E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

100 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtnonviolent action may be indistinguishable from the other.There is also the argument that it is not possible for ordinarypeople to practise the highly principled forms of nonviolenceand that they would find pragmatic nonviolence moreappealing. A result-oriented pragmatic nonviolence can be auseful starting point for the development of more principledforms in future. The principled form may be held up as an idealstandard to reach, but will prove to be a fetter on actionists ifsuch a standard is insisted upon from the start itself. Gandhihimself was aware of the possibilities of such progression innonviolence. It may be noted that it is pragmatic nonviolencethat is being increasingly sold in the West and in the manyuprisings against authoritarianism that we see all around theworld. Gandhi is seen through pragmatic lenses and GeneSharp has been known for secularizing Gandhi and presentinghim as a tactician par excellence to potential nonviolentactionists worldwide.Marxists would see Gandhian nonviolence asreactionary, serving the interests of the oppressors. Violence,for them, is about defending life while nonviolence amounts tosacrificing life. The narrower nonviolent actionists would saythat Gandhian type of nonviolence is confusing and far tooreligious for its easy adoption across cultural barriers. Somewould say that one should distinguish between action directedagainst a foreign adversary and one’s own seemingly legitimatenational adversary. This was the bone of contention betweenJayaprakash Narain and Vinoba. Vinoba said, in a post-conflictsituation like India, there should not be nonviolent resistance,but nonviolent assistance through programmes like theBhoodan. Feminist theorists would question the notion ofwithdrawing consent from patriarchy by saying that it isinapplicable in the case of women.