MODERN INDIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

ASSIGNMENT
NAME: RAJUL KAJOT
COURSE: B.A.(H) POLITICAL SCIENCE
SECTION: B
ROLL NO: PS22089

QUESTION- Explore, understand and critically engage with

the idea of Swaraj propounded by Gandhi.

Hind Swaraj was written in 1909 in the backdrop of a period when Gandhi
was organising the local Indian community and developing his idea of Satyagraha
in South Africa while sailing back from England to South Africa. In the context of
Indian Freedom Struggle, the idea of Swaraj was both an ideal as well as a
principle. To understand the concept of Swaraj, one must keep in mind that
Swaraj does not merely mean ‘independence from the British Rule’, but was a
complex and multifaced concept that incorporates in itself the idea of Swaraj for
a polity, economy and an individual. Each and every dimension of it had its own
area of understanding and meaning. If we translate it literally, it means ‘self-rule’
or ‘self-government’. Judging by its literal meaning, India would have attained
swaraj after driving out the Britishers. However, the concept of Swaraj, Gandhi
affirmed, was not a conception of ‘Englistan’ i.e., English rule without the
Englishman. Gandhi was assertive of Dharma as the driving force of polity, social
order, and economy. He believed that Indians won’t be completely free or won’t
acquire swaraj until and unless they were self-reliable, self-sufficient and holds
tightly to their own cultural and traditional roots. For him, swaraj was composed
of both individual freedom and political freedom.

Gandhi was immensely influenced by the Indian ancient texts such as

Vedas, Upanishads, Epics, Geeta and Jain philosophy, he advocated the
principles of ahinhsa (non-violence) satyagraha (the use of truth force) into his
idea of swaraj. Inspired by the ideas of Savarkar and his dream of the militant
nationalism along with the ideas of Plato (idea of an ideal state), Aristotle (the
concept of an individual being a social animal), Mazzini (revolutionary
nationalism in Italy), Dada Bhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhle, John Ruskin (his
book ‘Unto This Last) Henry Thoreau (civil disobedience) and Count Leo Tolstoy
and his pacifist anarchism, Gandhi formulated his philosophy. He wrote Hind
Swaraj as a response to the discourse of western civilisation, its superiority over
other forms of states, idea of the modern political organisation, liberal
democracy and economy i.e., capitalism and privatisation. Gandhi formulated
his idea of swaraj by combing some points of the moderates and some from the
extremists. He embraced the ideas of extremists of upholding the traditional
aspects of Indian culture while discarding their terrorist and violent methods. On
the other side, he grasped the legislative and peaceful methods for freedom
struggle by the moderates as well as supported them opposing to the economic
drain from India but rejected moderates’ belief in cultural superiority of the
western civilisation. Referring to the Indian anarchists living in London, who
stood up for using terrorist methods against the foreign rulers of India. Once
freed from foreign rule it was believed that Indians will again pursue the western
model of modernity. Gandhi’s objective in writing Hind Swaraj was to condemn
both the cult of violence and the claims of superiority of modern civilisation.

Britishers claimed that they are the ‘trustees or the bearers of the White
Man’s Burden of enlightening, civilizing or modernising Indians’. Gandhi saw
western civilisation reverse of what he believed was ‘true civilisation’. According
to him the western civilisation was a competitive and coercive state. He argued
that western civilisation was particularly an ‘irreligious civilisation of lust for
luxuries and pleasures, it had a tendency to propagate immorality and also fails
to see that a life of religious perfection is eternally the best form of human life.
He asserted that western civilisation also fails to see that a life of real happiness
and contentment consists of not in the multiplication of wants but in the
deliberate and voluntary restriction of wants. Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj is a radical
critique of modern western civilization from the view point of his understanding
of classical Indian civilization, which he accepts with deep rational conviction to
be a civilization of Truth, i.e. the true ultimate goal of life. Speaking to the
Meccano Club, Calcutta, in August 1925, Gandhi said:
“Do not for one moment consider that I condemn all that is Western. For
the time being I am dealing with the predominant character of modem
civilisation, do not call it Western civilisation and the predominant character
of modern civilisation is exploitation of the weaker races of the Earth. The
predominant character of modem civilisation is to dethrone God and enthrone
Materialism. I have not hesitated to use the word 'Satan'. I have not hesitated
to call this system of Government under which we are labouring 'Satanic'.”

Unveiling the different faces of a swaraj, it literally translates into ‘self-rule’

and ‘self-government’. However, the idea of swaraj is much more than this and
dives into the dimensions of an individual, polity, economy and society. For an
individual the idea of swaraj denotes a person being self-reliant, master of his
own or have come to a self-realisation. The control over one’s desires and wants
and the belief of perfectibility i.e., as Aristotle explains that an individual is a
treasure of skills that the God has gifted and by practice one can become perfect
in those and they are enough to sustain a wise life. For polity swaraj refers to a
self-governing autonomous community state where your own people are ruling
over you but in a very limited range. Gandhi was inspired by the statement given
by Henry David Thoreau: ‘the best government is which governs the least’.
Gandhi was very against the concept of English Rule or Englistan and thus
advocated the idea of political freedom from alien rule, and a state where the
citizens are entitled with civil liberties and rights along with the right to stand
against any unjust laws/ actions of the government. Quoting him “I am not
interested in freeing India merely from the English yoke. I am bent upon freeing
India from any yoke whatsoever. I have no desire to exchange ‘king log’ for
‘king stork’…for me swaraj is movement for self-purification”. Gandhi was in
favour of Marxist ideas but did not support his radical methods of dictatorship
of labourers to attain a classless social order. For a swaraj economy he ordered a
classless economy order where class-based division of labour is acceptable but
not class-based division of labourer and that equal honour and dignity to all
kinds of labour must be awarded. He advised the practice of limiting our wants
and trusteeship. He applied this policy in his own life to set an example by only
wearing a dhoti. In sum, it was his vision of an ideal civilisation based on non-
violence, truth and moral duty which is in contrast to the western civilisation.

The Gandhian idea of swaraj has put both individual freedom (self-rule)
and political freedom as equivalents. Only after achieving both, one can acquire
true essence of swaraj. He conveyed the idea of an enlightened anarchy which
is- self-governing community of morally enlighted individuals without the violent
power of the state. As Bentham describes it, we have de-objectified the modern
state as a soulless violent entity. Gandhi was against it and wanted complete
destruction of modern civilisation and creation of a new society without western
elements such as railways because according to Gandhi railways are doing more
bad than good as it is more contributing to the spread of plagues than to
promote trade and it was brought to India to by the Britishers to spread their
rule and not for the development of the country, he believed that every region/
village must be an autonomous entity and must trade withing its closed circle
which is sufficient enough to support it. Similarly, he opposed the idea of having
parliaments, doctors, lawyers etc. and a society in which people totally reinvoice
violence and resist the coercive authority through satyagraha.

The idea of a modern state contrasted with the swaraj civilisation in the
following ways:

MODERN CIVILISATION vs SWARAJ CIVILISATION

Competition -> Cooperation
Rights -> Duty
Machinery -> Hand Labour
Consumerism -> Self-Denial
Coercive State -> Non-Violent State

Gandhi believed in a classless and egalitarian social order where polity,

economy and social order must be guided by Dharma i.e. the moral duty
assigned to a human being. He rejected the idea of liberal democracy, and
supported limited political obligation which is based on the consent of people
and a society where satyagraha is the method of political action and people have
the rights of civil disobedience against unjust laws. A swaraj civilisation, as
Gandhi affirmed, must be based on distributive justice where the population
believes in Sarvodaya (good for all) and Antodaya (good of the last one in the
row i.e. the poorest of the poor) and not Utilitarianism (greatest good of the
greatest number). He advocated a self-reliant life in accordance with hand tools,
self-production without the need of big machines. Gandhi started using Charkha
and Khadi to symbolize this concept of a self-sufficient village community.

POLITY

DHARMA

SOCIAL ORDER ECONOMY

The question arises, if Gandhi denounced railways, lawyers, doctors and

was against heavy machineries would a nation like be called a civilisation? He
believed that in a world where every nation was corrupted by the westernized
civilisation, India stands in a position where a majority portion of its population
is uncivilised, ignorant and stolid to adopt any alien civilisation. The forefathers
have left us with such a tradition which is enough to sustain lives on its own
without the need of such modern civilisation attributes. If people of India stick
to their roots and live with harmony without any greed for more, they would not
need any lawyers for dispute resolving or doctors for western medication or
railways. Gandhi used the charkha, or spinning wheel, as a symbol of self-
sufficiency, freedom, and nonviolence during the Indian independence
movement. He believed that the charkha represented ancient work ethics,
economic and social reaction to British rule, and the law of order (dharma).

According to Gandhi the society should be based on decentralized, non-

hierarchical and participation. He thus gave the concept of Oceanic Circle in
which he explains:

PROVISIONS

DISTRICTS

TALUKAS

INDIVIDUAL

The society must be divided into five independent circles having an

autonomous life of their own inside their closed environment. The outer circle
will not crush the inner circle and will have no extraordinary power over any of
the inner circle. However, the outer circles both derive and give strength to the
inner circles. Every village will be a republic or a panchayat having full powers
and each tier of government must be autonomous, self-reliant community-
based governance through democratic decentralisation. According to this theory
each province would be free to have its own constitution. Describing the
organisation of society in the form of oceanic circle, Gandhi puts forward that
his alternative structure shall be 'composed of innumerable villages' in which
'there will be ever-widening, never-ascending circles'. In this framework 'Life will
not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. Gandhi's Oceanic Circle
Theory, a vision of a decentralized, self-sufficient society based on village
communities, has been both praised and criticized. While it emphasizes equality
and sustainability, critics argue that it is impractical in a globalized world,
inefficient, and potentially perpetuates social inequalities. He quotes: “life will
not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be oceanic
circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the village,
the latter ready to perish for the circles of village, till at last the whole becomes
one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance, but
humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral
units.”

Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj is one of the major works in the discipline
of Indian Political Thought but it has also faced number of criticisms. Gandhi was
considered to a utopian thinker just like Plato. Some argue that the Gandhi’s
vision of a self-sufficient, agrarian India is idealistic and impractical in the modern
world. They contend that India needs industrialisation and economic growth to
compete on the global stage. Gandhi's emphasis on non-violence and gradual
change has been criticized as being too slow to achieve independence from
British rule. Some argue that more aggressive tactics, such as armed resistance,
would have been more effective. Critics have also pointed out that Gandhi's
approach to the caste system was not always consistent or effective. While he
advocated for the abolition of untouchability, he did not always challenge the
caste system's underlying hierarchy. Even some feminist scholars argue that
Gandhi's views on gender were conservative, and that he did not fully support
women's equality. Gandhi's economic nationalism, which advocated for self-
sufficiency and the boycott of foreign goods, has been criticized for being
protectionist and harmful to India's economic development.

While Gandhi’s specific proposals may not be entirely feasible in the 21st
century, his underlying principles of non-violence, truth and social justice remain
relevant. His vision of a society based on cooperation, equality and respect for
all beings continues to inspire social movements and political leaders around the
world. Gandhi’s insistence on individual self-reliance, social justice and economic
self-sufficiency resonates with contemporary concerns about inequality,
environmental degradation and the erosion of democratic values. Gandhi's
concept of Swaraj, while idealistic and often criticized, remains a significant
contribution to Indian political thought.