Celebrating 100 years of Satyagraha

NEW DELHI: Essential to Mahatma Gandhi's passive resistance movement, 'Satyagraha' was economic growth that would lead to the 'rise of all', Congress president Sonia Gandhi said on Monday, emphasising that inequality was 'very visible' despite India's spectacular gains.

Inaugurating a two-day international conference to commemorate 100 years of Satyagraha, Gandhi said, "The relevance of Mahatma Gandhi is not the real issue. Our preparedness for him is."

While making Mahatma Gandhi an icon would be easy, it would more infinitely be more exacting to make him the beacon, she said.

In a hard-hitting speech, the United Progressive Alliance chairperson said economic growth could be sustainable only if it was all-inclusive and in harmony with nature and the earth's long-term future.

In what is seen as a strong message to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government, which often gets criticised for its free-market economic policies, she said, "Our own country, for instance, has made spectacular gains over the past decades and is being rapidly transformed.

But destitution, poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy are still widespread. Inequality is very visible. We live in an age of incredible scientific achievement and awesome technological advance. But are not the fruits of this achievement and advance still inequitably distributed?"

Gandhi asked a crowd including world leaders like former presidents Lech Walesa of Poland and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and Nobel laureates like Bangladesh's Mohammed Yunus.

"Is it not the case that a few enjoy the gains, whole many bear the pains?"

She said economic growth must be accelerated, but we should be mindful of possible adverse consequences of that progress and take steps to deal with them. "Can we not satisfy material wants and aspirations without threatening ecological security and planetary survival?"

"To be equitable, economic growth has to be sustainable. To be sustainable, economic growth has in turn to be all-inclusive. All-inclusive is no longer the greatest good of the greatest number. It is actually 'Sarvodaya' or the 'rise of all'. This Mahatma Gandhi saw as essential to Satyagraha itself," Gandhi added.

Pointing out that India had stood for comprehensive universal nuclear disarmament, Gandhi said, "Yes, India has nuclear weapons. This became a strategic compulsion for us, born out of the failure to persuade the world to abolish nuclear weapons."

She, however, added that India's commitment to nuclear disarmament remained.

Leaders of the Left Front, including Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, were at the function. The Left Front backs the Congress-led government but has been critical of its economic policies.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, Kaunda, Yunus, former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser Al Kidwa and Lech Walesa also addressed the inaugural session.

Why was the opposition absent?

The absence of opposition leaders, including those of the BJP, at the international meet saw Congress being faced with uncomfortable questions.

"This is a Congress event, not a town hall meeting," senior party leader Devendra Dwivedi, who is one of the spokespersons for the two-day meet, said responding to a volley of questions from reporters on the issue.

Admitting that the Mahatma did not belong to any particular organisation, he said it was an international event for which certain criteria were used for issuing invitations.

"We invited those associated with the Gandhian philosophy and thoughts," he said adding the party did not want any controversy on the conference as it was a 'solemn occasion'.

The party also dismissed suggestions that former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda's criticism of US and UK will affect New Delhi's bilateral relations with those countries. He dubbed them as personal remarks.