Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Oct 02, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Oct 02, 2002 |
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Opinion
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People Columns - Offhand Remembering Gandhi
IT IS once again the day of ritual obeisance to Gandhiji. Public figures will once again dutifully line up to garland his statues in cities, towns and hamlets, declaiming from platforms on his services and sacrifices. Is all this a waste of time, an exercise in hypocrisy, or an attempt to salve a guilty conscience? Not really. Gandhi's teachings are still relevant, if only because they bear the enduring stamp of India's ennobling cultural heritage. True, we seem to be confronting on all sides happenings and human behaviour that are the very negation of Gandhian legacy. But the worst we can do is to give ourselves up to cynicism and despair. Let us remember what Gandhi himself said: "In the midst of falsehood, truth persists. In the midst of darkness, light persists. In the midst of death, life persists". Among the many eternal verities Gandhi expounded, he himself attached supreme importance to persistence and perseverance in fighting evil — whether it was untouchability, colonial oppression, religious bigotry, violence, or exploitation in any form. It was this immense faith in himself and in the power of the people to set things right that led him to take on racism in South Africa and British imperialism in India. If we are still capable of feeling a heightened sense of hurt and outrage at injustices and destructive violence, it is largely due to the social involvement he ingrained in us through his admonitions when he was alive. In a manner of speaking, and strange as it may sound, information technology and knowledge revolution are imparting a new thrust to Gandhian tenets. The World Wide Web lays bare everything, and there is very little that can be hidden from the people. Access to information is bound to increase their collective hold over those appointed or elected to serve them. The utmost stress is laid these days on transparency as the core value of governance and human interactions and what is it but the other side of the coin of truth? Desisting from prostituting means for the sake of ends is only a paraphrase of the concept of accountability. We can be sure that the pervasive impact of technological innovation and the breaking of national boundaries and sovereignties, will neutralise narrow prejudices and antipathies over religions, caste, creed and languages. Gandhi's relevance, then, is to be viewed in the contemporary setting, and not just in terms of the approaches he adopted in his time. Emulating Gandhi does not mean going on fast, giving a call for hartal, or wearing khadi. It means being unselfishly wedded to public good, cultivating tolerance and compassion for fellow human beings, and standing up for what is right. It means simply living up to the maxim: To thine own self be true!
B. S. Raghavan
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