Chapter 2

Political values and ideals

Non – violence and tolerance - Mahatma Gandhi (Mohan Das

Karamchand Gandhi) (1869- 1948)
Gandhiji was a lawyer, politician, Social Activist, writer and became
the leader of the Nationalist movement against the British rule of
India. Gandhiji was born in Porbandar, Gujarat In a Brahmin family
where he grew in the concept of Vaishnavism worship of the Hindu
god Vishnu—with a strong Teenage of Jainism. Thus, he took for
granted ahimsa (noninjury to all living beings), vegetarianism, fasting
for self-purification, and mutual tolerance between adherents of
various creeds and sects. Gandhi took his studies seriously and tried
to brush up on his English and Latin by taking the University of
London. where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he
moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a
lawsuit. He went on to live in South Africa for 21 years. It was here
that Gandhi raised a family and first employed nonviolent resistance
in a campaign for civil rights Gandhi was quickly exposed to the
racial discrimination practiced in South Africa he was beaten up by
the white driver of a stagecoach because he would not travel on the
footboard to make room for a European passenger, and finally he was
barred from hotels reserved “for Europeans only.” In 1915, he
returned to India and soon set about organising peasants, farmers, and
urban labourers to protest excessive land-tax and discrimination. He
entered the freedom struggle in India in the year 1921.Gandhi led
them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax Dandi Salt March in
1930 from Sabarmathi ashram to Dandi (24 days) and in calling for
the British to quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned many times and
for many years in both South Africa and India.

NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
Concepts non-violence and tolerance of Gandhi.
Ahimsa means not torturing or killing others, however according to
Gandhi, non-violence is when a person does not cause violence to
other beings on earth through his thoughts, words, and actions,
planning to harm others, speaking to hurt others, Gandhi believed that
even causing trouble to others by doing actions is violence. Gandhi
asserted that a person who practices non-violence should not consider
anyone as his enemy was by suggested Gandhi. In simple terms,
tolerance is the quality of respecting. accepting and encouraging
diversity around. Further, tolerance represents a positive attitude that
upholds the basic freedom or rights of others, and tolerance is
considered a useful tool for settling peace rather than conflict. Gandhi
advocated the concept of Sarva dharma Sama bhava and held that the
state should treat all religions as equal. Gandhi during his lifetime
worked hard to unite the Hindu and Muslim communities politically.
concept of Swadeshi represents the total environment surrounding the
individual The concept of Swadeshi broadly encompasses the social,
religious cultural and political context of a person's place of origin
many examples can be identified in India where this Swadeshi
concept was used as a tool of their struggle. Gandhi also wanted to
increase the opportunities of Swadeshi by encouraging them to wear
self-made clothes through Charaka. During the Non-Cooperation
Movement, Gandhi had suggested abandoning the British courts
Lawyers came out of the courts and gave Swadeshi concept He
advised go of justice. In Gandhi's view, satyagraha was not the tool of
the cowardly, the weak or the unarmed, but the tool of the strong and
morally strong. Satyagraha is a non-violent means of trying to convert
opponents to give up oppression, injustice, untruth, and violence.
Gandhiji started non-co-operation movement as there was severe
economic problems faced by the Indians the main motto of this
movement was to grant self-governance by revoking the cooperation
of Indians from the British government. While Gandhiji doing a non -
cooperation movement in chauri chaura where the extremists groups
attacked the police station and blasted it which killed 22 officers as it
NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
created violence, so Gandhiji stop the Non-cooperation movement in
a grief. Gandhiji took up Dandi march on 1930 from Sabarmathi
ashram to Dandi which was organized to go against salt tax laws setup
by the British through non-violence. He also started swadeshi
movement to boycott the British goods and promote the Indian
products by taking a stand to upbring the Indian industries. He also
conducted civil disobedience movement and quit India movement by
arousing a slogan as Do or Die.
All these movements were conducted by Gandhiji in order to get
freedom through non-violence and also he worked a lot to bring
harmony and unity among Hindus and Muslim community. He
believed that all religions have the same purpose to work for. So these
were the ideologies of Gandhiji to get the freedom for India by
keeping the Non- violence and tolerance as a base.

Co-existence – Maulana Azad (1888-1958)

Maulana Azad was the Islamic theologian, a poet, freedom fighter,
educational reformer, and an Indian politician. He was the first
education minister of India. He is also known to become the youngest
President of the INC. In the age of 12 only Azad was very much
active in journalism. in 1912 he began publishing a weekly Urdu-
language newspaper Al-Hilal. Al-Hilal was soon banned by British
authorities in 1914. Later he published another magazine Al-Balagh
which was again banned in 1916 by britishers. In 1929 he was
released from prison after 4 years because of the revolutionary ideas
he was imposing in the minds of people to make them aware of their
responsibilities. He was the leader of the Khilafat Movement that
happened India to support their fellow Muslims in turkey. As he was
close to Gandhiji he participated in the Salt satyagraha, non-
cooperation movements etc., as he liked the Gandhi’s concept of non-
violence, he started to promote Gandhi’s ideals, Including promoting
swadeshi. He wrote many books such as India wins freedom, Ghubar-
e-khatir etc.,

NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
After independence he became the education minister of independent
India and bought many changes in education field. He Advocated the
idea of universalisation of the basic education system and proposed
the idea of free and compulsory education until secondary level for
both boys and girls. He was in favour of giving the rightful education
place to the regional languages in education. He also supported
education of women. He imparted several liberal arts, science, and
technology institutions. Indian institute of technology, School of
planning and architecture and the university grants commission. All
India council for secondary education commission in 1952 for
reforming the structure of secondary schools. Literary, cultural, and
scholarly institution such as Sahitya Academy, Sangeet Natak
Academy, Lalit kala Academy, Indian Council for Cultural relations.
Azad was against the Idea of “TWO NATION” theory of
Muhammed Ali Jinnah. So, Azad always believed in the concept of
Co-exsistence and wanted to get the freedom for our country through
Unity.

Swarajya – Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920)

Lokmanya Tilak was a Scholar, Mathematician, Philosopher and a
ardent nationalist. He was born in a Middle class brahman family. He
had a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and Sanskrit. He decided to
teach mathematics in private schools in Poona. The school became the
basis for his political career. He turned towards the task of awakening
the political consciousness of the people through two weekly
newspapers that he owned and edited: Kesari in Marathi language and
Mahratta in English language. He sought to widen the popularity of
the Nationalist movement by introducing the Hindu religious
symbolism and by invoking popular traditions of the Maratha struggle
against Muslim rule. He thus organised two important festivals.
Ganesha festival in 1893 and Shivaji Maharaj festival in 1895. His
activities soon also brought him into conflict with British government
which prosecuted him and sent him to jail in 1897. The trial and
sentence earned him the title Lokmanya. He was released after 18
NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
months. He supported the Bengali demand for the annulment of the
partition and advocated a boycott of British goods later this was
adopted by Gandhiji in non-cooperation with sathyagraha. He aimed
at swarajya, so he wanted congress party to adopt his militant
program. On that issue he clashed with the moderates taking
advantage of the division the British government again prosecuted
Lokmanya on the charges of sedition and terrorism he was imprisoned
fir six years in Burma (Myanmar) in Mandalay jail. He settled down
to write Shrimad Bhagavad-Gita Rahasya. 1914 on the eve of world
war I he was released. He came back to politics with rousing slogan
“Swarajya is my Birth right and I will have it". Tilak believed that
Swaraj was an ancient concept as did Dayananda Saraswati. The
reason for this position was that the states in ancient India were
politically, economically, and morally autonomous. It is important to
note that Tilak in his concept of Swaraj supported an elected head like
modern democratic states instead of a hereditary head like ancient
states. In this background it clears that tilak’s Swarajya concept
represents the autonomy of ancient times and the democracy of
modern times. Swaraj was a concept consisting of the following four
elements. That is A. The ruler and the ruled belong to the same
country, religion, or race. A state system with good governance or rule
of law. Swaraj in Tilak's view is an attempt at self-restraint. Later he
rejoined the Lucknow pact. He realized that the Labour Party was a
growing force in British politics, and he established firm relationships
with its leaders. His foresight was justified: it was a Labour
government that granted independence to India in 1947. After his
death Gandhi called him the Maker of modern India and Jawaharlal
Nehru called him as the father of the Indian revolution in the way of
tribute.

Integral Humanism – Deen Dayal Upadhyay (1916-1968)

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was the leader of the Bharatiya Jana
Sangh from 1953 to 1968. A profound philosopher, organiser par
excellence and a leader who maintained the highest standards of
NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
personal integrity, he has been the source of ideological guidance and
moral inspiration for the BJP since its inception. His treatise Integral
Humanism, which is a critique of both communism and capitalism,
provides a holistic alternative perspective for political action and
statecraft consistent with the laws of Creation and the universal needs
of the human race. He was born in a brahmin family. Both his parents
died when he was eight years old, and he was brought up by his
maternal uncle. The Maharaja of Sikar gave him a gold medal, Rs 250
to buy books and a monthly scholarship of Rs 10. He took a BA
degree at the Sanatan Dharma College. Upadhyaya had come into
contact with the RSS through a classmate. He met the founder of the
RSS, K. B. Hedgewar, who engaged with him in an intellectual
discussion at one of the shakhas. Monthly publication Rashtra
Dharma, later started weekly panchajanya and the daily Swadesh to
spread ideals of Hindutva. He started full time work in RSS from
1942. He adopted integral humanism as a political program and
adopted in 1965 of the Jana sangh. His main message was to build a
strong and prosperous Indian nation on the foundation of Indian
culture which guarantees freedom, equality and justice to all,
Maximum good to all. Indian leaders adopted opportunistic
ideological positions for political power in post-independence India.
India tended to follow either capitalism, socialism or mixed
ideological ideals. As a result, India failed to have a specific ideology
representing national identity. At this time, Deen Dayal Upadhyay,
one of the leaders of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh Party, advocated the
idealistic theory of comprehensive humanism in his four lectures This
comprehensive humanism was adopted by the Bhartiya Jana Sangh in
1965, and the Bhartiya Janata Party, which came into being as a new
party. also ruled in later days. Upholding Western style capitalism,
socialism or egalitarianism cannot contribute to progress of an
independent nation. In this context, holistic humanism advocates a
middle way different from capitalism and socialism Inda and Indian
Constitution to Western science may be welcomed but it can only
serve the interest of the people but is used according to the national
context Both Western science and way of life are different and
NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
worthless the western way of life cannot be followed. The way of life
of Indian culture which integrates body, mind, mind, and soul is great
Integral Humanism is like the non-dual Advaita doctrine propounded
by Adi Shankaracharya. Ethics in politics, Swadeshi concept,
Proposition of economy with cottage industries. Condemnation of
Nehru’s model of development for being influenced by ideas of
Western origin while neglecting the cultural and spiritual heritage of
the country Overall, Upadhyaya says that the foundation of Indian
culture is unity. His stand was that the ideal of India is the
comprehensive progress of body, mind, intellect and soul, The social
system of India was planned for comprehensive progress and along
with that system, the idea as of how life in India should be in the
future were clarified in the theory of Unified Humanism advocated by
Upadhyay.

Voluntarism – Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982)

Acharya Vinoba Bhave is Gandhiji’s follower, influenced by Gandhi
right from his student days, Vinoba spent most of his life with
Gandhiji. Vinoba actively participated in various movements initiated
by Gandhi in India. Also, in 1940, Gandhi chose his follower Vinoba
for a personal satyagraha, Apart from this, after the death of Gandhiji,
Vinoba was responsible for implementing his Sarvodaya concept. who
was a beloved disciple of Gandhiji it is considered a great Gandhian.
He presented various ideas like Gandhiji in his speeches, works,
articles and experiments and among them volunteerism was the main
one. Vinoba worked hard to bring social and economic revolution in
India under Gandhiji’s Sarvodaya concept In this regard Vinobaji
believed in the necessity of various charities based on voluntary
service.
Bhoo Dana
Vinoba came forward to provide a solution to the problems of landless
farmers. the landowners volunteered to donate Their surplus land for
the benefit of the landless As a result Rarmachandra Reddy donated
NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
his hundred acres of land on April 18, 1951 under the ideas of
Swayamseva For this purpose. Vinobaji, who continued his padayatra,
collided thousands of acres of land under the ideal of Swayamsevak
and distributed it to the landless people. This experiment was
popularly known as the Bhu Dana principle and was based on the
people voluntarism.

Grama Dana
After the success of the Bhu Dana movement, Vinobaji advocated the
concept of Gram Dana based on a broad form of self-service In
Vinoba's opinion, the people of a village give up their private property
voluntarily and transfer it to the village community. Under village
donation, whether a family owns land or not, the total land of the
village is distributed in proportion to the number of members of a
family. Each family has to keep enough produce for its own needs and
give the surplus to the community, the produce collected by all the
families of the villages sold and used for the development of the
village. Finally, the remaining income is divided among the family
members proportionately. In addition, a meeting of the village
administration consisting of one representative from each family of
the village was organized to deal with the problems of the village 33
Remedial decisions are taken Thus, a town in Uttar Pradesh, was the
first to be subjected to village donation advocated under the ideals of
self-sacrifice.
Dhana Dana
Vinoba abstained from donation of wealth position was that wealth
and money can cause confusion, mistrust. However. due to the need
for funds for the maintenance of the volunteers of the land donation
movement, Vinoba offered to donate his wealth. he called to
voluntarily donate wealth to solve the problems of the poor. He also
advised everyone to donate a portion of their income to serve the
needy. Thus, the donation of extra wealth is a means to uplift the
weak so he raised awareness regarding the donation of money
NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce
Shrama Dana
Vinoba wanted to eliminate the influence of money as a medium of
exchange. Thus, he advised to prevent the influence of money by
donating physical labour. According to him, instead of acquiring a
particular good or service by paying money, one can control the
demand for it by performing physical labour Example if a person
makes the clothes he needs by self-effort. then there is no need for
money. Similarly, village development is possible if we show our own
physical labour rather than paying taxes in the form of money and
demanding various development measures from the government our
village. by donating public utility road, temple. He advised to join
hands in the construction of lake and gardens. Over Shram Dana wn a
recreational thought based on the idea of self-sacrifice.
Buddhi Dana
Inculcating the importance of volunteering by intellectuals in the
society with the help of literature, lecture, awareness articles is
considered as Buddi Dana Cannot participate in donation of land,
wealth, labour among the people of professional class to participate in
Swayamseva, Bhave believed that intellectual donation is more
beneficial than other voluntary activities and cannot be ignored.

Vinoba is remembered for popularizing the value of volunteerism,

which can bring happiness to both the person who performs the task
and the person who receives its fruits. Even today we can observe that
the ideal of self-service advocated by Vinoba is beneficial in solving
many challenges in the society.

NOTES BY SAIKRUPA LX
Lecturer Dept. of Commerce