Lesson 2 Swaraj Important Notes

 

Lesson 2 Swaraj

Swaraj means self rule. It has a metaphysical in the system of Gandhiji. The word Swaraj is a sacred word, a Vedic word, meaning self-rule and self-restraint, and not freedom from all restraint which ‘independence’ often means.

With the re-establishment of communal disharmony between the two prominent religious communities, namely, Hindu and Muslim had began ugly head in the 20th century. For centuries Muslims in India had been co-existing with Hindus as an integral part of Society in thousands of villages spread through out the nook and corner of the country. Muslims in India were local converts who belonged to the lower order of the village society. The caste or class economic division within Hindus and Muslims forced the members of these communities to identify themselves with each other on economic division rather than on religious beliefs.

The other two prominent problems that engaged the mind of Gandhi were low status of Harijans and women in the villages of India. By Swaraj Gandhiji mean the government of India by the consent of the people as ascertained by the largest number of the adult population, male or female, native-born or domiciled, who have contributed by manual labour to the service of the State and who have taken the trouble of having their names registered as voters.

Swaraj for the Poor

The Swaraj of Gandhi’s dream recognizes no race or religious distinctions. Not is it to be the monopoly of the lettered persons or yet of moneyed men. Swaraj is to be for all, including the former, but emphatically including the maimed, the blind, the starving, toiling millions.

The Swaraj of Gandhi’s dream is the poor man’s Swaraj. The necessaries of life should been joyed by you in common with those enjoyed by the princes and the moneyed men. But that does not mean that they should have palaces like theirs.

Real Swaraj must be felt by all-man, woman and child. To labour for that consummation is true revolution, India has become a pattern for all exploited races of the earth, because India’s has been an open, unarmed effort which demands sacrifice from all without inflicting injury on the usurper. The millions in India would not have been awakened but for the open, unarmed struggle.

No Majority Rule

It has been said that Indian Swaraj will be the rule of the majority community, i.e., the Hindus.

There could not be a greater mistakes than that. If it were to be true, I for one would refuse to call it Swaraj and would fight it with all the strength at my command, for to me Hind Swaraj is the rule of all people, is the rule of justice. Whether, under rule, the ministers were Hindus or Musalmans or Sikhs and whether legislatures were exclusively filled by the Hindus or Musalmans or any other community, they would have to do even-handed justice.

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Achievement of Swaraj

Swaraj is the abandonment of the fear of death. A nation which allows itself to be influenced by the fear of death cannot attain Swaraj, and cannot retain it if some-how attained.

Swaraj can never be a free gift by one nation to another. It is a treasure to be purchased with a nation’s best blood. It will cease to be a gift when we have paid dearly for it. … Swaraj will be a fruit of incessant labour, suffering beyond measure. (YI, 5-1-1922, p. 4) Surely Swaraj will not drop from the clouds.

Swaraj is a painful climb. It requires attention to details. It means vast organizing ability, it means penetration into the villages solely for the service of the villagers. In other words, it means national education, i.e., education of the masse. It means an awakening of national consciousness among the masses.

One sometimes hears it said: ‘Let us get the government of India in our own hands and everything will be all right. There could be no greater superstition than this. No nation has thus gained its independence. The splendor of the spring is reflected in every tree, the whole earth is then filled with the freshness of youth.

Basis of Self-Sacrifice

Swaraj can be maintained only where there is amajority of loyal and patriotic people to whom the good of the nation is paramount above allother considerations what-ever including their personal profit.

Without a large, very large, army of self sacrificing and determined workers, realprogress of the masses I hold to be an impossibility. And without that progress, there is no such thing as Swaraj. Progress towards Swaraj will be in exact proportion to the increase in the number of workers who will dare to sacrifice their all for the cause of the poor. Through Truth and Nonviolence If we wish to achieve Swaraj through truth and non-violence, gradual but steady building-upfrom the bottom upwards by constructive effort is the only way. This rules out the deliberate creation of an anarchical state for the over throw of the established order in the hope of throwing up from within a dictator who would rule with a rod of iron and produce order out disorder.

We have all-rulers and ruled-been living so long in a stifling, unnatural atmosphere that we might well feel, in the beginning, that we have lost the lungs for breathing the invigorating ozone of freedom. If the reality comes in an orderly, that is, a non-violent manner, because the parties feel that it is right, it will be a revealing lesson for the world.

 

Genius of Our Civilization

Gandhiji’s Swaraj is to keep intact the genius of our civilization which should be written as many new thing but they must be all written on the Indian slate. If Swaraj was not meant to civilize us, and to purify and stabilize our civilization, it would be nothing worth.

Gandhi’s Ramrajya is regarded as the part of Swaraj. Ramrajya is regarded as the kingdom of dharma. Gandhi said swaraj is all embracing. It does not include complete independence along with many other things. Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Ram Manohar Lohia gave a moral boost to Gandhiji to attain Swaraj for the country.

Gandhiji did not want any economic classification of social classes or casteism under his concept of Swaraj. Gandhi fought for Indian independence from foreign domination. In order to define swaraj, Gandhi also talked about Village Swaraj. The Village Swaraj according to him, is a complete village republic, independent, of its neighbours for its vital needs. The first concern of every village would be to run it affairs on cooperative basis. The government of the village would be conducted by the Panchayat of five persons, annually elected by the adult villagers, male and female.

Gandhiji changed the character of the national movement, gave it a new ideology, a new method of action, a unique moral code and a mass based leadership in the post-first world war era. Gandhi evolved a programme of struggle which mobilized the divergent groups and classes and various sections of people-industrialist, workers, peasants, traders, students, lawyers, lower classes and women-and made it a multi-class and mass based national movement. He called upon the peasants not to pay taxes to the government, exhorted the students to boycott the educational institutions, called upon the lawyers to desert the courts and asked women to picket the liquor shops.

Satyagraha and ahimsa (non-violence) formed the basis of his philosophy. According to him search for truth was the goal of life and since no one could be sure of having attained the ultimate truth, use of violence to enforce one’s own truth was sinful. For him, the real enemy was not the British political domination alone but the whole modern industrial civilization of which British Raj was the symbol. Hence for him, attainment of political swaraj would only mean ‘English rule without Englishmen’.

Such an ‘ordered anarchy’ would consist of three elements: non-violent state through village republics, Swaraj and Ramrajya. To quote Hind Swaraj again, ‘the state should be composed of self-governing and self-sufficient village communities with expanding circles upward, i.e. from village to talukas, from talukas to district, from district to province to the centre, each tier enjoying considerable autonomy.

Ramrajya: By Ramarajya Gandhiji do not mean Hindu Raj. Imean by Ramarajya Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God. For him Rama and Rahim are one and the same deity. He acknowledge no other God but the one God of truth and righteousness. Whether Rama of my imagination ever lived ornot on this earth, the ancient ideal of Ramarajya is undoubtedly one of true democracy in whichthe meanest citizen could be sure of swift justice without an elaborate and costly procedure. Even the dog is described by the poet to have received justice under Ramarajya.

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Definition of Independence

By political independence he do not mean an imitation to the British House of commons, or the soviet rule of Russia or the Fascist rule of Italy or the Nazi rule of Germany. They have systems suited to their genius. Gandhi said, we must have ours suited to ours. What that can be is morethan I can tell. Gandhi have described it as Ramarajya i.e., sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority.

He do not know it will be like in Heaven and have no desire to know the distant scene. If the present is attractive enough, the future cannot be very unlike.

No Coercion: Gandhiji’s conception of Ramarajya excludes there placement of the British army by a national army of occupation. A country that is governed by even its national army can never be morallyfree and, therefore, its so-called weakest member can never rise to his fullest moral height.

Respect for Others: Hinduism according to Gandhiji teaches to respect all religions.In this lies the secret of Ramarajya. If you want to see God in the form of Ramarajya,the first requisite is self-introspection. You haveto magnify your own faults a thousand fold andshut your eyes to the faults of your neighbours.That is the only way to real progress.

Gandhi was primarily a man of action and not a philosopher or political theorist. At practical level, he initiated a movement which was national in the real sense and the philosophy which could assimilate the fundamental tenets of various political groups inside the country, thereby making it considerable section of people. For the success of such movement, it was necessary that it should be so designed as to satisfy diverse groups with conflicting ideas and even clashing interests.

Movements Led by Gandhiji to Free India From the Britishers Include

Rowlatt Act: The Sedition committee appointed under the Chairmanship of Justice Rowlatt to study the revolutionary activities suggested certain measures of arbitrary arrests without trial and restrictions on the movement of persons suspected of anti-government activities. The Government moved two bills in the central legislature in February 1919 to give effect to the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee (The bills came to be known as Rowlatt Bills or Black Bills).

Inspite of opposition unanimous Indian opposition, the Bills were passed as Anarchial and Revolutionary Act, 1919. The Bills provoked a wave of resentment throughout the country among the Moderates, Extremists, the younger generation and members of the Home Rule Leagues. Though opposition was unanimous, it was left to Gandhi to lead an all-India protest against it. Gandhi started a countrywide campaign against the Act and decided to oppose it through Satyagraha.

Khilafat Movement: As the agitation against Rowlatt Act came to an end, Gandhi was being drawn into the Khilafat question which soon gave him an opportunity to forge Hindu-Muslim unity and launch a non-cooperation movement against the British rule. The Lucknow Pact did not form a adequate basis for unity and Khilafat agitation was ‘an opportunity of uniting Hindus and Muslims as would not rise in a hundred years.

Therefore they demanded (i) maintenance of the religious prestige and temporal power of the Caliph’s duties in the preservation of holy places such as Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. This could be done by giving complete self[1]government under Caliph’s control over the holy places; (ii) Guaranteeing sovereignty of the Muslim states, forbidding the imposition of the members of Britain and France over the State of Arab states. The Arabs were incited by the British, revolted against their Sovereign Caliph. The Greeks were incited to grab even the homeland of the Turks, the Arab Provinces of Turkey. Mustafa Kamal Pasha by his force by his heroic efforts saved by Turkey but lost control of the Arab lands including the Holy places of Islam.

The Khilafat movement had two strands-Moderates and Radicals. Moderates focused around the All India Khilafat Committee wanted to limit the agitations to meetings, deputations and memorials to London and Paris. The radical strand consisted of lower class journalists and Ulama with considerable influence over small towns and villages and was led by Ali Brothers. Gandhi played as mediating role for both the groups. In February 1920, he suggested to Kilafat Committee to adopt a programme of non-violent non- cooperation to protest against the Government behaviour.

Non- Cooperation Movement: The Indian nation leadership had contributed a great deal towards the British effort to win the first world war with the hope that India would be rewarded with some major reforms, if not complete self-government, after the war. However, their hopes were shattered and they were forced to fight back. During the war, since imports from Britain and other foreign countries had stopped, the needs were met through increased production in India.

Though the Khilafat Committee had passed a resolution had passed a resolution non-cooperation, for its success support of the Congress was essential. The non-cooperation movement was launched formally on 1 August 1920 on the twin issues of Khilafat question and Punjab wrongs, after the expiry of notice that Gandhi had given to the viceroy in which he asserted the right recognized from time immemorial of the subjects to refuse to assist a ruler who misrules.

Non-cooperation movement had two objectives: negative and positive. The negative objectives included boycott of law courts by lawyers, boycott of schools and colleges owned or aided or recognized by government, boycott of elections to legislative assemblies and provincial councils, surrender of honours and titles, boycott of official functions, boycott of british goods and prohibition of drinking liquor.

In August 1921, the Moplahs, a fanatical muslim community in Kerala had rebelled and established Khilafat kingdom and in the process massacred Hindus and such Europeans as they could lay hand upon. By November 1921, the government was forced to take repressive measures. After the arrests of Ali brothers, Khilafat leaders were demanding complete independence.

Civil Disobedience Movement: The government declared Khilafat organizations as well as the Congress as unlawful. Public assemblies and processions were banned. C.R. Das decided to accept the challenge and disobeyed the orders. Thousands of volunteers swelled jails. This was followed by mass arrests. During the next three months, more than 30 thousands of nationalists were in the prisons.

However, before the movement could start in Bardoli, outburst of violence took place on 5February 1922 at Chauri Chaura in the United Province. A crowd composed of peasants attacked and set fire to a police station leading to the death of twenty two policeman. On hearing about the incident Gandhi decided to withdraw the agitation. The Congress Working Committee was hastily summoned and at Gandhi’s insistence, it ratified the decision of Gandhi, dropped civil disobedience.

Home Rule Movement by Anie Beasant

Home Rule Movement by Anie Beasant in1916 to speeding the process of freedom struggle in India. There were two home rule leagues launched. Tilak launched the Indian Home Rule League in April 1916 at Belgaum. Annie Besant launched the Home Rule League in September 1916 at Madras. They had the common objective of achieving self-government in India.

Tilak’s league had its headquarters in Delhi. It had 6 branches. Besant’s league had 200branches and was a looser organisation compared to Tilak’s. The two leagues worked closely with one another. However, they did not merge to avoid friction between both the leaders.

Objectives

· To achieve self-government in India.

· To promote political education and discussion to set up agitation for self-government.

· To build confidence among Indians to speak against the government’s suppression.

· To demand a larger political representation for Indians from the British government.

· To revive political activity in India while maintaining the principles of the Congress Party.

Activities

· The leagues organised demonstrations and agitations.

· There were public meetings in which the leaders gave fiery speeches.

· They were able to create a stir within the country and alarm the British to such an extent that Annie Besant was arrested in June 1917.

· This move by the British created a nation-wide protest and now even moderate leader joined the league. Besant was released in September 1917.

Significance

· The Home Rule League functioned throughout the year as opposed to the Congress Party whose activities were confined to once a year.

· The movement was able to garner huge support from a lot of educated Indians. In 1917, the two leagues combined had around 40,000 members. Many members of the Congress and the Muslim League joined the league. Many prominent leaders like Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Joseph Baptista, G S Kharpade and Sir S Subramanya Iyer were among its members.

· The moderates, extremists and the Muslim League were briefly united through this movement.

· The movement was able to spread political consciousness to more regions in the country. This movement led to the Montague Declaration of 1917 in which it was declared that there would be more Indians in the government leading to the development of self governing institutions ultimately realising responsible governments in India.

Failure and Decline

· The movement was not a mass movement. It was restricted to educated people and college students.

· The leagues did not find a lot of support among Muslims, Anglo-Indians and non-Brahmins from Southern India as they thought home rule would mean a rule of the upper caste Hindu majority.

· Many of the moderates were satisfied with the government’s assurance of reforms (as preluded in the Montague Declaration). They did not take the movement further.

· Annie Besant kept oscillating between being satisfied with the government talk of reformsand pushing the home rule movement forward. She was not able to provide firm leadership to her followers.

· In September 1918, Tilak went to England to pursue a libel case against Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol, British journalist and author of the book ‘Indian Unrest’. The book contained deprecatory comments and had called Tilak the ‘Father of Indian Unrest.’

· In September 1918, Tilak went to England to pursue a libel case against Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol, British journalist and author of the book ‘Indian Unrest’. The book contained deprecatory comments and had called Tilak the ‘Father of Indian Unrest.’

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