E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Five Fallacies … 131dilution or compromise. It is the water of life. I have neverheard of water being diluted." 15 Would Gandhi, then, haveremained a silent and helpless witness? Were there no weaponsin his non-violent armoury, - fierce or gentle, subtle orotherwise, that he could have deployed? The least that aSatyagrahi could do, was not to evade the issue, take an openand unambiguous stand, desist from lending respectability toand cooperating with what was evil, and asking people too, tonon-cooperate. Do Gandhi's life and views give one reason tobelieve that he would have remained silent and helpless?To me, they do not.IVThe third fallacy concerns the concept of a consensus.The Satyagrahi undoubtedly wants and works for theemergence of a social consensus on his perception of Truth. Heis always prepared to submit his perception to scrutiny, everready to accept his errors, and to revise his perception of truthin the light of fresh evidence that may come to light. But, at anygiven moment, he has a perception which forms the basis ofany action that he might have to take to live by the Truth, tovindicate truth in his life, or in situations and relationships insocial life; and it is in favour of this perception that he wants aconsensus to emerge. He cannot be neutral to his perception oftruth; he cannot abandon it unless it is proved to erroneous. Norshould he be hesitant about working for the acceptance of hisperception of truth, as long as he believes in the rightness of hisperception.Consensus is defined in the Dictionary as "agreement",or 'unanimity' or general agreement in matters of opinion, etc.,also loosely in more recent usage, the verified or convergenttrend, as of opinion. It is the objective of a Satyagrahi to maketruth prevail. He has, therefore, to work for the acceptance oftruth or a social consensus on truth. A consensus, thus, is an