Mahatma Gandhi: Speaking from the heart
July 12th is Guru Purnima and I want to pay a tribute to a ‘maha’ ‘atma,’ a name given to Gandhiji by the people of India. Tagore said of him: ‘Here was living truth at last… (Because) ‘Who else has felt like him that all Indians are his own flesh and blood?’ Gandhiji’s life is a series of life lessons in practical spirituality. Gandhiji was the guru of gurus. He was, as we know, a man of extraordinary intelligence and moral integrity. A man made of something tougher than steel. A master strategist. His use of words and symbols makes him one of the greatest communicators the world has seen. It is my humble opinion that Gandhiji’s work should be required reading for all students of mass communications.
The Salt Satyagraha
On January 26, 1930, the Indian National Congress celebrated January 26 as ‘Independence Day’ and called for ‘purna swaraj.’ The first step towards achieving this goal was civil disobedience. Gandhiji chose the infamous salt tax as the issue they would focus on. He said: “Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life. It is the only condiment of the poor. There is no article like salt outside water by taxing which the state can reach even the starving millions, the sick, the maimed and the utterly helpless. The tax constitutes, therefore, the most inhuman poll tax that the ingenuity of man can devise.” Indian intellectuals made fun of Gandhiji. They thought that he was misguided enough to think that the “King Emperor can be unseated by boiling salt water in a kettle!” Gandhiji ignored the barbs and set about making plans for the march to Dandi. His mission statement is clear, concise, complete, transparent and radiant with truth. Gandhiji did not believe in secrecy. Since there was never any gap between his words and actions, what followed was a foregone conclusion. No one completely understood the revolutionary impact it would have. Very few foresaw that it would go down as one of the greatest marches in world history.
Dear Friend….I intend to break the Salt Law
On March 2, 1930 Gandhiji wrote a letter to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin. Apart from being a testament to his moral stature, it is absolutely brilliant in terms of both communications and strategy: “ Dear Friend; I cannot intentionally hurt anything that lives, much less fellow human beings, even though they may do the greatest wrong to me and mine. Whilst, therefore, I hold the British rule to be a curse, I do not intend harm to a single Englishman or to any legitimate interest he may have in India.” He goes on to compare the income of the average Indian – two annas per day to the Viceroy’s daily take of Rs. 700/- i.e. “ much over 5,000 times India’s average income.” Gandhiji then apologizes for using “a personal illustration to drive home a painful truth.”I beg you on bended knees to ponder over this phenomenon.” A clear statement of intent follows: If the British are not willing to eradicate ‘evils,’ “I will undertake fresh civil disobedience and intend to break the Salt Law because it is the most iniquitous of all from the poor man’s standpoint.” Gandhiji got the letter delivered by a young English friend who believed in non violence and the Indian cause.
Gandhiji meets the King Emperor on equal terms…
In his letter, Gandhiji addresses Lord Irwin as ‘Dear friend’. This is an assertion of equality – which - given the context is nothing short of sedition –and he extends a hand in friendship hoping to bridge the divide between the two camps. Gandhiji separates an oppressive regime from the decent, ordinary individuals who serve it. Lord Irwin made very few concessions but one of the outcomes of the Salt Satyagraha was a conference in London which Gandhiji attended – in his dhoti- as the sole representative of the Congress. Churchill’s reaction is a measure of Gandhiji’s stature and achievements: “It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half naked up the steps of the vice rega