Need for social cohesion

Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary would once be celebrated by the nation on October 2. President Droupadi Murmu would lead the nation in paying homage to the father of the nation whose teachings on non-violence, social cohesion and the need to live in harmony with nature are perhaps more relevant today than when he lived and preached them. These lessons are applicable not only to India but to the world which marks October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence; the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution in June 2007 to declare it as such.

It would be useful to recall what the UNGA resolution noted in its preambular portion. It stated “Bearing in mind that non-violence, tolerance, full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, democracy, development, mutual understanding, respect for diversity are interlinked and mutually reinforcing” and “Reaffirming the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence and desiring to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence”. With these premises, principles and aspirations in mind the UNGA declared October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence.

The values mentioned in the preambular paragraphs are entirely consistent with the foundational principles of the Indian Republic. It is important that the Indian people and leaders, on all sides of the political and ideological divides, pay special heed to them. This is particularly so now when the digital age, with its quantum leaps in science and technology, is posing the greatest challenge to societies and polities everywhere. India is now the most populous country of the world. It is making rapid strides in the development process and harnessing the strength of digital applications to improve the lives of the marginalized and the poor. The Republic’s journey over the past seven decades and more have imbued each section of the people with the aspiration to improve its material condition. At the same time, it has also filled it with the determination to maintain its identity amidst the great changes taking place.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the clarion call of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayaas’. The challenge is to ensure that this call is translated through policies and programmes into implementable schemes which are monitored to ensure that economic progress reaches all. Even more, “sabka vishwas and sabka prayass” can only be gained if all sections of the Indian people feel that their identities are respected and assured. And, if they are infringed, either by the state or other groups, then they have the opportunity for redressal through timely judicial action.

Certainly, this is what Mahatma Gandhi worked for tirelessly all his life. This was most manifest when violence, with all its attendant consequences, gripped India as freedom drew near. Gandhiji was a champion for communal harmony and saw, as few have ever done, that the essence of all great faiths, underneath their differing theological manifestations and creeds, was the same. It was to enable people to live in harmony and peace, with their atavistic passions under control. For him, the way to achieve social cohesion was through deliberately promoting a culture of non-violence. Also, for him, non-violence was not passive acceptance of injustice but it was to demonstrate courage and faith in the face of persecution and injustice. It is significant that Gandhiji’s message resonated both with people who were wedded to guns as part of their culture as the Pushtoons as with those who had endured slavery and the most inhuman of conditions as the black population of the United States. The life and work of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and of Martin Luther King Jr. who were both inspired by Gandhiji are a testimony to the enormous influence that he had on the course of some events in the last century.

That there is need for social cohesion in India is so obvious that it hardly needs to be stated. This is also because of the great challenges the country faces on the security front. A cohesive society is a strategic asset. In the context of security challenges, it is wrong to think that Gandhiji taught that India should give priority to non-violence and accept the dictates or pressure of any foreign power. While he never compromised on the principle of non-violence it was never at the cost of national honour.

Independent India did not follow Gandhiji’s development model because it went in for industrialization and socialism with the state at the commanding heights of the economy. Other countries followed different models. All these have contributed, in some measure, to improving human life even though it has resulted in islands of affluence and profligacy amidst wide swathes of deprivation and poverty. What is more relevant is that these models of growth have not been in harmony with the environment. This is because they are based on greed. Yes, leaders of many countries are emphasizing the need for sustainable development so that climate change can be controlled. As it is, with global temperatures not having gone beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels the catastrophic effects of climate change are occurring, year after year. What will happen once they cross the 1.5 degrees threshold and approach 2 degrees rise is unimaginable. The global community hopes that the solution will lie in technology. It is true that technology will provide answers in some areas but there is no getting away from Gandhiji’s essential teaching that the planet has sufficient resources for humanity’s needs but not for its greed. That principle needs to be incorporated in all endevours for sustainable development.