An ethical ideological, moral, and political leader of India, contrary to popular belief Gandhi was never in charge of the country. Following independence from Britain the first elected Prime Minister was Nehru, from August 1947 until May 1964.
In striving for a united independent India something he perpetually had to contend with was the religious divide within British India. Counter to his wishes the larger Indian State was divided up into the countries of Pakistan in the West for Muslims, India (mostly Hindi dominated), Bangladesh (Muslim) to the east, and Burma (Buddhist) further east. As a Hindi it was his support for fair-play and equal treatment for Pakistan that led to his assassination by the Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse.
Background
Gandhi was born of the ‘merchant caste’ and his parents arranged a marriage for him at age 13, his first child was born when he was 15, surviving only some days, afterwards the couple had four sons.
He was admitted to study Law at University College London, UCL, in 1888, qualifying as a barrister in 1891, and immediately returned to India. In 1893 he accepted a twelve month job seconded to South Africa, part of the British Empire, to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders. He subsequently spent 21 years there, where his political, ethical and political views developed, that ‘Indianness’ transcended religion or caste. As a Hindi he witnessed Muslim discrimination against his own religious group, and counter to his experience in London he also faced white discrimination directed against all coloured people.
Gandhi returned to India in 1915, taking with him an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and activist. There he met, was influenced by, and subsequently influenced Indian politics, by Gokhale a key leader of the Congress Party, best known for his British style Whiggish restraint and moderation, and his insistence on working within the system for change and reform. Gandhi took Gokhale's traditional liberal approach and transformed it into something appearing completely Indian.
Gandhi appears to have adopted different postures at different times, to reconcile this it is necessary to consider this as partly due to his pragmatism and partly that over several decades his ideas were still evolving. During the 1900 Boer War he formed an ambulance corps of Indians to prove they were capable of ‘manly’ work. In 1906 he organised stretcher bearers during the Zulu War, to help legitimise their claims for full citizenship. In June 1918 he supported active recruitment within India for the British army. To this end National Defence presupposes individual pacifism, he did state that he “personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe,” pragmatically progressing toward his ultimate aim. It was during 1918 that his ideas of nonviolence and non-cooperation crystallised, culminating in 1919 with in a speech advocating his principle that all violence was evil and could not be justified.
From 1919 onward Gandhi made steps to incorporate Muslims into his practices and policies.
Gandhism
Gandhi developed the practise of nonviolence and truth in all situations, advocating that others do likewise, including Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), mutual tolerance among people of different creeds; and ‘syadvad’, the idea that all views of truth are partial, a doctrine laying at the heart of Satyagraha. From Hinduism he gained the central concepts of man as the battleground for forces of virtue and sin, and of the potential of love as a moving force. From Jainism, Gandhi took the idea of applying nonviolence to human situations and the theory that Absolute Reality may only be comprehended relatively in human affairs; which another way of appreciating the subjectivity of each person’s viewpoint.
Gandhi also adopted Christian-Islamic ideas of equality, brotherhood of man, and of turning the other cheek. He stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming one’s own demons, fears, and insecurities. He wrote: “There must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, and no undue pressure. If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy, we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.”
Toleration is a cornerstone of his ‘religious pluralism’ ideology, regarding respectful co-existence of diverse religious belief systems in society. But religious pluralism goes beyond toleration it includes acceptance that one's own religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus the acknowledgement that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions, and the concept that two or more religions with mutually exclusive truth claims can be equally valid. This was not difficult for Gandhi as pluralism is a natural part of Hinduism.
Gandhi’s behaviour was often noted for humility, which is also basic to the Hindi faith, where the word ‘Amanitvam’ is a fusion of pridelessness and the virtue of humility. Gandhi interprets the concept of humility broadly as an essential virtue that must exist in a person for other virtues to emerge. To him Humility cannot be cultivated, it has to be one of the starting points, and “humility cannot be an observance by itself. For it does not lend itself to being practiced. It is however an indispensable test of ahimsa (non-violence).” Humility is how one feels inside, a state of mind. A humble person is not himself conscious of his humility, Gandhi stated.
Regarding the Indian standard of living Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” And on morality and humility, “The marks of a man are who wants to realise Truth which is God. “He must reduce himself to zero and have perfect control over all his senses.”
Most significantly Gandhi once said of himself “there is no such thing as ‘Gandhism’, and I do not want to leave any sect after me.”
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