E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

1Five Fallacies – And the Future*ISome months ago, I had an opportunity to attend ameeting of prominent Sarvodaya workers from different partsof the country. The purpose of the meeting was to look at theGeneral Elections that were due, and to exchange views onwhether those who claimed to follow Gandhi had any specialrole or duty in the ensuing elections. The views that wereexpressed covered a very wide spectrum; some holding thatthose who followed Gandhi could have nothing to do withpolitics and elections, some holding that it would be derelictionof duty not to work openly for the removal of the party inpower. Almost all those who spoke - with one or twoexceptions - had no doubt that the Government had no faith inGandhian values or in Gandhian concepts of development or ina non-violent society. They believed that the Government wastaking the country on the path to ruin. Many of them recalledthat the Sarva Seva Sangh itself, had, in an earlier resolution,described the Government and its policies as 'anti-people'. Noone would want an anti-people Government to continue; but thequestion was whether one should not only wish that theGovernment disappeared; but also work to see that theelectorate seized the opportunity and removed the Governmentby voting against it, by voting for the Opposition. Some heldthe view that to speak against the Government and to ask theelectorate to reject the ruling party and vote for the oppositionwould be to enter the field of politics which was taboo for thefollowers of Gandhi.There was no clear answer to the question: if they had