The Hindu : Gandhi played multiple roles: Guha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 28, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Gandhi played multiple roles: Guha

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JAN. 27. Mahatma Gandhi selling autographs to raise money during a `padayatra' through Karnataka was just one of the fascinating images the writer and historian, Ramachandra Guha, conjured up, as he discussed `The multiple careers of Mahatma Gandhi' at the Chennai Mathematical Institute here today.

Mr. Guha's talk centred round Gandhi pursuing four careers simultaneously - as freedom fighter, social reformer, religious pluralist and prophet/ futurist. What made him extraordinary was that he approached each of the roles uniquely and effectively.

Although a number of people participated in the struggle for independence, Gandhi stood out for he alone could bring "together diverse constituencies" (people from different religious, social and economic backgrounds for example) into one group.

More importantly, he introduced Satyagraha - non-violent struggle - to a country, where all freedom fighters were either law-abiding pacifists or revolutionaries.

As a social reformer, Gandhi's greatest contributions were "in the realm of caste and gender relations," because "practice was always ahead of theory." Mr. Guha illustrated how the Mahatma's thoughts on a subject did not always concur with his actions saying, "Though Gandhi was a traditionalist, who probably believed that a woman's place was at home, he brought thousands of women into public life."

Fight against untouchability

Gandhi's fight against untouchability was his most important contribution to this facet of his `career'.

And he inspired ways of carrying out his work. At the padyatra, Gandhi apparently sold pre-signed autographs and photographs of popular profile freedom fighters such as Nehru and himself.

"He realised that religion was not something that would disappear with modernism" as it "responded to a basic, human need." Gandhi promoted this line of thinking, introducing inter-faith prayer meetings and encouraging inter-faith dialogue.

As a prophet and futurist, Gandhi introduced the idea of `appropriate technology' and cautioned development experts on the inevitable environmental fallout if too much was done too soon.

Mr. Guha said his work was endlessly intriguing because Gandhi's ideas, "specific and universal", were "not only original but also controversial." "What makes them even more interesting is that even 55 years after his death, we are still arguing with Gandhi."

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