E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

152 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtdid not want them to look upon us as alternative executors ofthe popular will in relation to the functions of government.Thus, if political action has to include both Satyagrahaand electoral action, it has become necessary for us to reviewwhich forms of these have to be adopted today to increase oureffectiveness, in terms of: (a) the ultimate goal; (b) theresponses that are required in the immediate present to dealwith explosive situations that arise; and (c) the need to see thatundesirable trends do not become irreversible.We have thus to have programmes of:a) Constructive-developmental work; to afford relief; show theviability of our ideas of development; to pave the way forthe economic and social order we visualise; to generate thepower and organisation necessary for struggle, if strugglebecomes necessary. Organisation relates resources andenergy to the objective, and enables us to look for a gradedpath to the goal.b) Non-violent struggle or Satyagraha to deal with localgrievances, to secure justice, for disabled, exploited andendangered groups. It may be necessary to review many ofthe forms of unarmed struggle that are in vogue today, - likegheraos and rasta rokos, from the point of view ofSatyagraha These may be 'unarmed' struggles; and theorganisers of such struggles may describe them as'Satyagraha'; but there is a basic difference between aSatyagraha struggle and an 'unarmed struggle'. An unarmedstruggle can result in violence, deaths and the exacerbationof animosities. A Satyagrahi struggle is motivated by love,and is meant to pave the way for persuasion, not physicalcoercion. It is obvious that one can not embark on a detailedexamination of all these forms in this paper.c) Political action that may include both electoral action, and