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.

AFSPA in North-East and Kashmir

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act(hereafter AFSPA) was enacted in 1958 with the aim to contain the secessionist armed rebellion started by Naga National Council(NNC) in 1950s.The provisions of the act were,by and large,borrowed from the colonial legislation of Armed Force Ordinance act,1942,devised originally to quell the Quit India movement.The AFSPA was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir,apart from all the states of North-East India.

The AFSPA is extended to those areas which are declared “disturbed” under the Disturbed Areas Act.It is an act with barely six sections. The controversial provisions of the act pertains to section 4 and section 6 of the act.The former authorizes a commissioned or a non-commissioned officer to fire upon somebody even to the extent of causing death, while the later mandates that no criminal proceedings shall be initiated against the armed personnel for his act while on duty.

The proponents of the act argue that the conferment of special powers on armed personnel provides protection and operational flexibility to carry out the counter-insurgency operations.The tactical delays in firing a terrorist,searching and raiding their hideouts might render the entire operation futile in want of permission and warrants.Moreover,in Jammu and Kashmir(J&K),the growing concern is about proxy war apart from insurgency.This reinforces their opinion for the continuance of AFSPA in the larger interests of national security and territorial integrity.

However,the skeptics are of the view that the law is utter draconian.That said,security personnels misuse the law and commit acts which violates the human rights.Various acts of rape,murder,arson have cropped up time and again in these areas.The Machil incident is a case in point,where the security personnel committed heinous crimes by murdering five unemployed youths and later branding them as cross-border infiltrators.Such acts,in all likelihood,embolden the insurgents to take up violence against the state resulting in a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence.The draconian act is also believed to have hindered any possibility of imminent cease-fire between the state and the warring insurgent groups.

The government had appointed a commission under the chairmanship of Jeevan Reddy to study the implementation of the act.Although the report was neither put in public domain nor tabled in Parliament,the leaked version of the report suggests that the committee was in favour of repeal of the act. Various supreme court judgements too have indicated that the provisions of the act are unduly harsh  for a democratic nation like India.The Justice Verma report recommended that the perpetrators of sexual violence against women ought to be tried in a civil court.All these recommendations are far from being implemented in letter and spirit.

Recently,the military court sentenced five persons to life imprisonment for their crimes in the Machil case.The landmark judgement helped in sustaining faith of the citizens in the credibility of democratic institutions. Though the act is unlikely to be repealed outrightly, certain provisions of the act can be modified in due course of time.The Standard Operating Procedures(SOP) outlined should be diligently followed and a robust oversight mechanism should be put in place. Moreover, armed personnels are to be made accountable for their acts of omission  and commission so that the culture of impunity ends in relation to crimes against humanity.

Freedom to speech means freedom to disagree

The freedom of speech and expression is the most basic of all freedoms granted to its citizens by a democratic nation.However,the degrees to which restrictions are put on the right to free expression vary from one country to another.The western nations,by and large,consider freedom of expression as an absolute right against which no restriction is deemed appropriate.On the contrary,India,by the first amendment of 1951,sought to impose reasonable restrictions on free speech as mandated by the article 19(2)of the Indian constitution.The statutory provisions pertaining to the limits on freedom of speech and expression is also dealt with by Article 153,Article 295 and Article 295-A of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).

Despite the umpteen number of laws that deals with freedom of expression,there are numerous instances alleging the violation of individual freedom and collective sentiments that crop up time and again in Indian social, political, cultural and legal discourse.They either take the form of violent street protests or extreme cases of physical violence as was exemplified by the murder of Narendra Dabholkar for his concerted movement against superstition.The recent case pertains to the protest against the book authored by Perumal Murugan,who then vowed to keep himself away from writing in future.Simultaneouly,in France,there has been public outcry against the perpetrators of Charlie Hebdo incident.

All these cases boils down to an important fact as to where is the red line between freedom of expression and the right to get offended.It is a truism that the tolerance level of society is gradually waning.Contrary to the popular perception that India is a maturing democracy,the growing levels of general intolerance among people has undermined the democratic spirit of our nation.For instance,recently some right wing elements staged undue demonstrations against a book authored by Perumal Murugan.The silence of the writer in the aftermath of demonstrations implies that the state government and the administration failed to protect the constitutional right of the individual in upholding his right to free speech.

The progress of a civilization means the evolution from barbarianism to intellectualism.The evolution towards a civilized society is possible only if people become tolerant to the critics.Indeed,critique is a movement by which the subject gives itself the right to question truth on its effects of power and to question power on its discourses of truth.No societal progress takes place without emotional violence with benevolent intentions.When scientist first broke the news that it was bacteria that caused communicable diseases instead of the punishment inflicted by angry Gods,people were hurt emotionally but it was a necessary development in the larger interests of the society.If people are offended,they have their right to disagree but on the same ideological plane.Countering an offensive view by taking to the streets or with the barrel of a gun does not bode well for the democratic traditions of a society.

However,in a multicultural society like India,the challenge is to strike a balance between protecting the individual freedom and respecting the collective sentiments of a group or sect.India is a nation of diversity.The coexistence of cultural groups amicably can happen only when there is agreement between the various cultural groups at the social level.The legal measures to curb hate speech are necessary but not sufficient condition for the harmonious existence of different socio-cultural groups.What is important is to foster greater understanding and tolerance for resecting the diversity that India is endowed with.

Here I am reminded of a statement by a prominent justice when he said”Our  tradition teaches tolerance,our philosophy preaches tolerance and our Constitution practices tolerance.Let us not dilute it.”Freedom of speech and expression is sterile unless we do not hurt someone with good intentions.India is transiting from an underdeveloped society to a developed nation.The transition stage is undoubtedly painful,but the hardships can be minimized only if we develop the culture of tolerance.

Famous Quotes 3

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in a moral crisis-Leo Tolstoy

Men may break,but they should not bend beyond brute force-Mahatma Gandhi

One who loses the argument starts the first fight-Ronald Reagan

By independence,we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong.If hereafter things go wrong,we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.-B.R.Ambedkar,speaking to the Constituent Assembly of India,26 November,1949

The fundamental principle that governs-or ought to govern human affairs,if we wish to avoid misunderstandings,conflicts or pointless utopias,is negotiation-Umberto Eco

Compromise was impossible only when one side to the dispute was 100 percent in the wrong-Jayprakash Narayan

The world suffers a lot,not because of the violence of the bad people,but because of the silence of the good people-Napoleon Bonaparte

Our tradition teaches tolerance,our philosophy preaches tolerance,our Constitution practices tolerance:let us not dilute it.-Justice Chinappa Reddy in a supreme court judgement in August 1986

Ignited minds of the youth is the greatest resource for the nation.-Abdul Kalam

It is the science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty,of insanitation and illiteracy.-Jawaharlal Nehru

Good Governance,is perhaps the single-most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development.-Kofi Annan

Manasa,Vacha,Karmana-"Happiness is when what you think,what you say and what you do are in harmony.-Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi and religion

The religious faith of Gandhi was shaped not only by his knowledge of sacred texts but his encounters with people of different faiths.He had widely read the Bhagavad Gita,the Quran and the Bible.He was too influenced by famous books,namely Leo Tolstoy’s The kingdom of God is within you,John Ruskin’s Unto the Last and The Perfect Way by Kingford and Maitland.Though he was born a Hindu,he was mentored by a Jain poet and thinker,Raychand Bhai in his initial days.In his days in England as well as South Africa,his contacts with Jewish and Christian English friends,Hindus,Muslims and Parsis further reinforced his views on religion.

An important element of Gandhi’s religious ecumenism was his belief that all religions lead to the same God.In Gandhi's view,different religions were merely ‘different roads that converges to the same point’.In the late 19^th century and early 20^th century,there were frantic efforts of proselytization by Christian missionaries and ‘shuddhi movement’ led by Hindu social organisations like Arya Samaj.That said,Gandhi was himself a man of message implying that no particular religion was superior to the other in terms of seeking God.

Second,Gandhi defied the argument that religious sacred texts were sacrosanct and infallible.In Gandhi’s view there were both truths and errors in religious texts.When some conservatives justified the practice of untouchability by stating that they were sanctioned by ancient Hindu texts,Gandhi retorted”If at all, I discovered that the Vedas,Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita claim divine authority for untouchability,nothing in this world would make me hold on to Hinduism.I should overthrow it overboard as I should overthrow a rotten apple.”Similarly,acts of conversion,according to Gandhi,was not sanctioned in Christian texts.

Third,Gandhi advocated that a human-being should stick to his own religion as there was ‘truth and content’ in every religion.Instead,a Hindu should endeavor to become a better Hindu,a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian.In his days in South-Africa,his friend and biographer Joseph Doke had persuaded him to embrace Christianity.Gandhi politely refuted Doke’s appeal stating that every religion delivers the same essential message of peace and humanity.Later,he stood against B.R.Ambedkar’s appeal to the Harijans(or people from lower caste)to convert into Buddhism in order to avoid the oppression of Brahminical tradition.

Fourth,Gandhi encouraged inter-religious dialogue.In his view,it could serve as a benchmark for the individuals to view their religion and faith in the critical reflections of another.Therefore,he conducted inter-faith prayer meetings in his ashrams,wherein texts from different religions were read together by his followers.

Fifth,Gandhi  believed that Moksha,or liberation from the cycle of birth and death,could be attained by following the path of truth,non-violence,compassion and most importantly ethical conduct.His famous quote’The service to man is the service to God’ was partly influenced by his correspondence with Jain mentor Raychandbhai and his reading of Tolstoy’s famous book’The kingdom of God is within you’.He believed that ‘the only way to find God is to see Him in His creation and to be one with it’.This can only be done by service of all.His belief in the principles of Daridranarayan and Sarvodaya i.e.upliftment of all originates from his conviction in ethical conduct.

Thus,Gandhi’s faith was central to Mahatma’s personal life and to his political practice.It is a truism that if we take the Mahatma’s faith and religion out of him.then Gandhi would not be the Mahatma.
(Ideas borrowed from Ramachandra Guha's writings on Gandhi)

Freedom of expression v/s Charlie Hebdo

The gruesome attack on French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo by the terrorists has shocked not only France but the entire world.It was a barbaric crime and a despicable act of cowardice by the fundamentalist groups.France,a country known for revolutionizing the idea of ‘liberty,equality and fraternity’since the French revolution in 1789 suddenly found its cherished ideal of ‘liberty’ being challenged by fringe elements.It was an assault on freedom of speech and expression.The gruesome act of terrorism cannot be justified in any manner.

However,freedom of expression is not an absolute right.That said,the right to free speech doesn’t give the exclusive right to offend someone on an extremely sensitive issue like religion.In a liberal nation like France,where people are largely tolerant,it is not easy to draw a red line between freedom of expression and the right to offend an individual or group.It is because France has refrained from banning hate speech and left it to society to discourage it politically and morally.In such a liberal ambience,a democratic nation like France comprising a considerable minority population, would do well to uphold religion as a private affair.

There are subtle differences between merely critiquing a religion and ridiculing a religion.To be critical of a religion is warranted as it attempts to expose the truths in a religion thus broadening the minds of the people in a contemporary world.However,ridiculing a religion has no place in a civilized society as it hurts the sentiments of an individual or larger group.The problem with the ongoing discussion of Charlie Hebdo is that it tends to confuse blasphemy with bigotry.The cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo,in my view,were bigoted rather than blasphemous.This in anyway doesn’t justify the physical violence as gruesome as the attack on group of journalists of Charlie Hebdo.

It is significant to note that in many western countries,there are laws against blasphemy.But these laws are restricted only to official christian denominations.For example.Britain has strict provisions against blasphemy pertaining to Christianity,but there is no legal ban on blasphemy against other religions like Hinduism and Islam.When a nation claims to be secular,every religion must be treated equally.In an increasingly globalised world of today,it is pertinent to treat everyone and every religion with equal respect.

In India,freedom of speech and expression comes with ‘reasonable restrictions’as guaranteed by article 19(2) of Indian constitution.These restrictions are meant to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of India,security of the state,public order,friendly relations with a foreign country,decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court,defamation or incitement to an offence.The most important statutory provisions under the ambit of article 19(2) are section 153,section 295 and section 295A of Indian Penal Code(IPC).The IT act is a relatively new law to regulate free speech on internet.As most of the provisions in these acts are subjectively defined,it leaves much scope for varied interpretations.In this context,freedom of expression often comes in conflict with the legal provisions.

Science,Mythology and facts

Science and technological inventions have played a vital role in making our lives easier.The importance of science and the realization of its potential is not a modern day concept.Since the dawn of human civilization,man became increasingly fascinated with scientific and technological inventions.It is due to this relentless pursuit towards scientific modernity that human has endeavoured to scale overwhelming heights in the realm of science and technology.

The other interesting picture is that of the relationship between modern science and Indian mythology.The Indian prime minister,in one of his speeches,invoked Indian mythology,by stating that the facial outlook of Lord Ganesha was a product of plastic surgery in ancient times.Moreover,he stated as to how Karna in ancient Mahabharata was born,not inside mother’s womb but outside of it.He attributed it to the prevalence of in-vitro fertilization during the epic period.

The recently concluded Indian Science Congress included a session on ‘Ancient science through sanskrit’for the first time in history.Particularly noticeable was the paper on ancient aviation,wherein a prominent scientist stated that ancient India knew of interplanetary aircraft that existed about 7000 years ago.As a reference ,he was quick to mention the ancient Vymanika Shastra ,a vedic aeronautical treatise by an ancient Rishi.Other prominent individuals have referred to vedas as the source of Heisenberg uncertainity,Pythagoras theorem and algebra.

The veracity of such statements are still not known till date.There is no concrete scientific evidence on matters related to ancient Gods and deities.In this case,eulogizing and glorifying the ancient past is a betrayal of the scientific temperament  and negation of the real scientific achievements that has been achieved so far.The invoking of interplanetary aircraft in a renowned scientific forum like Indian science congress is detrimental to the objective of elevating scientific research that it seeks to achieve.In 1974,a five-member group of aeronautical engineers from IISC Bangalore,took upon themselves the task of examining the viability of the 6*6 feet aircraft model mentioned in Rig veda.After intense deliberation ,they finally came to the conclusion that the the fundamental structure of the aircraft violated the basic principles of aerodynamics and propulsion.In this context,the exaltation of ancient Indian aviation,in the absence of evidence, was a regressive step pertaining to the promotion of scientific temperament.

Moreover,glorifying imaginary facts as a product of true Indian invention negates the real scientific achievements that India has achieved till date,For instance ,Indians can take real pride in Aryabhata’s contribution in astronomy and algebra or science of medicine as familiarized by Charaka.The 7.3 meter long,Ashoka pillar,that has resisted corrosion for centuries,is a classic example of India’s metallurgical richness.Similarly,the Jantar mantar in Delhi speaks volumes about the scientific advancements of India in the field of astronomy.In my view,juxtaposing India’s true scientific achievements with purely imaginary aspects of ancient Indian mythology would do more harm than good in our endeavor to project India as a credible scientific power.

There is no denying the fact that India is a rich civilization and a repository of ancient knowledge traditions.The government would do well to institutionalize history of science department in Indian universities.As an academic department and a full fledged academic course,we could delve deeper into our ancient knowledge tradition and examine the veracity of the oft-repeated scientific achievements of our past which remains still unverified.The mythological aspects should be confined only to pure imagination.It should not be glorified as a means to bring out the sense of superiority in India’s past for narrow political gains.The interlinking of mythology having no scientific basis with scientific achievements as well as the interference of politics in education should be done away with in order to take India to the heights of scientific endeavor.

It is worth mentioning the views of Jawaharlal Nehru as expressed in Discovery of India “If people believed in factual contents of these stories,the whole thing was absurd and ridiculous.But as soon as one ceased believing in them,they appeared in a new light,a new beauty,a wonderful flowering of richly endowed imagination,full of human lessons.”