E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Is There an Alternative to… 157will be equal rights and equal opportunities in which man-madedisparities will be minimised or eliminated; in which there willbe no exploitation or discrimination; in which the ownership ofwealth and instruments of production will subserve theseobjectives, and not the creation and exacerbation of inequalitiesand disparities; in which there will be maximum selfgovernmentand participatory democracy at all levels, and in allsocial institutions that govern the life of the people; and inwhich unarmed people will have the ability to control andcorrect the abuse of the power that emanates from them, and isexercised in their name.A logical and legitimate way of examining the questionwhether we have failed will be to begin by asking ourselveswhy we struggled for independence, and what our conceptionof independence was. Why did we believe that Swaraj was ourbirthright, and the re-assertion of national sovereignty orcomplete independence was the first step that we had to take ifour people were to come into their own, if their poverty was to,be liquidated, their human dignity was to be restored, and thedoors to growth and self-expression opened to them? For ananswer, we have only to look at the Independence pledge thatwas taken in 1930: "We believe that it is the inalienable right ofthe Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom, andenjoy the fruits of their toil, and have the necessities of life sothat they have full opportunities of growth. We believe also thatif any Government deprives a people of these rights andoppresses them, the people have a further right to alter it or toabolish it. The British Government in India has not onlydeprived the Indian people of their freedom, but has based itselfon the exploitation of the masses and has ruined Indiaeconomically, politically, culturally and spiritually. We believetherefore that India must sever the British connection and attainPurna Swaraj or complete independence. India has been ruinedeconomically. Village industries such as hand spinning have