Email
Print
ShareAn old two-storey structure at Nana Chowk on Tardeo Road houses Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, a Gandhian organisation in existence since 1957. Here, a small group of ageing Gandhians work tirelessly to keep alive the idea of Gandhi in the modern context.
The chief functionary is TRK Somaiya, still a bachelor at 69. The term may have taken another 60 years to become popular, but when Somaiya was growing up, 'Gandhigiri' was a way of life -- despite the fact that he was just 10 years old when Mahatma Gandhi died.
After completing his engineering degree, his first job was with a private company (Larsen & Toubro). But it was just a matter of time before he followed his heart and joined BSMin 1972. He talks to Arun Kumar Shrivastav about the need for selfless activism, Gandhian philosophy and the state of Indian farmers.
"I feel anguished when I read about our farmers today. What will help is some action. Remember Gandhi's Champaran visit -- the first step towards becoming what he turned out to be?
On that trail, all he did was note down the painful stories of each indigo farmer in all its detail and passed them to the authorities for necessary action. He did this over a long period of time, going from one village to another, working almost round the clock, till his seemingly inconsequential act began to give sleepless nights to the rulers.
This worked in those days of foreign oppression -- why can't it work today?
There were others too. But somehow, all such movements were inevitable hijacked.Look at Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement -- he remained a bachelor and lived a minimalistic life before undertaking the daunting 85,000 km Bhoodan padyatra.
But it was abandoned mid-way because the people associated with it turned complacent and cynical in turns following the stupendous success of the movement in the initial phases.
Then you had Anna Hazare who gave the world a practical model of a self-sufficient, vice-free village. Today, a lot of money is spent in the name of making villages self-sufficient but no improvement takes place on the ground.
Another person who is a selfless activist is Medha Patkar, who travels from Singur to Nandigram and other such places where farmers are being divested of their land. But have you seen the crowd? The number of people who come forward to participate in her agitations is just a small fraction of the number she fights for. These people want others to fight for causeswhile they take an afternoon nap.
This makes you think -- why did all the grassroots movements fail? Is it that the assorted lot of Gandhians who dominated the social and political scene in the early years of independence could not carry forward the movement and take it to its conclusion?
Today, Gandhi's autobiography is selling like hot cakes, organic farming and foods are the latest in-things, Munnabhai is making big bucks by resorting to Gandhigiri, there are more visitors to Gandhi museums, -- there is an appreciation for everything Gandhian.
But no one comes forward to dedicate his or her life to a social cause nowadays, like Gandhi, Vinoba, JP or myself have done. No one is ready to accept the simple way of living that Gandhi essentially stood for.
Farmers are, by virtue of their way of living and vocation, the true Gandhians. Farmers have suffered due to government policies which support industries over agriculture. In the eyes of the government, a cotton farmer is not important but a textile mill certainly is. Similarly, a bank's profitability is more important than a farmer's life.
The only solution is a people's movement. We cannot leave our grain growers at the mercy of moneylenders, banks or government machineries. Their welfare is the responsibility of every individual whose food comes from them. They should get better prices for their produce.
Instead of waiving loans, the government should put that money in a trust and provide for benefits for the farmers on the lines of provident fund and gratuity given to regular office employees.
I believe a new Gandhi is in the making and he will soon emerge on our social horizon. Maybe it is me, maybe it is you --somebody will certainly address the call of dying farmers."
inbox@dnaindia.net
