Hind Swaraj and the Way Forward in the 21st Century
Hind Swaraj and the Way Forward in the 21st Century
The one word that captures the quintessence of the Gandhian vision of liberative transformation is swaraj, presented in his seminal work, Hind Swaraj. The year 2009 marks the centenary of Hind Swaraj. On this occasion, Vidyajyoti organised a panel discussion on 27 February 2009 on the topic, ‘Hind Swaraj and the Way Forward in the 21st Century’.
The panellists included Dr Rajiv Vora and Dr Neeru Vora, founding members of Swaraj Peeth, a Gandhian Centre for Non-violence and Peace. Dr George-Gispert Sauch moderated the panel discussion.
In his explanation of the vision and idea of Swaraj, cultural democracy, as different from independence, Gandhiji put before us a civilizational image of individual human being and of nations in which everyone, lowliest of the low, could visualise his or her own moral identity and can realise moral aspirations. Moral order is one in which freedom and justice are not opposed but are merged symbiotically. Our quest leads us to Mahatma Gandhi’s root text or manifesto, Hind Swaraj. When Mahatma Gandhi followed what he wrote in the Hind Swaraj as he unfurled his epic struggle, a slumbering nation rose, became a superpower of non-violence, right at the time when the West was single mindedly pursuing the development of and mastery over weapons of mass destruction.
Does Hind Swaraj hold the same appeal today? The scene of violence at both the micro and the macro level has the same two polarities in different forms: exploitation of the weak by the powerful and extremism as a response. In absence of moral inspirational leaders and similarly in absence of any inspiring national institution, we believe that we still have a vision and a system of thought which has unbelievably proved its inspirational power. That vision and thought are encapsulated in the Hind Swaraj.
The panel discussion mainly tried to explore the appeal of Hind Swaraj today as a vision and philosophy of non-violence in all the departments of life.
