E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

134 Contextualising Gandhian ThoughtSatyagrahi to cling to his perception of truth and hiscommitment to fight for it than to cling to his company, - eitherout of affection, as in the case of the family, and those who arenear and dear, or out of a desire to seek strength in numbers.Gandhi has repeatedly declared that the Satyagrahi hasto be prepared to be in a minority of one. How can one be in aminority of one if one is willing to submit oneself to a"consensus" on fundamentals?It is acknowledged that when the Satyagrahi isconvinced of a certain truth or a certain course of action, hedoes not wait till he convinces others. He starts with himself.He cannot absolve himself of the responsibility to act indefense of his perception of truth on the ground that he iswaiting for others to accept it. It is morally indefensible for theSatyagrahi to continue to acquiesce and cooperate or refrainfrom action on the ground that the others are not ready. He canact concurrently with the effort to convince others or to convertthe majority. Movements for reform or revolts against injusticeand exploitation or against adharma have started as one-manmovementsor minority movements.If Prahlad had agreed to abide by a consensus in theCourt of his father, he might well have had to accept that therewas no God. If Socrates had accepted to abide by the consensusof his disciples, he would have fled his city to save his life "forhumanity" and not drunk hemlock to become a martyr, tobecome a Satyagrahi. If Gandhi had offered to abide by theconsensus of his colleagues, his life would have been different.At almost every stage in South Africa he stuck to his viewseven when his colleagues differed. At the Amritsar Congress,Gandhi was in favour of cooperation with the Government.Most of the other leaders were not. He first thought of leavingthe Punjab and the session to avoid a conflict with the leaders.