1948 // Current TV

1.K Subrahmanyam , an Indian scholar has in his article titled “Being non-violent today” published in the Times of India , New Delhi edition dated 14th of September ,2006 recently contended that Mahatma Gandhi had not philosophically solved the vexing issue of non-violence in defence . To quote from the aforesaid piece , “……..Gandhi’s ideas on violence and non-violence have not been carefully analysed and understood . It is often overlooked that Gandhi approved of Indian army being sent to Kashmir in October , 1947 to fight marauding tribal invaders .Gandhi’s secretary , Pyrelal , in his book , Mahatma Gandhi , the Last Phase , records : “Some people were shocked by Gandhiji expressing his appreciation of the Indian government’s action in sending troops for the defence of Kashmir.His exhortations to the defenders to be wiped out to the last man in clearing Kashmir soil of the raiders rather than submit was even dubbed Churchillian”.In the same book , Pyrelal mentions General Cariappa asking Gandhi a month before the later’s death on the relevance of non-violence to the armed forces.The General asked: “I cannot do my duty well by telling troops of non-violence , all the time subordinating their main task of preparing themselves efficiently to be good soldiers.So I ask you .Tell me , please how I can put this over ,i.e., the spirit of non-violence to the troops , without endangering their sense of duty ?” Gandhi replied, “I am still groping in the dark for the answer .I will find it and give it to you some day.” That day , unfortunately , did not come …..Gandhi’s reply to Cariappa highlights that philosophically he had not solved the problem of non-violence in defence .”
2.However , the fact of the matter is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or the Mahatma Gandhi or simply Gandhi as he is popularly known was very clear on the issue of violence and non-violence.
3.Mahatma Gandhi said something like , “If I have to choose between cowardice and violence , I will choose violence.” I had read this quotation in 1983-84 in the book titled “MODERN INDIA” prescribed as a text book to standard XIIth students by the NCERT , New Delhi .
4.Running away from enemy is an act of cowardice and military has to use violence to fight the enemy on the battlefield if military is not to be seen as being a coward organization .
5. Either Pyrelal has given false account of Mahatma Gandhi’s indecision on the use of violence by military or Mahatma Gandhi has been misquoted or else Gandhi himself must have on the conscious level forgotten his own statement : “If I have to choose between cowardice and violence , I will choose violence.”
6.Irrespective of the context in which Gandhi had made this statement , it clearly shows that consciously , subconsciously or unconsciously Gandhi indeed supported the use of violence by military .
7. Mahatma Gandhi apparently adopted that which I would call “ THE STRATEGY OF TRIPLE S ” or “ THE STRATEGY OF SSS ” or “ THE STRATEGY OF situation specific solution .”That’s why he used the concept of the Non Violence to fight British but supported the Indian Military to use violence to oust the raiding tribals from the J & K. Earlier , Lord Krishna successfully used this strategy as illustrated vividly in the Mahaabhaarat , the great Indian epic .
8.Gandhi had realized that the India a country of nearly 30 crores and plus did not have sufficient effective arms and ammunition and as such would have been outgunned by the British military.So , he apparently thought that the concept of the Violence would be of little use to fight the British.
9.Gandhi by virtue of his own stay in England came to understand the British people’s real psyche and concluded it would be the best strategy to appeal to the sentimental side of the British people by getting the Indian masses appear as helpless victims of the British atrocities and thereby try to gain sympathies of the British people who he apparently thought would then pressurize their own British government to grant freedom to the Indians .
10.Maximum number of Indians of his era were deeply religious people with staunch and unflinching faith in saints .Saints were held as people who talked of non- violence , peace and compassion . Gandhi shrewdly identified himself with this saintly tradition by talking of non violence and inventing the concept of Satyagraha .Naturally , the common Indians readily identified themselves with this saintly trait of Gandhi and accepted him as their mass leader.
11.Gandhi apparently was to some extent a realist .He said that the India shall be divided on his dead body and that the Congress must disband itself and instead go to villages after India’s independence to develop villages , for hankering by the Congress after political power would have adversely affected the development of rural areas where the real India lived ! But, both pleas were ignored .He did not die contrary to his earlier vow !He accepted the reality .So , he realistically supported the use of violence by the Indian military to oust the raiding tribals from J & K , since he knew that only violence would help the Indian cause in the instant issue .
12.The Reality is that the British granted freedom to Indians more because of their own pressing reasons , compulsions and contemporary international geopolitical scenario rather than the Gandhian politics of Non-Violence alone as evidenced from the following points :[a] British had become weak militarily and economically despite themselves being victors in the world war II and as such were not in a position to bear financially the cost of any further military control of India.[b] The mutiny by Indian naval personnel in Bombay had showed clearly that the British could no longer rely on and trust Indians to do soldiering for Britain in India .Without loyalty to the British throne from this element , the British were bound to suffer untold losses in trying to retain India.[c] The Labour government itself was in favour of granting freedom to India .[d] Subhash Chandra Bose’s Azaad Hind Fauz was a warning signal that the Indian soldiers in British army given the appropriate circumstances were bound to turn against their own British masters.
13. Although the role played by Gandhi in Indian politics is undeniable yet the reality remains that Gandhian politics was not the real cause of getting freedom to the Indians .
14.The Indians in particular and the world in general has a desire and psychological need to continuously invent and deify HEROES/HEROINS .Thus , the Indian National Congress leadership and management network elevated to the highest pedestal selectively the NON VIOLENT part of the Gandhian thoughts ignoring his above quoted QUOTE !This was done for the Indian National Congress to be seen as the only and true inheritor of the Indian saintly tradition and thereby gain political mileage amongst the general Indians !

1.The above assessment about Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi was concluded by Swaamee Aprtemaanandaa Jee on 21st of September, 2006 on MSN geography group.
2. Now, other Indian analysts seem to have come round to the same conclusion as above. Instead of using the word ‘SITUATION’ THAT WAS/HAS BEEN USED BY Swaamee Aprtemaanandaa Jee, some of these analysts have used the word ‘CONTEXT’ TO EXPLAIN MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI’s APPRECIATION OF THE USE OF FORCE/VIOLENCE BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO SAFEGUARD THE KASHMIR IN 1948.For example, read Deep K Datta-ray, the Indian historian’s current article ‘THE TRUTH STANDARD’ published in Feb 17, 2010 issue of TIMES OF INDIA, BY CLICKING ON THE FOLLOWING LINK:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/The-Truth-Standard/articleshow/5580829.cms1.K Subrahmanyam , an Indian scholar has in his article titled “Being... more