The topic “Is India Still Truly The Land Of Ahimsa?” is a thought-provoking concern in today’s political turmoil prevailing around us. So long as the great Gandhi survived among his countrymen, he effortlessly practised ahimsa but unfortunately, his rare life ended at the hands of violence mongers.
What he tried to avoid during his lifetime failed thus. He was an evident victim of violence too, seen at the time when he was thrown out of a running train in South Africa. This first odd incident of his life changed his view of life and developed within him the feeling of humility towards the perpetrators of violence.
He started evangelising, that if one is hit across their cheek, they should present the other cheek too. Looking at the widespread poverty, he discarded his own clothes and remained engaged in the movement in his dhoti. His resolve to walk by foot was also a variation of representing the agonies of common people’s lives. Yet, were his ideas followed by politicians?
His principle of non-violence sought the solution of every problem within the ambit of the rule of law and strictly avoided violent methods. Strangely enough, only Gandhi’s picture or statue or name stands in a 70-year-old independent India. The leaders seemed to have changed their slogans as they indulge in hate speech, which eventually incites violence.
In this context, soaring above violence in struggling with our personal, familial or communal conflict gets knocked down. We thereby lose our deep enthusiasm and utter confidence to escape pertinent issues that plague us. There is no field of human activity which is not ridden with violence, despite the world knowing the fact that such tendencies begets only violence at the end.
Therefore, it is vital to return to ways existing side by side the Gandhian philosophy. Gandhi cared for India but his legacy looks unsafe for reasons clear to countrymen today. Perhaps, had our country not been the land of ahimsa, there would not have been so much prosperity.