The whole world is but one family - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

Mahatma Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu
Sardar Patel Sarojini Naidu
28 | Bhavan Australia | February 2012
B.R. Ambedkar
violence let loose by communal orgy. He wanted
India and Pakistan to live in harmony and went on
fast for making India give Pakistan its due share
of assets, after it was withheld by Nehru and Patel
(Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister) on
the ground that the resources would be used for
military attacks on Kashmir and elsewhere.
The government of India had to succumb but
such was the anger of the Hindu extremism that
Nathuram Godse who was its embodiment shot at
Mahatma at his prayer meeting in Birla House. The
Mahatma died for the cause of communal harmony
with the name of Shri Ram on his lips.
Another great hindrance to the unity of India was
the existence of castes and sub castes amongst
Hindus arranged in a hierarchical order with
outcastes or Untouchables denied even basic
human dignity and access to drinking water from
common wells and lakes.
Mahatma Gandhi had definite ideas regarding the
economic, political and social system in free India.
Every citizen and family, every community must
feel free and not in anybody’s bondage. This meant
maximum decentralisation, not concentration of
power in those who run government at the centre
and in the states.
In his words, “Independence must mean
independence of the people of India and not those
who are ruling over them. The rulers of India would
have to be servants of the people, ready to do their
will. Independence must begin at the bottom. Every
village must be a Republic or Panchayat having
full powers. Every village has to be self-sustained
and capable of managing its affairs even to the
extent of defending itself against the whole world.
In the structure composed of innumerable village
communities, there will be, every widening never
ascending circles. The outermost circumference
will not wield power to crush the inner circle but
will give strength to all within and derive its own
strength from it.”
When the Indian Constitution was being framed
Gandhi was not there to guide the deliberation of
the Constituent Assembly. He was snatched away
by the bullet of an assassin less than six months
after the attainment of independence. However,
some members did ask for the Gandhian model for
our constitution instead of the Westminster model.
But this was not accepted. The Chairman of
the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, Dr.
Ambedkar totally opposed the concept of village
as a self-governing republic. All that was conceded
was a directive principle of the Constitution laying
down that ‘village panchayats shall be promoted as
units of self-govt.
An articulate advocate of Gandhian model was
Jayaprakash Narayan, one of the ardent followers
of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave. In 1959