Commercialising non-violence, trivialising the Mahatma

Gandhi has often been used by political leaders as one of the safest and easiest means to achieve nefarious ends. But using Gandhi’s name and teachings is not the fiefdom of political leaders; corporate leaders also apparently have no qualms in blatantly using, or rather misusing, Gandhi’s name, statue, charkha – the spinning wheel, teachings, etc. in a manner, which can best be described as profiteering at its worst.

Last week while catching a flight at the Ahmedabad airport, I noticed a new shop in the departure area and was immediately attracted towards it as it displayed a huge statue of Gandhi with the spinning wheel. The display board mentioned ‘Eternal Gandhi:

An initiative of Aditya Birla Group’. It also displayed prominently ‘Non-violence: Bravery at its Peak’ written in a circular manner with ‘ahimsa’ — meaning non-violence — written in the centre in Hindi.

“Shashwat Gandhi” – meaning eternal Gandhi – was also written in Hindi in bold letters.

Curious to know what was on offer, I stepped inside and interacted with the salespersons to know about the purpose and idea of the new establishment. I was told that the basic purpose of establishing such an outlet was to propagate the teachings of Gandhi and spread the message of non-violence. I was impressed. But, sadly the impression didn’t last long.

I was shocked to see that most of the merchandise on offer – kurtas, pens, CDs, books, gift items, etc. – were priced on the higher side, even higher than what would be expected in any up-scale market. The shop was no different from any other ordinary commercial establishment. The only difference may be, as was obvious and apparent, the overwhelming presence of Gandhi’s statue and the lingering thought that by buying any item from the shop one may be doing his or her bit towards making this world a better place to live in through non-violence.

But it is difficult to comprehend as to how buying an overpriced product can contribute to Gandhian principles, primarily non-violence, or for that matter other principles for which Gandhi lived and died — living within one’s means, self-reliance, and above all truth.

Then, what is the real purpose of such a shop? Is it just a gimmick to earn a rupee more by shamelessly using Gandhi’s name and principles, or the company has reached this stage of intellectual bankruptcy and erosion of all creativity that it has to resort to one of the best models – Gandhi – for selling its wares, which it might have been finding difficult to sell in the otherwise stagnant market even after using the finest of the management techniques and formulation of highly competitive strategies?

Should the people of India remain silent at such gross and shameful commercialisation of non-violence and una bashed effort by a corporate group – immensely big and with deep pockets – to trivialise Gandhi? Is this something which can be put under the name of corporate social responsibility, or doing service to the nation in the name of the Father of the nation, or spreading the message of non-violence, or doing it considering it to be their sacred duty to make the younger generation know Gandhi as the apostle of peace and non-violence, or making it a point to make the common man know that the company cares about these ideals and would leave no stone unturned to practise them while implementing its business plans?

It is ironical that a large corporate house like Aditya Birla Group, which has so many other business interests, had started this initiative.

It would not have even befitted any small business house struggling to find its feet. Surprising is the fact as to how the airport administration approved of it. Even if any person or company had liked to make its business plan work in this manner, it is the bounden duty of the administration to exercise discretion and not to permit it.

In case the airport administration, or any other local administration, finds its hands tied and expresses its inability to stop it as it has been proposed in the name of Gandhi, the Legislature needs to make unambiguous laws so that the executive while implementing them doesn’t find any difficulty in arriving at the right decision, in letter and spirit.

It is a matter of serious concern for every Indian that a man, who always stood for non-profiteering, is today being used for flagrant profit-making. It is high time we stopped allowing Gandhi’s name and principles to be used for either moneymaking, or befooling people, or both.

There is no denying the fact that non-violence can be said to be bravery at its peak, however, commercialising non-violence – whether for direct monetary profit or gaining political mileage – is not acceptable. Gandhi’s name need not be sullied by miring it in lucre.

Given that the amended Companies Law now provides for 2% expenditure on corporate social responsibility, there is going to be a lot of grey area which could be interpreted either this way or that regarding the target group or purpose towards which the expenditure could be made.

Spending money in the name of social and public good – and, of course, Gandhi comes handy in such an exercise – would really be a metaphorical ‘Open Sesame’ for companies looking for an opportunity to divert funds or spend them in a manner which will be far away from that stated in the account books.

It would surely be a challenge for the legal and regulatory bodies to monitor that the 2% is not misused. The least the political masters – most of them donning the Gandhian khadi – can do is to see to that Gandhi and his principles are neither commercialised nor trivialised.