Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
MKG probably one of the most spoken about and the most seen (on the greenbacks) of all time in our country’s rich history. Today there is a lot of skepticism about his ideals and principles and even debating his contributions in the freedom struggle. It is very sad and frustrating when people criticize him without understanding his ideas. There is a kind of notion in the minds of the youth today that we could have got freedom much earlier had we not followed Gandhiji. I would like to put forth my views on why we should think otherwise.
Non-Violence: a concept so simple but yet so difficult to understand and follow. Gandhiji not only understood the spiritual upliftment and the self esteem that it builds but also its practical value. In a physical battle there are many factors involved that can determine the outcome, apart from your determination and your love for your country. But using non violence the only thing needed is the determination to fight for your freedom and your rights. This is clearly evident from the fact that millions and millions of women who may not have physical strength but had the determination to fight for their country. Surprisingly even today military has reservations about enlisting women. It is phenomenal where in a country where women are so tied up in its customs and traditions that they should come out and fight with the men shoulder to shoulder for their right to freedom. No freedom struggle in the world can boast of such participation apart from ours. In a sense Gandhiji did more for women upliftment than any women’s bill or reservation can do.
‘Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err - Mahatma Gandhi’. He understood that the ultimate goal was not freedom from British rule but freedom in itself. A prime example is Russian revolution where after the revolution was successful czars were thrown out and tyranny was at an end but afterwards a civil war broke out. People who had fought all their lives knew nothing but to fight, had suddenly been handed over the job to administer the country. Gandhiji was well aware of this and knew that our country was not capable enough to work on its own and needed British help to administer. It would have been like giving a farmer run a mill to run which he wants to but has no idea how to.
The most important thing here to understand is that it was the values and his ideas that were great more than Gandhiji himself as a person. It was the not the charisma or leadership of Gandhiji that should be treasured but his ideas. If it was for his personal abilities then it would not have been possible for Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr. to use the same ideology to successfully attain freedom. I would like to end by saying that Gandhiji was not a God, he was not perfect he may have made mistakes in his life but judge his ideals and not the man himself, it is the ideas that made him to what he was and not the other way round.
