Swaraj for All

If one were seated in the Parliament House at New Dehli in 1947 and was able to detach from Jawaharlal Nehru’s stirring address for a moment, he would become aware of a glaring absence. One did not have to think twice when Nehru alluded to ‘the greatest man of our generation’, yet this man was nowhere to be seen during this golden hour. While India was ridding herself of the British imperialists who had governed her for over a hundred years, Mahatma Gandhi was trying to stop the communal riots that had erupted as a result of this expulsion. He was unaffected by the hoisting of a new flag, the achievement of ‘self-determination ‘and institutions and realization of nationalistic goals. His secret? He had achieved self-rule well before the British had departed from the subcontinent.
Although Gandhi has plenty to say regarding railways, doctors and modern civilization what really baffles the reader (the one reading Gandhi’s work and the one present before the editor) is how Gandhi does not view the presence of the British as problematic. In a post war age ‘self-determination’ and being on equal footing with other countries in the international arena was considered the highest form of freedom, yet to Gandhi the concept freedom does not end with the establishment of a nation. It extends to one’s spiritual life (especially as far as the ‘Indian’ citizen is concerned) and attempts at decolonizing one’s mind. To Gandhi, when one is able to call a spade a spade and accept himself for who he truly is, and not try to emulate any third party, one is able to start recovering from the cognitive devastation that accompanies colonization and is able to gain the power if representation. Such form of escape was attempted by the students of UCT during 2015 after Maxwele ruined Cecil Rhodes’ statue. Gandhi takes pride in the portrayal of the Orient because at the end of the day it is who he truly is. He seems to thank his lucky stars that he is not a westerner and has not been perverted by modernization. He is aware of the fact that the British do not have to leave for his independence to begin, an approach which the reader is initially unable to come to terms with. Gandhi’s work applies not only to India but also extends to the Senegal described by Sembene and the Indian’s residing in Guatemala, making him an icon for the decolonized world as a whole.
Gandhi’s claim that ‘those alone who have been affected by Western Civilization have been enslaved’ frightens me. As someone who has been taught in an English medium school and thinks in English, his views seem to indicate that my generation and the one after it is not only still affected by colonialism but is suffering the worst effects. It seems to take a lot of strength to think about a good, orderly world without institutions and laws created by western civilization. For now I try to find comfort in Gandhi’s saying that ‘Those who want to do good are not selfish, they are not in a hurry’ and hope to find courage to think differently one day at a time.