The beauty of compromise-Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi is widely known for his experiments on satyagraha i.e.the truth force.One of the essential parts of Satyagraha was the spirit of compromise that Gandhi scrupulously followed during his initial days in South Africa and then later in India.However,Gandhi was equally conscious that compromise should not be undertaken at the cost of his universal principles based on truth.

In his autobiography,Gandhi wrote that the passion for truth had taught him the ‘beauty of compromise’. Gandhi liked to say that if many truths exist and if the enemy is not to be destroyed,the solution to any conflict is compromise.And to his biographer,Louis Fischer,he said”I am essentially a man inclined to compromise because I am never sure of possessing the truth in its pristine form.”

During his struggle in South-Africa,Gandhi emerged successful in ensuring the legitimate rights of the Indians in South-Africa.Gandhi was an astute person who knew when to call a movement and when to withdraw the non-violent movement.He was always ready for legitimate compromise with the opponent.Finally,before arriving to India in 1915,Gandhi played a decisive role in ensuring that the Indian masses in Natal and Transvaal(the two provinces in South-Africa)got their rights to settle and carry on with their occupation in an equal partnership with the whites in South-Africa.

Back in India,Gandhi used the tool of compromise to achieve political goals as well as social reform.In the 1920s,after he called off the non-cooperation movement,Gandhi was dedicatedly involved in constructive work.Among his notable successes was his campaign against untouchability.In 1924,for the unfettered use of road that led to the temple by the untouchables,it was the beauty of compromise that led to the final settlement.

India would have been a Hindu-Pakistan today had the political followers of Gandhi not followed the principles of religious pluralism and peaceful co-existence.Today.India is praised globally for its unity in diversity.The ability to remain consolidated despite the overwhelming religious,linguistic and ethnic diversities furthers the idea of India’s growing soft power.Similarly.the Indian constitution provided special privileges for the disadvantaged communities.This provided the socially disadvantaged groups the equality of opportunity so that India could be an inclusive democracy.

Remarkably,B.R.Ambedkar,the man who pioneered the affirmative movement for disadvantaged communities,was one of the fierce critics of Gandhi.Yet,the Congress party inducted Ambedkar as the country’s first law minister in its fold.It is speculated that Gandhi impressed upon the leaders in the Congress party to allot him the cabinet portfolio.Despite having differences with Ambedkar in political and ideological principles.Gandhi displayed an exemplary combination of personal generosity and political sagacity in the larger interests of the nation.

Among the less adequately recognized of Gandhi’s compromises was the forging of harmonious relationship with England in the post-independent era.In his visit to England in 1931 to attend the Round table conference,he was asked as to whether he would cut India off from the empire.Gandhi promptly replied that he would cut off his relationship entirely from the British empire,but not from the British nation.He suggested that India was ready to forge political relationship with the British nation for its political and social development,but on equal terms.Today India shares a cooperative engagement with the British unlike the political equations between France and Algeria,Dutch and Indonesia,the Belgians and the residents of Congo or the Japanese and the Koreans.India’s adoption of the English language as a link language is also a product of the mutual affection between India and England.

Gandhi’s cherished principle of the beauty of compromise is still largely relevant in the global context.The carving out of Bangladesh from erstwhile Pakistan took place primarily due to West Pakistan’s disregard towards Bengali culture of East Pakistan.Similarly.tensions in Sri-Lanka heightened after Sinhala and Buddhism was confirmed as the official language and official religion of the nation respectively.Consequently.the feeling of insecurity rose among the ethnic Tamil and Muslim minorities in north-eastern and eastern Sri-Lanka.

The famous socialist,Jai Prakash Narayan was deeply influenced by the Gandhi’s compromising nature.The less adequately recognized efforts of Jai Prakash Narayan was his efforts towards solving the Naga conflict and the volatile Kashmir situation.Jai Prakash Narayan liked to say that compromise was impossible only when one side of the dispute was 100 percent in the wrong.He believed that rights and wrongs were distributed evenly in most of the South-Asian conflicts and hence conflict resolution should not remain a far-fetched dream.