E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

42 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughta personal virtue; it must be a civic virtue. Gandhi encouragesus to think as human beings and citizens.Gandhi’s non-violence is of vital importance for Indiandemocracy. Dipankar Gupta points out that Gandhi’s onviolencereaches out to a high intellectual plane, for it presumesthat only when one loses a rational argument that violencebecomes a tempting option. This is the bedrock of thedemocratic temperament that Gandhi helped firm up. Withoutthe freedom to practice one’s faith, or the unbending equality inthe eyes of the law, or the fundamental right to express one’sviews freely and without fear, no democracy can hope forpolitical longevity. These foundational structures of our polityowe everything to Gandhi and to his insistence on nonviolence.Gandhi’s non-violence was a public ethic: it wasabout political conduct. By keeping guns and other bluntinstruments out of purview, Gandhi privileged rational debateto win a point. No other Indian leader before or after him hashammered away at this basic political modality with as muchunwavering commitment as Gandhi did. Gandhi’s non-violenceallowed the public discussion of issues that were vexingIndians on a national scale. It is through the medium of Gandhithat Indians could publicly discuss the relationship betweenclasses, between castes and between communities, the place ofwomen in public life and the interface between faiths. It is notas if a consensus was arrived at on any of these. But the factthat we could now talk about them helped us frame the basicrules of our Nation-State. Gandhi helped us think as citizensand that is what democracy is all about. 24Gandhi is important today, because there isrevolutionary element in him. J. B. Kriplani brings this tosurface when he points out that Gandhi set old ideas beforepeople: and he transformed old ideas into revolutionary.Mahatma’s non-violent method was much more revolutionary