as a technique of protest. TheIndian freedom movement led by MahatmaGandhi which used non-violent direct actionSatyagraha as a technique of struggle, wongeneral acclaim for the pioneering role it playedin sharpening and hastening the process ofdismantling the classical forms of colonialism The middle part of the centurywitnessed post-colonial transformation in thenewly independent Afro-Asian states. There wasa massive attempt for presumption of the statesas an effective mediator in improving theconditions of the weaker and poorer sections ofpeople.

4 For the purpose of ensuring social justiceand equality, the liberator of the oppressed wantedto work an engine of growth and developmentthat would usher in a new civil order based onprogress and prosperity and confer rights to lifeand liberty, equality and dignity, on the people atlarge .5 However the independent states facedsome disillusionment and demystification. Thestate initiated her expectations of the positive andinterventionist role. And the people presumedalliance between the state and the masses havebeen co mpletely OF Swaraj : Mahatma Gandhi was a unique freedomfighter. The anti-colonial freedom strugglelaunched by Gandhi for the liberation of india wasunique from many points of views. That it waspredominantly a non-violent and his struggle forthe liberation of india was based on s role in freedom movement wasmultidimensional. He was not limited with one aimonly to end the british rule in india . Of course,ending of british domination was his importantagenda.

5 His goals were greater and moreambitious. One of his important goals was toachieveSwaraj, Purna Swaraj or completeindependence. The wordSwaraj means , for Gandhi , Swaraj is the content ofan integral revolution that encompasses all spheresof life. At the individual level Swaraj is vitallyconnected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification andgrowingswadeshi or self-reliance .(5) Frompolitical point of viewSwaraj is self-governmentand not good government . For Gandhi , goodgovernment is no substitute for continuous effort to beindependent of government control, whether it isforeign government or whether it is , it is sovereignty of the people basedon pure moral authority. From economic point ofviewPurna Swarajis full economic freedom forthe toiling millions. According to Gandhi ," Swaraj of the people meant the sum total of theSwaraj (self-rule) of individuals and so heclarified that for himSwaraj meant freedom fo rthe meanest of his countrymen.

6 And in its fullestsense, Swaraj is much more than freedom fromall restraints, it is self-rule, self-restraint and couldbe equated withmokshaor salvation. 6 Gandhiji had serious attention on howto realiseSwaraj. He has pointed out that Swaraj will not drop from the cloud and it wouldbe the fruit of patience, perseverance, ceaselesstoil, courage and intelligent appreciation of theenvironment . He also observed that Swarajmeans vast organising ability, penetration into thevillages solely for the services of the villagers, inother words, it means national education ,education of the masses .7 In theGandhiandiscourse, mass education is conscientisation,mobilisation and empowerment, which makespeople capable and determines their power tostand up. He pointed out that, Real Swaraj willcome, not by the acquisition of authority but bythe acquisition of the capacity by all to resistauthority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be attained by educating the massesto a sense of their capacity to regulate and controlauthority.

7 818 October - 2015 Odisha ReviewPolitical liberty was an essentialprecondition of is the first step torealise the goal ofSwaraj. For politicalindependence of the people Gandhi had valuablecontributions and for that he worked with andthrough the Indian National Congress. Of course,there were serious philosophical and ideologicaldifferences between Gandhi and other prominentleaders of the Congress, particularly visualised a model ofSwarajand that model was developed and enunciated inhisHindSwaraj. It was his manifesto. But hisstrategy ofSwaraj was unacceptable to Nehruand other Congress leaders. They dismissed it ascompletely unreal. But his vision presented inHind Swaraj was ideal for the realisation of self-rule and political independence. Even he haddevoted his life for that. He wanted to reconstructIndia which was more essential to end the BritishColonial Rule in was a colonial nation. But Britishdomination was not the only form of subjugationsuffered by her.

8 india was the victim of manydrawbacks which were her own making. For thatforeign colonialism may not be blamed. HenceGandhi wanted an internal reform mainly throughself-motivated voluntary action in the form ofconstructive work. He dovetailed them into hisfreedom of his dream was tobe built from grassroots level. For Gandhi it meantthe elimination of all forms of domination,oppression, segregation and discrimination. TheSwaraj could eliminate the active use of non-violence. It could be achieved through theeconomic regeneration of rural india throughprogrammers like the revival and propagation ofkhadi and other related villages industries. Fortranslating these constructive programmers intoreality, organisations were necessary. In this regardthe Indian National Congress had vital role. TheCongress was chiefly concerned with the questionof political independence. It believed in mobilisingthe people politically for it. But it was not preparedto take up constructive work.

9 So,Gandhijifounded voluntary organisations to carry outhis constructive program. The All india SpinnersAssociation (AISA) and All india VillageIndustries Association (AIVIA), theHarijanSewak Sangh, the Leprosy Foundation etc.,are the best voluntary organisations. Throughthese organisations, Gandhi launched a massiveprogramme of rural reconstruction to empowerthe downtrodden people. These organisationswere primarily stressed on social transformationthrough their voluntary actions at the grassrootslevel. Their thrust was mainly social. However itdoes not mean that they were against politicaldevelopment. On the other hand, they developedwhat later came to be known as people s politicsand basic politics, which in turn helped in thestabilization oflokshakti or peoples power. Ofcourse, constructive workers were abstaining fromdirect political struggles. But on crucial occasionsGandhi enlisted their services for politicalmobilization. For instance, the seventy ninevo lunteers of Gandhi in theDandi salt march teamwere all constructive workers.

10 WhenGandhijilaunched the Individual Satyagraha there was themost prominent constructive workerVinoba,whom he selected as the firstSatyagrahi. Gandhihad vision of constructive work as a trainingprogrammer for non-violent resisters orsatyagrahies. He advocated the extensive useof constructive programme for preparing afavorable environment for wanted to transfer the Congressfrom political organisation to a constructive workorganisation. He proposed to rename theCongress asLok Sewak Sangh to mobilise thepeople to work and struggle Congressmen of the party-politicaldisposition had no heed to the advice of theMahatma. After Gandhi s assassination the19 October - 2015 Odisha Reviewconstructive workers, under the leadership ofVinoba Bhave, set up theSarva Seva Sangh atthe national level andSarvodaya Mandals at theregional state levels to carry onSamagra GramaSeva(integrated village service) to fulfill the two major non-violentmovements for socio-economic and politicalrevolution in india namely theBhoodan-Gramdan Movement underVinoba and the TotalRevolution movement underJayprakashNarayanan were established under the aegis oftheSarvodaya Movement.


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