________________
government. But if it is to satisfy, self-government beyond their shores. In this, lies the foundation of must be grounded on the control that leaders and the Gandhian model of decolonisaiton. citizens exercise over themselves.
From the four sentences of Rajmohan Gandhi Also, Hindus and Muslims all belong to the (2006:153), Hind Swaraj can be seen as woven composite Indian nation which is perfectly entitled around the principal themes of colonisation, to self-government. Regecting western/ modern modernisation and economic system. Even these civilisation and its inseparable component, brute three themes can further be reduced to one word, force, Indian must embrace the simple life, swadeshi i.e., 'exploitation' in economic terms or 'injustice' in (What one's own country makes), and satyagraha. ethical terms. Both terms are interrelated because Only non-violence suits the genius of India; violence injustice is a consequence of exploitation that is futile, western and destructive of India's future alllows certain privileged vested interests to (Gandhi 2006: 153)
maintain structures for their selfish ends. It creates The First paragraph of the preceding quote a parasitic class that thrives on the sweat of the defines swaraj and the second, the Hind of the title. unprivileged. And that makes it unethical and a spot Along with it, Gandhi informed us about his own of concern to democratic institution, for the very concept of nation, marked by 'composite' character. existence of exploitation is symptomatic of the Rejecting the exclusivist/jingoist notion of nation, he failure of democracy. punctured the myth peddled by colonial scholars who Gandhi objected to colonisation and gave the credit of making India a nation to the British. modernisation/ civilisation because they denied To Gandhi, India was a 'natural and cultural nation dignity to human beings and thrived on the which was made so before the British came, by the exploitaiton of many by a few, thereby perpetrating great men and seers of India who travelled from one injustice. Here, it has to be borne in mind that in part to another. He added that Indian resistance to Hind Swaraj, Gandhi seemed to the concerned with colonisation and struggle for freedom made India external colonisation, but his life and work proved a political nation. Here it is worth noting that Gandhi's that his struggle against exploitation went beyond inclusive concept of nation countered the narrow. targeting foreign rule, as it included targeting internal Western nation of nation that informed Tagore's colonisation in a society by a dominant class, caste, concept of nationalism in his book Nationalism group, gender or religion. That is why he waged (1917) (See singh 2006)
struggle against the exploitation of labourers, For Gandhi, happiness lay in simplicity. It was farmers, low castes and communal divide. In this in direct proportion to freedom from dependence sense, his project against colonisation, exploitation on external factors. The greater the dependence on and injustice emerges as a trope for struggle other, the lesser the chances of attaining happiness. against exploitation and injustice, without harbouring He saw 'village' as an elementary unit of the nation any ill-will for the persons responsible for them. whose happiness would depend on the mantra of Gandhi understood the true character of self-reliance, with its members as 'prosumers' colonisation which necessitated the colonised (producers as consumers), not depending on any societies to be termed as the 'areas of darkness' city or metropolis. Happy villages would make a and 'White man's burden'. Colonisers used happy nation, and happy nationalism would lead to modernisation, enlightenment and development as happy internationalism. The seeds of conflict excuses to justify their presence in the colonies and between nations often lie either in their greed or in to continue the exploitation of resources - natural their reliance on economic/energy resources (raw material), human (bonded labour), economic
490
-
8 211-24uRule
પ્રબુદ્ધ જીવન : ગાંધી સાર્ધ શતાબ્દી વિશેષાંક (ઑકટોબર- ૨૦૧૮
