Going back to the Gandhian basics might help us introspect both the rights and the wrongs
Remembering Mahatma Gandhi in March may appear to be out of tune. Particularly, when only until last month a significantly large section of young Indians was preoccupied with Saint Valentine. Yet, the present scenario does indicate that a brush with Gandhi may be the right thing to do when all other experiments do not seem to be working. The nation seems to be in some kind of turmoil. Polity has become torturous and the irony is that the most hit is the common man, though he is supposed to be the fountain of all authority. Naturally, a sense of despair builds up which gets further aggravated by the multiple psychological predictions prophesying for the umpteenth time that the ensuring electoral Kurukshetra may not lead to any conclusive outcome. Where do we need to look for when all options appear equally undesirable? A crucial question that does not have answers. But it is amidst this thicket of confusion and hopelessness that a silver lining appears in Gandhi. Though it may not be possible to reconstruct the bespectacled Mahatma, we may definitely recapitulate his ideas.
Well, the Mahatma had mentioned the seven social sins. They are politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice. No one perhaps disagrees with the fact that these sins have been responsible for our present day problems. Look at the causes of our woes today. Is it not the dichotomy between spiritual and material values that is the bane of our modern Indian society? Gandhi advocated ethical business leadership, socially responsible investing, transformative education and care and concern for nature. Is it not the neglect of these that we can trace the roots of the problems of the present day Indian society? Let us be honest about bringing in a change. The problem of our politics is that it lacks both modesty and honesty. This is the reason why our search for a good Government ends in a blind alley. Famous American statesman Thomas Jefferson had hit the nail on the head when he said, “The whole art of Government consists in the art of being honest.” And he was right because honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
The writer is a professor, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (Jharkhand). He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com