Relevance Of Gandhi’s Satyagraha Mantra In The Age Of Economic And Political Wars

It involved active non-violent resistance against injustice, emphasising love, truth, and self-sacrifice. Gandhi believed that non-violence is a universal principle, the very law of our being, and a force more powerful than violence.

In today’s world of growing uncertainties stemming from wars and trade policies Gandhi’s ideas are more than relevant. 

His ideas and practice of satyagraha are not just vague thoughts but quite implementable and implantable in the resolution of ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. 

He thought both state and market as embodiments of direct and indirect violence. Therefore, he wanted to have these two institutions as less as possible. When the world leaders are fighting to restore peace in the war-torn areas of Europe and West Asia, they must rely on the principle of non-violence of Mahatma Gandhi. The dialogue among the parties should also follow the same principle.  

Gandhi was the first person in the history of humankind to experiment with non-violence for social, economic, and political transformation. Before his experiments, truth, non-violence, love, compassion, forgiveness, etc., were values of individual conduct. Many great figures had preached that humans should individually observe all these values in their relations with other individuals. Gandhi transformed these personal values into tools for social, economic, and political change and conducted experiments to that end. 

Gandhi brought love and non-violence to the public sphere and made them ideals of social life, not just ideals for an individual's life. Thus, he established that what is good for individual life is also desirable for social life at the collective level. The ideal one holds in individual life should be the same in social life. It is therefore very important for the free market lovers and proponents of so-called globalisation to rethink their strategy of economic welfare of the people. 

Hence, the Gandhian concept of Swadeshi is being reinforced with or without his name or his phraseology of swadeshi, just because the national and world economies are facing the problems of unemployment at the local level and anxieties of hunger and malnutrition at a much wider level.  

The world is facing a great “legitimation crisis” of the state. Consequently, world leaders face unrest almost everywhere. The state has become an instrument in the hands of the trillionaires. 

Gandhi proposed an economy with sustenance. 

His relevance lies in the decentralization of economic and political power. He was known anarchist and wanted the state to be minimum. This minimalist approach of Gandhi leads us to devise methods for decentralisation of production and consumption in the sphere of economy and to have new methods for governing executive power at the lowest level.    

Gandhi even named his experiments with non-violence the "Experiments with Truth" because he understood that truth and non-violence are two sides of the same coin. These experiments were experiments with truth and non-violence that he conducted in his personal life, as well as experiments in public life. The achievement he attained was both personal and public. Because of this, truth and non-violence were enshrined in public life for the very first time.

Satyagraha, A Weapon

Gandhi gave humanity a new weapon in the name of Satyagraha. Satyagraha is a non-violent weapon of resistance against those in power. 

He made strenuous efforts to make it a tool for social, economic, and political change. The faith inherent in it is that even the opponent, the one against whom the weapon of Satyagraha is used, will eventually relent. 

Gandhi said, "The entire philosophy of Satyagraha is built upon the faith in all living beings." This means that a Satyagrahi maintains the belief that even the authorities against whom the weapon of Satyagraha is raised will ultimately accept their point of view. In today’s age  of heinous and devastating wars and exploitative global economic system, Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha is highly relevant. Let the peace on earth prevail through non-violence and love.   

(The author is a former principal of H K Arts College, Ahmedabad. He is a prominent commentator on political and economic affairs. Views are personal)