E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

162 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughthands of' power-seekers had been buried many fathoms deep.But, with the advent of freedom, politics itselfunderwent a change. It became a power game. Power ceased tobe looked upon as an instrument of social transformation. Itbecame a goal in itself. It became an obsession. Power waseverything; without it one could do nothing; without it one wasnothing. So one had to get to power at any cost, and to retainpower at any cost. One should not fight shy of using anyappeal, any argument, any libel that could help one to sway themind of the electorate, even if it meant appealing to what wasdivisive, selfish, and base; and even if the sway or influence didnot survive the frenzy that was created for a few days. It wassoon discovered that the appeal to the interests of a part paidmore electoral dividends than the appeal to the interests of thewhole. All political parties, therefore, entered into a fiercecompetition to discover, pamper, and exploit "sectional' anddivisive interests that helped them to climb the rungs of theladder of power. Parties began to woo communal forces,parochial forces, caste groups, linguistic or ethnic groups andso on, not to remind them of the imperative need to preservethe integrity of the nation, but to seek partisan dividends. Thosewho were the standard-bearers of secularism and the one-nationtheory were perhaps the first to lead others into the quagmire.The consequences that we see today are:(i) The surreptitious return of the theory that linkedreligion to nationhood;(ii) The emergence of movements that link ethnicaffinity to the right to nationhood; and(iii) The emergence of caste as a weapon in the strugglefor political power. -The first of these manifests itself in three forms:(a) Open revival or formation of political or electoral