Violence Waged by the System

STARVATION
Recently five consecutive years of drought, the resultant starvation deaths, and farmers suicides in Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh became news worthy because the U. P Chief Minister as usual decided to celebrate her birth day in royal manner. A dalit C.M.claiming to be protector of dalit interests squandering money on the pomp and show while other dalits were dying of starvation gave a good masala to predominantly non dalit media and anti Mayawati leaders. Suddenly the leaders of various political parties started shedding crocodile tears for these hapless people. Rahul Gandhi and company went to Bundelkhand region and tried to convince the people that their plight was due to the failure of the State Government .He had gone to the region for a road show during U.P. general elections too. Hence he owed an explanation to the starving people as to why he and his Party Centre did not bother about their food and employment for so long. But the explanation was not given because Rahul Gandhi was not genuinely concerned about the poor. It was a mere political gimmick. That is why at the end of his tour he only promised to report the matter to the centre. It is ironical that while the starving people of the region have started chulha bandi satyagraha to save their neighbours from starvation deaths, (Chula bandi is five neighbourhood families voluntarily skip a meal and give the cereals so saved to the starving five neighbourhood families.) all the rich well fed well clad local ,state and national level leaders and the Party workers who accompanied Rahul Gandhi did not think it proper to start common kitchens for these hapless people. It is pertinent to add that the practice of common kitchen has been a common practice in many parts of the country to ward off starvation deaths during the times of scarcity. Earlier the political parties especially the left parties used to be involved in such activities. Over the years the character of the left has also undergone a change for worse from the angle of the people.
Hunger, starvation and malnutrition unfortunately has not been the concern of the political parties, or of the governments. There is hardly any state where people do not die of starvation. The state governments have been more inclined to direct their energies towards denying of starvation deaths than towards implementing workable solutions. On 09th Sep., 2007 BBC Hindi correspondent reported that the local political leaders at Kalahandi, in Orissa were pressurizing the starving people not tell the reporters about their plight. On 6th Sept. Orissa government denied that there were starvation deaths in Kalahandi. In the left front ruled state, for example, in September 16, 2007 there were reports of hundreds of tea pickers in West Bengal are dying of hunger. Official government figures revealed that more than 570 had died in the past 15 months .The tea gardens have been closed, leaving impoverished plantation workers penniless and starving.( The Sunday Times September 16, 2007). In 2007 there were also reports of ration riots in the State.The hungry were attacking the ration shops accusing the shopkeepers of engaging in corrupt practices.The latest UNICEF report depicts a shocking state of nutritional level of Indian children. According to this report every year 97 lakh children between one to five years of age die in the whole world . Out of this 97 lakhs 21 lakh children are Indian. Majority of these deaths are due to starvation and malnutrition. One third of all underweight children and 46 percent of all children suffering from malnutrition in the whole world belong to India. In fact the extent of malnutrition in the country remains hidden it does not anymore shock the individuals, the communities, the organizations, the institutions, and, all arms of the state including the press. Even hunger makes news only when someone dies.
During the National Democratic Alliance rule there were reports of starvation deaths from many states. As right to food is integral part of Right To Life enshrined in Article 21 of our Contitution,the People’s Union for Civil Liberties filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court. In response to the PUCL petition, the governments of the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Orissa, Meghalaya and Manipur claimed that implementation of the Central and state schemes was complete.These state governments also asserted that there were no starvation deaths and no destitute in their respective states. These state governments also claimed that sufficient food was being supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS). Enough relief was being given to the needy. However the highest court was not convinced and ordered the state governments to prepare a compliance report vis-a-vis nine Central government schemes.The compliance reports made obvious the pathetic state of food security in India.

Among these nine schemes the Public Distribution System (PDS) is a food subsidy programme targeting the poor. That is why it has been renamed the 'Targeted Public Distribution System' (TPDS).But the performance of fair price shops is generally dismal. In Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan, for example, there are complaints of fake ration cards, poor quality grains, short weighing of food, and rates equivalent to or marginally below the market rates. According to a National Sample Survey data conducted by the World Bank in 2002, 10 percent of poor households in Uttar Pradesh did not have any ration card. Moreover revision of Below Poverty Line (BPL) list has long become overdue.

At the grassroot level most states do not seem to be serious about the Supreme Court's order regarding the introduction of cooked mid-day meals in primary schools. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, in many cases, instead of cooked meals the students were asked to collect food grains from a local ration shops. On 3 March 2003,the second report of the appointed Commissioner of the Supreme Court on the right to food was submitted. According to this report with the exception of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, several state governments (in particular Bihar, Jharkhand, Mizoram and Assam) had failed to implement the order on cooked meals. "Unaffordability", "unimplementability", waste of teachers' time, disruption of school activities and hygiene were the excuses given by these states to justify the violation of Court order.

The state governments also give the excuse of shortage of funds for not implementing large-scale food-for-work programmes. In actual practice, the state governments lack political will to implement this scheme.It has been found that even if the Centre provides free cereals the implementation of the food-for-work programmes is not taken seriously by the state governments. In short inspite of the Supreme Court’s intervention , the right to food in India has not become a reality for the poor people.
In March 2002, the Supreme Court asked all States and Union Territories to cooperate in the framing of wage employment schemes such as the Sampoorna Gramin Rojgar Yojna or the SGRY (Comprehensive Village Employment Programme) that ensure the right to work in rural areas. The Court also gave detailed directions on the implementation of various other schemes.Two commissioners were appointed to look into any persisting grievances that were not amenable to established procedures of redress. On 8 May 2002, the Supreme Court agreed on a system of monitoring. In November 2002 the Supreme Court laid out clear procedures of accountability. Every State was required to publicise the details of the court's order in gram panchayat offices (local village level government), school buildings and fair price shops within eight weeks. However the court order, like the food assistance system, has remained paralysed in several states.
In the meantime, people continued dying of hunger. In October 2002 there were reports of large-scale 'starvation deaths' in Rajasthan, stating that 60 people died as a result of severe malnutrition. In November 2002, at least 22 tribals, mostly children, died of severe malnutrition in Ganj Basoda block in Vidisha district in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. In December 2002, there were reports of large scale starvation deaths in the Musahaar community in East Champaran District in Bihar. In January 2003 a number of starvation deaths were reported in the Cauvery Delta region in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu. (See, “Have food, will starve” Human rights features 31 march-6 April 2003 INDIA)
In January 2004, Devinder Sharma in “Nothing much to feel good about”, article wrote about the plight of starving people in rural India. He referred to the reports of poor people selling their infant children or body organs to ward off starvation in Orissa Jharkhand and Bihar. West Bengal he added was the largest supplier of girls, Andhra Pradesh the next. He summed up by saying that, “Call it by any name, acute hunger and malnutrition forces unlucky parents to either sell off their children or to silently dig graves for them. Those who survive, undergo the ordeal of being sex workers, they are also exploited as labourers, drug peddlers and for their organs. He also referred to the heart rendering story of Jai Lal, a landless agricultural worker of Bandali village, in Sheopur district from Madhya Pradesh. With great difficulty he managed to get a petty job with a shopkeeper .Jai Lal returned home to share the good news with his wife only to find that she had succumbed to hunger. A week later, his two children died of starvation. These heartrending incidents, however, did not shock the conscience of the nation. As Devinder Sharma ruefully commented that, No one was outraged, none of the newspapers decided to comment editorially on what was clearly a national disgrace. Not even one distinguished Member of Parliament, including those who swear by one-third reservation for women, stood up to draw the nation's attention to this shame. The media were busy gloating over the 'feel good' factor, a pointer to the historic peak of US $100 billion in foreign exchange reserves. There was jubilation all around, with the corporate leaders leading the cheer.
When Devinder Sharma wrote these articles, the government granaries were overfull. Grains were rotting in the open. India also has the distinction of having one-third of the world's estimated 860 million people who were struck by hunger. The hunger and poverty is related to growing unemployment. Besides the BIMARU states reports of gnawing hunger and starvation deaths have been regularly coming from economically fast-growing cyberstates like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. http://www.indiatogether.com/2004alsoIndia shines!!!!!!!!!!?countercurrent.org)
While Devinder Sharma was bemoaning the growing insensitivity of the system to the plight of the poor, P. Sainath was telling about the hostility of the Andhra Pradesh state government headed by Chandra Babu Naidu
And his party the Telgu Dasam towards the people ,and organizations engaged in organizing community kitchens in providing relief to the starving people. In an article, “A gruel-ing season in June 2003 P. Sainath wrote that in Mahbunagar and Anantapur since early March over 200 gruel centres had served four million hungry people.
Even the sarpanch was amongst those lining up for gruel. With the passage of time the numbers of both, the centres and those visiting them was only growing. By June there were 100 more in other districts of the state. Not even one of these centres, was set up by the state government. On the contrary the government of Andhra Pradesh wrote P. Sainath was angree. The government claimed that its food for work programme was doing the needful for the poor.
The government’s food programme, according to Sainath was flawed in policy and riddled with corruption. For example, the cost of rice for below poverty line families on the PDS was Rs. 5.25.But on the food for work scheme, the price of that rice was changed to Rs.8 per kg.. In some places there were agitations demanding cash for work, not food. These anomalies were not removed. At the same time, the Andhra government organized a three day Conference in Tirupati attended by over six thousand delegates and a few thousand others. Rs. 30 lakhs were spent on food only. The buttermilk packets served to the delegates came from Heritage Foods, a company run by the then CM’s wife.The CM had all along denied hunger and starvation and frowned on gruel centres.
The congress promised protection of the interests of the common man and won the 2004 election.Sonia Gandhi its leader was projected as the benefactor of the poor.The four odd years of UPA’s rule at the Centre under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi has shown that there is hardly any difference between the Congress led governments both at the Centre and the states and the BJP led NDA governments. Both the UPA and the NDA fronts are least sensitive about the plight of the common man. The Nandigram and Singur incidents have exposed the left front also. Sonia Gandhi initially tried to save her image by writing letters to the Prime Minister expressing her concern about rising prices or displacement of the people in various parts of the country due to the so called development programmes . These letters were made public. But The government remained as insensitive to the worsening situation of the people as it was before receiving these much hipped letters. The very fact that Sonia Gandhi stopped writing these letters shows that this exercise was not motivated by her concern for the poor people of the country. Displacement, destitution,and the starvation caused by the policies,and programmes of the Central and the State Governments is going on unabated. With this the starvation deaths are also going on. The projected ideological commitments of political parties leading these governments have become immaterial. Because all the parties irrespective of their so called ideological commitments are doling out Indian resources to the national and international industrial houses in silver platter.

Nothing has changed between 2004 and 2008 except the government. In U.P. about one lakh people are reported to have migrated from the Bundelkhand region to other parts of the country in search of food and employment. Those who are left behind are old, infirm, women and children. There are reports of these people dying of starvation and hunger related problems. BBC Hindi news service had reported starvation and malnutrition cases from Orissa, M.P., Rajasthan and West Bengal. But the civil society, including the much hipped Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), who do not tire of projecting themselves as the real alternatives to the government in protecting the interests of the poor do not seem to bw moved. The Central and the State government, are least bothered. They are busy in approving policies to construct international level airports, highways, SEZ, sports complexes or opening the retail sector and small scale sector for foreign capital.In short ,we all have become insensitive to the plight of the poor, weak, infirm, old in the society.. The whole of north India is in the grip of severest cold wave in January 2008. But reporting about the plights of shelterless people is conspicuous by its absence from the media. In the absence of press highlighting the issues the government taking steps to provide relief to the needy is unimaginable. Because it is plagued by inertia, corruption and the lack of political will.


CORRUPTION IS OMNIPTRESENT----A Written statement INDIA: Widespread corruption in the Public Food Distribution System causing starvation deaths submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre on May 31, 2007 said that over 200 million Indians , 53% of its entire population. were suffering from malnourishment in 2007. 70% of Indians are poor. It is pertinent to add that poverty and the resultant starvation /malnutrition is not confined to the lower caste only. Because the lower caste forms only about 20% of the Indian population. The lower castes are however, the worst affected by starvation.
In India, food that is distributed to the poor does not reach them.It is either spoiled and lost or sold on the black market. Which meant there is rampant corruption in the administration of the PDS. Corruption in the PDS is one of the causes of starvation and malnourishment in India. The government claimed that 160 million households were using the PDS facility. The Asian Legal Resource Centre puts the actual number of households using the PDS around 91 million. Of these 91 million households an alarming 61% claim that the PDS is plagued by corruption and 49% claim that corruption has increased in the past year(2006). In fact the PDS is viewed as the most corrupt institution in India. The licenses for these shops are normally given to the local leaders of the ruling party who are generally muscle men with many criminal cases registered against them. The poor people normally do not dare to raise their voice against these people. In 2007 in west Bengal the poor people were using force against these shopkeepers. They were also identifying these shop owners as CPM cadres and were accusing them of corrupt practices. In Delhi, Organizations like Parivartan took cudgels with these people and faced their muscle power.
Because of political protection and perpetuation of corruption the criminal justice system in India has failed in bringing these corrupt people to books. Though illegal dealing with rationed articles is a crime the criminals are very seldom punished. There is a provision to try the crimes registered under the relevant domestic law in a special court constituted in each state. However several states are yet to establish such a court. This implies that cases registered under the law in those states will be decided through the regular courts. That means long years of wait to get justice.To cap it all, states most frequently withdraw from prosecutions related to cases registered under the Essential Commodities Act.
Kuldip Nayar in his column Between The Lines published in The Asian Age gaves three recent instances to explain how the Central Government headed by Manmohan Singh is at the beck and call of foreign capital. The first one was regarding the Indian Government leaving no stone unturned to protect the interests of Dow Company. Dow has taken over Union Carbide from whose plant in Bhopal a poisonous gas leak caused the death of some 20,000 people. Earlier The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals had requested the court to direct Dow Chemicals and two supporting companies to deposit Rs 100 crores towards the disposal of toxic wastes etc. Later there is reported to have a proposal for the withdrawal of this demand. Kuldip Nayar says there are reports that the Central Government may write off the liabilities in return for an investment of $1 billion by Dow Chemicals. The Union commerce minister Kamal Nath, was reported to have submitted a note saying that, "given the scope for future investments in the sector, it stands to reason that instead of continuing to agitate these issues in court for a protracted period, due consideration be given to the prospect of settling these issues appropriately."It is pertinent to add that In February 2007, Dow Chemical Company was fined $325,000 by the US Securities Exchange Commission for having paid at least $200,000 in bribes to Indian officials including senior ones in the ministry of agriculture. The bribes were paid to expedite the registration of pesticides including Dursban that has been prohibited for domestic use in the United States owing to evidence regarding its toxicity, and because of the negative effects it has on children’s health and mental development.
The second instance is the proposed Commonwealth Games Complex which is coming up right on the bed of the Jamuna in Delhi. The builders, the politicians and the authorities have conspired to earn crores of rupees at the expense of the much-needed water. It is known to them that for the water security of Delhi, we need to sustain the flood plains which have the capacity to hold 50 to 60 per cent of flood water. Delhi’s source of water is the surplus flow in the Jamuna during the monsoons. According to the data from the Flood and Irrigation Department of Delhi (2003), unused monsoon discharge at the Wazirabad barrage is 4,000 MCM. This is almost three times the annual demand of Delhi, which is 1,500 MCM. For millions of years, during the monsoons, the Jamuna has been bringing sand from the mountains and depositing them on its path thus forming flood plains. This sandy layer is porous with negligible salt content, thus, it is an ideal water recharge zone and fresh water reservoir. The flood plain surface will continue to support vegetation, i.e., agriculture, forests, wetland etc. If the government goes ahead with the construction on the river bed, recycling of water will become inevitable. At an estimated rate of Rs 1,000 for a 10,000-litre tanker, the value of water is over Rs 9,000 crores per year. The cost of recycling at Rs 100 per litre works out to Rs 10,000 crores for Delhi’s requirement of 1,000 MCM. At 200 per capita per year, recycling for 15 million people works out to $3 billion or Rs 12,000 crores estimates Kuldip Nayar.
The third is the government’s proposal to permit foreign investors in the small-scale industry sector which gives livelihood to lakhs of Indians. In addition they would be given concessions in excise, sales tax etc. Kamal Nath has also announced the easing of foreign investment in retail sector like apparel, footwear, electronics, stationery and books.
Unlike the NDA government which gave the slogan of India Shining and Feel Good, the UPA government including the PM, and its Chairperson admit the so called benefits are not reaching the people. But they do nothing to ensure that the poor and needy get their due from the system. After all it is the system which has deprived them of their due share of resources in the society. It is high time we all start thinking about the ways and means undoing the violence which the system has waged against the marginalized poor of the country.

Gandhian NonViolence IS only THE REMEDY

The assassination of Ms. Benazir Bhutto was sought to be avenged by waging violence against innocent citizens of Pakistan. Innocent lives were lost and crores of rupees worth property was lost in the ensuing street violence in Pakistan .In India similar type of violence was let loose in Orissa in the name of avenging the attack on a religious leader belonging a particular community. The concerned authorities while condemning Ms. Bhutto’s assassination reiterated their resolve to intensify their war against terrorism without realizing that, this age old resolve of theirs has rather succeeded in increasing incidents of terrorist violence and increasing the intensity of these incidents all over the world. In India 2007 witnessed spurt in all sort of caste, ethnic, communal, and gender based violence. At the same time, the instances of violence in educational institutions and road rage were also in the news. This raises the basic question whether this reiteration of curbing violence by violence is the scientific and most appropriate way of tackling the increasing incidences of violence. In view of the past experience the answer is no. In such a situation Gandhi’s experiments of non violence provide the only ray of hope. In this article an attempt would be made to explain how Gandhi viewed violent incidents and how he tried to contain them.
In the first instance,let us see how Gandhi visualized the violence waged by the people against anti people government. In in chapter 15(on Italy and India) of his illustrious albeit contentious book Hind Swaraj Gandhi Noted that, “At the time of the so called national war, it was a game of chess between two rival kings with the people of Italy as pawns…. Mazzini has shown conclusively that Italy did not become free. (in the national war with Austria)… The working classes in that land are still unhappy. They, therefore, indulge in assassination, rise in revolt, and rebellion or (sic) their part is always expected. What substantial gain did Italy obtain after the withdrawal of the Austrian troops? The gain was only nominal. The reforms for the sake of which the war was supposed to have been undertaken have not yet been granted. The condition of the people in general still remains the same.(italics added) Gandhi did not want the Indian people after the attainment of Swaraj suffer the same fate.
In reality today the condition of marginalized people all over the world in general and in the two third of the world (known as the third world) in particular is worsening day by day. For Gandhi the happiness of millions of Indians was more important than attainment of anti-people self rule by the native vested interested. In the same chapter he asserted that, “ My patriotism does not teach me that I am to allow people to be crushed under the heel of Indian princes …. “By patriotism I mean the welfare of the whole people, and if I could secure it at the hands of the English, I should bow down my head to them. If any Englishman dedicated his life to securing the freedom of India, resisting tyranny and serving the land, I should welcome that Englishman as an Indian.”
The political rulers all over the world today are as anti people as the native princes then. To day in the name of combating terrorism draconian laws have been enacted in countries like the Great Britain and the USA which proclaimed themselves as torchbearers on individual liberty, equality, fraternity and social justice. The much declared war on terror after 9/11 incident, the power appropriated by the state by means of draconian measures, and the devastation of Afganistan and Iraq has not succeeded in curbing violence. On the contrary the states are now competing with private vested interests in perpetuating violence. The reason for the state machinery all over the world joining hands with the private vested interests in perpetuating violence against common people is the anti-poor people pro capital(national capital complementing foreign one)nature and character of the leaders holding reins of power all over the world. Gandhi blamed the Italian leaders for the dismal plight of Italian poor people. He said, “ the difference between Mazzini and Garibaldi is worth noting. Mazzini ambition was not and has not yet been realized regarding Italy. Mazzini has shown in his writings on the duty of man that every man must learn how to rule himself. This has not happened in Italy. Garibaldi did not hold this view of Mazzini’s. Garibaldi gave, and every Italian took arms…. Garibaldi simply wanted Italy to be free from the Austrian yoke…. Mazzini has shown conclusively that Italy did not become free. …According to… Garibaldi, Italy meant the King of Italy and his henchmen. According to Mazzini, it meant the whole of the Italian people, that is, its agriculturists…. The Italy of Mazzini still remains in a state of slavery.(italics added) Similar situation is prevalent today all over the world. The so called popularly elected government bound to govern according to the provisions of the constitutions have in fact evolved a multilateral international system which legitimizes their flouting of pro poor people constitutional provisions and laws enacted earlier to facilitate implementation of these pro people provisions. This implies that only leaders sensitive to peoples’ needs and aspirations can facilitate enactment of laws adopting policies protecting people’s interests. Gandhi was emphatic in saying that, “Those who will rise to power by murder will certainly not make the nation happy.” Only pro-people leaders believing in peaceful means of governing the country were favoured by him.
In the absence of such pro people leaders, the present holders of power at least can take some lessons from Gandhi’s personal experiences and from the experiences of other satyagrahis in restoring peace. Dr. Sucheta Kripalani, who had accompanied Gandhi on his peace mission to Noakhali narrated the two incidents given below to Prof. Madhu Dandwante.
During his peace mission Gandhi went from village to village in east Bengal. He carried holy books with him. He appealed to all the men and women, Hindus as well as Muslims, to ensure peace. They offered prayers and Gandhi made them take a pledge that they will not kill each other. He stayed in each village for a few days to see that the residents kept their words.
There was a moving incident at one village. Gandhi visited that village. He asked the Hindus and Muslims to come out of their hutments for a common prayer and a common pledge for peace. No elderly person turned up. He waited for half an hour, not even one Hindu or Muslim turned up. Gandhi was very ingenious. He had carried a ball with him and then addressing children from the village he said: “Small kids from this village, your parents are frightened of each other but what fright you can have? Elderly Hindus and Muslims might be frightened of one another. But children are innocent. You are children of God. I am inviting you to play the game of ball.” The Hindu and Muslim children started moving towards the dais where Gandhi was sitting. Gandhi threw the ball at them. Boys and girls threw it back. He played for half an hour and then he told the villagers: “You have no courage but if you want that courage, induct it from your children. A child belonging to the Muslim community is not afraid of the child belonging to the Hindu community and so also, a Hindu child is not frightened of a Muslim child. They have come together, they were playing with me for half an hour. Please learn something from them. If you have no inner courage, try to emulate it from your children.” And one after another elders - both Hindus and Muslims - started coming. A big gathering assembled. He made them take a pledge that they will not kill each other. He stayed there for sometime. Then he went from village to village and brought peace to Noakhali. Today similar situation is prevalent at Nandigram . Unfortunately the political leaders instead of applying balm to cool the strained nerves are trying to fish in this troubled waters.
The second incident is--- in one village Gandhi’s prayer was going on, all of a sudden a Muslim person pounced on him. He caught his throat. Gandhi almost collapsed. While falling down Gandhi recited a beautiful quotation from the Quran. Hearing the words of Quran, the Muslim, instead of throttling Gandhi, touched his feet and with a feeling of guilt he said: “I am sorry. I was committing a sin. I am prepared to remain with you to protect you. Give me any work, entrust to me any task, tell me what work I should do?” Gandhi had a sense of humour and compassion. He said: “Do only one thing. When you go back home, do not tell anyone what you tried to do with me. Otherwise there will be Hindu-Muslim riots. Forget me and forget yourself.” That man went away with a feeling of repentance.
Gandhi explained the difference between his method and the method of a terrorist in these words . A terrorist, though guided by patriotic motives, hides himself behind the people. He remains away from the people. “But mine is a weapon”, said Gandhi, “in which you have not to kill others by remaining in hiding, but, if need be, be prepared to be killed in an open non-violent revolt.”
Similarly William Robert Miller reported an incident narrated to him by a Negro civil-rights activist who was leading a nonviolent demonstration. He found the gathering of an undisciplined Negro mob. White bystanders and police were also present, and a riot was clearly in the making. To prevent violence the nonviolent -Negro leader had without losing time to address the unruly masses, but he could not make himself heard above the tumult. He approached the police captain who had an electrically amplified megaphone “bullhorn”, explained that he was the leader of the demonstrators and asked politely for the use of the bullhorn. The officer ignored him . The Negro leader became angry, shouted at the captain: “You’d better give me that bullhorn, you stupid, or there’s going to be hell to pay”- and seizing the bullhorn from the startled officer’s hand began addressing the crowd, which soon quietened and dispersed.
The use of satyagraha carries with it many and varied implications. The man who adopts the weapon has to direct it against the evil, not the evil-doer, a very difficult thing to do without a continuous process of self-purification. At the same time, he has to see that it does not inflict violence on the other side, but is content to invite suffering on himself. Suffering, deliberately invited, in support of a cause which one considers righteous, naturally purges the mind of the satyagrahi of ill-will and removes the element of bitterness from the antagonist.
Comenting on Gandhi’s technique of Satyagraha K.M. Munshi wrote that The efficacy of satyagraha depends upon the tenacity to resist evil which, while it abjures force, develops in the satyagrahi the faculty to face all risks cheerfully. Thus, the emphasis is transferred from aggression by force to resistance by tenacity. It is only when these requirements are met that non-violent satyagraha becomes a mighty weapon of resistance both in the struggle for freedom as well as in self-realisation. The results are reached by slow degrees, it is true, but the resultant bitterness is short-lived.
Gopa Joshi,