KOCHI | MAY 2015 | VOL III

GANDHI AND MARX

KP Shankaran

Gandhi Square, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2015 is the 100th anniversary of Gandhis return from South Africa.

andhi and Marx were two thinkers deeply committed to the

idea of a non-hierarchical social
order. Both of them advocated
the need for a socialist society by morally
critiquing capitalism. Gandhi borrowed his
definition of capitalism from Marx; it was
the private ownership of the means of production. Despite these similarities, however,

hand, identified productive capabilities as

the distinguishing feature of human life. It is
the primacy accorded to productive capabilities and the relations of production, which
make Marxs philosophy a materialistic understanding of human destiny differentiating
it fundamentally from Gandhis philosophy,
which was based on the primacy of ethics
(concern-for-the-well-being- of-others).

For Gandhi, capitalism is inherently unethical because a capitalist society, which is also a consumerist society, can exist
only by perpetually enhancing human selfishness.
there were fundamental differences in their
philosophical orientation. For Gandhi, it was
ethics, which distinguished humans from
the rest of animal life. Marx, on the other

Marx, according to Gandhi, made the future of socialism precarious by placing ethics in the domain of the superstructure that
was ultimately determined by the economic

base of production and relationships of production. It was clear to Gandhi that a socialist society cannot be built on the Marxian
premises.
It can be argued that this structural flaw
in Marxism, identified by Gandhi, was exposed by the collapse of the Soviet Union
and by Chinas move towards capitalism.
The Marxian prediction that Capitalism
would stagnate and eventually collapse is
again an unlikely proposition. As Thomas Piketty suggests in his Capital in the
21st Century, capitalism will in all likelihood continue to exist uninterrupted, while
throwing up conditions of severe economic
disparities.
Is there a Gandhian solution for this
malaise? For Gandhi, capitalism is inherently unethical because a capitalist society,
which is also a consumerist society, can
exist only by perpetually enhancing human

Riyas Komu, 2010

selfishness. As people become more and

more selfish within a capitalist dispensation they tend to lose concern for the well
being of others. When the moral fabric of a
society degenerates it becomes imperative
for the State to control human behaviour
through heavy policing. This in turn leads
to the erosion of peoples autonomy and
freedom. Evidence of this can be seen in the
compulsive and widespread use of surveillance cameras in human societies across the
globe. The obvious underlying premise for
this state activism is that humans cannot be
trusted and accordingly there is a need for
the State to monitor their behavior through
policing. This is only one of the many visible symptoms of the erosion of human autonomy caught up in a capitalist structure.
The other symptoms of the malaise have
been thoroughly articulated by Michel Foucault in his book Discipline and Punish and

Communist Party Office, Kollam, Kerala

in his writings on governmentality in which

he demonstrates the multifarious ways in
which power is exercised over individuals in order to create a well-ordered and
efficient population for the uninterrupted
growth of capitalism.
Thus the popular association of capitalism with freedom begins to unravel upon
close scrutiny and it becomes clear that
under capitalism individuals and communities are subjected to unprecedented controls
of various kinds. A consumerist society,
which is very much a product of modernity/
enlightenment that celebrates human autonomy and freedom, in fact ends up negating the very same autonomy and freedom.
While there seems to be a paradox here,
past experience has made it clear that as
institutions of modernity become more and
more entrenched in society, whether capitalist or those associated with Soviet/Maotype socialism, human behavior becomes
increasingly susceptible to external controls. Gandhi did not see this as a paradox,
but rather recognized this as a contradiction
built into the project of modernity/enlightenment. He therefore outrightly rejected social structures based on presuppositions of
enlightenment/modernity, be it capitalism
or Marxian forms of socialism.
Marxian socialism is of course just one
among many types of socialism. Socialist
thought has a long and rich history, and

Riyas Komu, 2015

various visions of socialist societies have

been articulated both before and after Marx.
Marx himself acknowledged the existence
of other kinds of socialist thought but he
disparagingly referred to these as Utopian
Socialism because he believed that these
were unattainable and therefore beyond the
realm of possibility.
While the viability of Marxian socialism has been seriously questioned following the fall of the so called Marxian states,
there has been renewed interest in other
socialist voices that had so far been dismissed as utopian. Gandhi, a strong critic
of Marxism, articulated his own vision for
a socialist society, which was based on the
idea of Swaraj. Grounded in ethics, Swaraj
exemplifies a concern for the well-being of
others. It is this concern for the other and
the need to reduce selfishness among human beings that also animates Gandhis
other well known principles such as ahimsa, satya, aparigraha etc. Central to Gandhis Swaraj was a belief in the possibility
of and need for a stateless society and he
realized that such a society could only be
brought about through a considerable weakening of selfishness.
In early 1940s, Gandhi formulated 18
constructive programs, and these programs
were aimed at setting up a non-hierarchical
social order (Swaraj). Their declared purpose was to bring about self-improvement

by building structures, systems, processes,

and resources that are alternatives to oppression and promote self-sufficiency and
unity in the community. Gandhi believed
that essential capabilities by which he
meant a series of freedoms, like freedom
from hunger and thirst, freedom from oppression, freedom from exploitation, etc
could be attained only in a non-hierarchical
social order.
Gandhi recognized that under the Indian state these freedoms/capabilities would
continue to elude large sections of the society. Not only would they continue to be
plagued by hunger and disease, but they
would also remain victims of oppression
and exploitation. He therefore advocated the implementation of the constructive
programs through communes within the

for Gandhi, a characteristic feature of all societies under capitalism. The Indian states
failure to rid its people of hunger and destitution demonstrates not only the prescience
of Gandhis thought but also its continuing
relevance in todays world.

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Riyas Komu, 2012

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Nervous System, Iron and Automotive Paint, 5 ft x 15 ft

Riyas Komu, 2005

The writer is a retired associate professor,

St. Stephens College, Delhi

STONED GODDESSES
Riyas Komu

Borivili Slum, Mumbai

Riyas Komu, 2013

he morning after we began our tryst with destiny

we thought we would reinvent our traditions in
contemporary contexts and live new lives. We
never did. The Partition of the subcontinent had
driven a wedge through the hearts of people who shared a
common history. It uprooted a whole generation. However,
the division, and the bloodshed, had started a year before
Independence dawned, when Jinnah made the call for
direct action, triggering communal violence across the

building. That edifice, we now realize, is no monolith.

Why was our freedom followed by a spate of violence,
pain and hostilities? The communal massacres that
followed even after the traumatic episode of Partition are
something I am yet to comprehend. I realize I was not alone
in failing to understand the logic of people killing people.
In her book, The Pity of Partition: Mantos Life, Times, and
Work across the India-Pakistan Divide, historian Ayesha
Jalal, the grand-niece of Saadat Hasan Manto, discusses in
depth his non-acceptance of
Partition in his writings and
The legacy of a fractured society has been the basis of my the communal narrative that
India. New India
quest as an artist to understand the nature and texture of divided
was jolted out of its smug
prejudice.
belief that the ghost of
communal politics was laid
to rest with the Partition
subcontinent. Ever since, the spectre of sectarian violence when a Hindu chauvinist and a proponent of Hindutva,
has stalked the people of the subcontinent. Competing Nathuram Godse, shot the Mahatma. Godses was a
interest groups leaned on myths to invent histories, but warning shot about the future that awaited the Republic.
The legacy of a fractured society has been the basis of
the ghosts of Partition were never exorcised. In fact, they
assumed new forms and threatened to rupture the fabric my quest as an artist to understand the nature and texture of
of the new Republic that in its soul carried the Nehruvian prejudice. In Stoned Goddesses, I have attempted to capture
vision of a liberal, secular and socialist nation and built on my understanding of independent Indias psyche through
the rock of Vallabhbhai Patels idea of no-nonsense nation- important events that scarred its history and, in the process,

Partition Riots: The last months of the British rule in the Indian
subcontinent was bloody. Beginning with the Direct Action Day
killings to the eve of Independence (August 1946-August 1947),
communal violence claimed thousands of lives.

shaped my identity. It is an identity that has presented me

with several moments of anguish but has been at the heart
of much of my work.
In two of my important shows, Faith Accompli and
Related List, I have tried to come to terms with that
identity. As a native of Kerala, I am someone who has
admired the legacy of Raja Ravi Varma, perhaps the first
practitioner of visual arts to migrate from Kerala. In many
ways Ravi Varma was a pioneer. He was the first to master
the European medium of oil painting and make it very
Indian. He was the first to make visual arts accessible to
the common man by doing several series of oleographs.
The use of litho blocks in this work is my way of paying
homage to Ravi Varma. It is a reading of our history in
reverse.
My attempt with this work is to capture the concerns,
anxieties, and dilemmas of an individual born in
independent India. In the introduction to his book, Making
Sense of History, Mushirul Hassan argues that Indias
history is based on three contradictory themes - colonialism,
nationalism and communalism.
Three other landmark events -- the Emergency in 1975,
the nuclear explosion in Pokhran in 1974, and economic
liberalisation in 1991 -- do not have a direct communal
face but may have sharpened other divides and destroyed
many beliefs about modern India. In terms of historical
significance, for instance, the nuclear test in Pokhran
in 1974 was Indias big break with the pacifist ideal that
formed a core of the new nations world vision.
There are, of course, other events that shaped the
course of modern Indias history. The death of Nehru was
really the end of an era and the beginning of a new India.
Similarly, the Communist Party of India gaining office
in Kerala had ramifications that went beyond even India.
Ambedkar embracing Buddhism with his followers in 1956
was a reassertion of the Dalits. The Mandal Commission
in the late 1980s triggered a radical shift in the political
trajectory of northern India.
The 1980s saw the narrative of communal politics
dominating the political discourse nationally. Hindu
communalism riding the Ayodhya movement shook the
secular core of the Republic. The early years of this decade
was marked by the Khalistani movement and the terror it
unleashed in Punjab and its neighbourhood. It culminated in
Operation Bluestar and the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
The anti-Sikh killings that followed were a reminder that
the people and the state had learnt little from the harrowing
experience of the violence that preceded Partition.
The 1980s was subsumed in bloodshed as politicallysponsored and state-sponsored violence wrecked social
peace in the north, west and eastern parts of India. The
macabre dance of death was witnessed in Bhagalpur, Nellie
in Assam, Kashmir Valley, and many small towns. If it
was anti-Muslim in some places, it was anti-Sikh or antiHindu elsewhere. L K Advanis rath rode on the Ayodhya
movement initiated by the Hindutva forces to polarize the
country in communal terms, according to many, in a manner
never seen since the days of Partition. The destruction of
Babri Masjid in 1992, the Mumbai riots, and many such
catastrophic events were the outcome of the communal
mobilization that the Rath Yatra achieved.
Umebrto Eco in his essay, Inventing the Enemy, writes:
Having an enemy is important not only to define but also
to provide us with an obstacle against which to measure
our system of values and, in seeking to overcome it, to
demonstrate our own worth. So when there is no enemy,
we invent one.
Could that explain the spate of communal riots after the
first big one since independence in Gujarat in 1969? Eco
further adds that from the very beginning, however, the
people who become our enemies are not those who directly
threaten us, but those whom someone has an interest in
portraying a true threat even when they arent.
In the bloody history of India there have been several
bouts of violence whose genesis was the assertion of
an identity or suppression of another. In a place, say
Keelvenmani in Tamil Nadu and Laxmanpur-Bethe in

Gandhi/Godse: The fight for the soul of India began soon after
Independence. Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic, shot Mahatma
Gandhi on January 30, 1948. Gandhis crime was that he spoke for
Hindu-Muslim unity.

Bihar, the victims were poor, landless, dalit farm workers.

Class and caste were at the core of the violence and
Keelvenmani or Laxmanpur-Bethe were not exceptions.
When the Indian nation-state flexed its muscle ahead of
the merger of Hyderabad or in Mizoram, Nagaland and
Manipur or Jammu and Kashmir, the victims were those
marked as enemies of the state. When an insurgency broke
out in the Kashmir Valley, Hindu Pandits were identified
as targets, in Assam outsiders suffered. Gujarat in 2002
saw a section of the society and the State administration
collaborate to target Muslim residents of the state.
Gujarat riots, as Mushirul Hassan points out, were the
second Partition of India. Now there are two sets of people
- those permanently scarred by the incidents in Gujarat and
others dismissive of those scars and living in a permanent
state of denial.
British poet Kapka Kassabova in her Patriots of
Gujarat recounts the suffering in Gujarat:
She has extinguished eyes. She folds
and unfolds her hands, then
pulls a photo from a plastic pouch.
Samira and Salma, she says,
Engaged. University students.
Their fiancs gave me this.
Salma and Samira. I could do nothing.
I couldnt watch, how could I watch.
I had to watch. Why do I live now?
The men came with big knives
laughing while they did it.
They were laughing.
I could do nothing. I couldnt watch.
I had to watch. I couldnt help them.
Why do I live now?
She puts the photo back into the pouch,
And smooths it carefully, a sheet
Over a sleeping child.
We pretend that the nation has moved on. Politicians
unapologetic of their crimes seek the peoples mandate to

1969: Ahmedabad riots in 1969 broke the lull in communal violence

after the Partition riots. Soon after, Hindu-Muslim riots became a
periodic feature.

rule. And the crowds cheer them on. Our real problem
in India is not political. It is social, wrote Rabindranath
Tagore. The poet, as always, was prescient.

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p bpn a\-kn-em-Im--Xv F\nv am{X-a-sv Rm
Xncn--dn-bp-p. Ncn-{X-Imcn Abnj Pem Xs Zv ]nn
Hm^v ]mn-j: amtmkv sse^v, ssSwkv Bv hv
Ft{Imkv Zv Cy ]mn-m UnsshUv F ]pkvXI-n kmZv lk amtm-bpsS cN-\-Isf B[m-camn hn`-P\w kw_-n At-l-ns Xnc-kvIm-c-

sbpw Cysb hn`-Pn hKo-bm-Jym-\--sfbpw

Bg-n N sNp-p. hKo-b-cm-jv{So-bns t{]
Xm-th-is hn`-P-\-tmsS Ipgnp aqSn-sb Ab-Ym
-am b hnizm k
-
- n
- \npw Cy sRnb
- p W
- Xv
lnp aX-au-en-I-hm-Znbpw lnpXz {]Nm-c-I-\p-amb \mYpdmw
tKmUvtk alm-m-hn\v t\v \nd-sbm-gn--tm-gm-Wv.
dn-n-ns\ Imn-cn-p `mhnsb kw_-n apdn-bn-m-bn-cpp tKmUvsk-bpsS B shSn.
aphn-[n-I-fpsS kz`m-h-hpw LS-\bpw a\-kn-em-p-Xn\mbn hnL-Sn-X-amb Hcp kaq-l-ns Ncn{Xw Ap
apX -Hcp Iem-Im-c-s\ \ne-bn Fs At\z-j-Wns ASn-m-\-am-bn. Is-dn-b-s tZh-X-I-fn
kzX{ CybpsS Ncn-{Xs, AXn\v apdn-thn {]
[m\ kw`-h--fn-eqsS a\-kn-em-n-bXv {]Imcw BhnjvI-cn-m-\mWv Rm {ian-n-p--Xv, Cu {]{In-b-bm-Is
Fs kzXzw cq]-s-Sp-n. Xo{h-th-Z-\-I-fp-tS-Xmb \nc-

skkv Hm^v lndn F

apjn-dp lks ]pkvXI-ns
Bap-J-n
Atlw ]d-bp-Xp t]ms
e Cy Ncn{Xw ASn-m\-s-n-cn-p-Xv ]c-kv]cw
ewLn-p aqv hnj-b-fn-em-bmWv tImf-\n-h
-cWw, tZio-b-X, hKo-bX.
Cym-N-cn-{X-nse av
aqp \mgn-I--p-I
1975se ASn-b-n-cm-h-,
1974se s]mJvdm AWp-hnkvt^m-S-\w, 1991se kmnI DZm-c-h-cWw F
n-hbvv t\cn-p hKo-

cmPyw aptmp t]mb-Xmbn \mw `mhn-p-p. X-fpsS

IrXy--fn Ip-t_m-[-ta-Xp-an-msX cmjv{So-b-m cmPyw
`cn-p--Xn-\mbn P\--fpsS AwKo-Imcw tXSp-p. P\w
Ahmbn Bchw apg-p-p.
h[n \nan-j- F\np \In-b-XmWv Cu kzXzsa-nepw, Fs {][m-\-kr-jvSn-I-fp-sS lrZ-b-n Dsmp--Xp-am-Wv.
s^bvv Aw-n, dnte-Uv env Fo Fs cv
{][m\ {]Zi-\--fn takq-Nn-n kzXz-hp-ambn
s]mcp--s-Sm Rm {ian-n-p-v. tIc-f-n \np-bm-sf \ne-bn cmP chnh-bpsS kw`m-h-\-I-fn
A`n-am-\n-p hyn-bmWv Rm. tIc-f-n \npw
IpSn-tb-dnb BZys Zriy-I-em-Im-c-\m-bn-cnmw cmPm
chn-h. ]e-Xnepw Atlw XpS--m-c-\m-Wv. FOm-bm-Nn-{X--fpsS bqtdm-]y Ie BZy-ambn kzmb-am-nb Atlw CXns\ XnIpw tZio-b-amn amn.
A-Sn--s F-Om-bm-Nn-{X--fpsS ]cc-bn-eqsS
km[m-c-W-msc Zriy-I-e-bn-tev BIjn-m Ign-Xnepw Atlw {]Y-a-m-\-m-Wv. Cu krjvSn-bn
entm-tm-p-I D]-tbm-Kn-n-cn-p-Xv cmPm chnhbvp Fs ka-Wam-Wv. \psS Ncn{Xn
s ]nhm-b-\-bpw.
Cu krjvSn-bn Rm {ian-p-Xv kzX{ Cybn P\n Hcp hyn-bpsS DXvI-WvT-I, Bi--I,
{]Xn-k-n-I Fnh Bhn-jvI-cn-m-\m-Wv. tanMv

The Anti-Sikh Riots: The anti-Sikh riots followed the first major
assassination of a political leader since Mahatma Gandhi. The Indian
state and its arms failed to stand up to the tide of communal hatred,
worse it facilitated the killings. Victims are still waiting for justice.

b-Om-b-bn-s-nepw Ah av
]e `n-X-Ipw aq
Iqp-Ibpw B[p-\nI Cy
sb Ipdn-p ]e hnizmk-fpw XIp-Ibpw sN
bvXn-p-v. Ncn-{X-]-c-amb
{]m[m-\y-n, DZm-l-c-Wn\v 1974se s]mJvdm
Emergency: The Emergency reminded all about the shaky foundations of Indian democracy. When the
kw`-hw, ]pXnb cmPy-ns The
crisis unraveled, the pillars of democracy the executives, the legislatures, the courts, and the press
temI-Im-gvNmSn k- failed to resist the threats to civil liberties.
bm-bn-cp kam-[m-\-hmZ
sa BZi-n \np
hnSp-X-em-bn-cp-p. B[p-\nI Cy-bpsS Ncn-{X-KXn cq]- e cmjv{So-b-K-Xn-bn kaqe-am--n-\m-Wv XpSw Ipdns-Sp-nb av kw`-h-fpw Xobm-bp-ap-v. s\lvdp-hns -Xv.
acWw bYm-n Hcp bpK-ns Ah-km-\hpw
tZio-b-X-e-n hKo-bcmjv{Sob-ns BJym-\asmcp ]pXnb Cy-bpsS XpS--hp-am-bn-cp-p. AXp-t]m in {]m]n-p--Xn-\mWv 1980-I kmyw hlnse Iyq-Wnv ]mn tIc-f-n `c-W-n-se-n-b- -Xv. Atbm[y apt-s \bn lnp hKo-bX dnXns Ae-b-Sn-I Cybvv ]pd-t-p t]mep-sa-n. n-ns atX-Xc kz`m-hs ]nSn-p-e-p. Cu
1956 A\p-bm-bn-Ismw Awt_-ZvI _paXw Zi-I-ns BZy-hjfn Jen-m\n {]m-\hpw
kzoI-cntm AXv Zfn-X-cpsS Icpv sXfn-bn--em-bn. ]m-_nepw Ab{]-tZ-i--fnepw AXv Agn-p-hn
1980 Ah-km-nse aWvU Io-j D-c-`m-c-Xns `oIcXbp-amWv tcJ-s-Sp-n-bn-cn-p--Xv. Hm-td-j

Rath Yatra / Babri Masjid: The Ayodhya Movement and BJP leader
L K Advanis rath yatra culminated in the demolition of the Babri
Masjid. These events shook the secular foundations of the republic.
The scars havent healed two decades after.

Bombay Blasts: The Bombay blasts was the first act of terrorism
aimed at civilians. Innocent civilians, irrespective of their faith,
and public places were targeted by terrorists operating from outside
India.

q mdnepw Cn-cm-Km-n-bpsS h[-n-ep-amWv AXv

Iem-in--Xv. hn`-P-\n\v aptm-Sn-bm-bp-mb A{I-a-fpsS ]oU-\m-\p-`-h--fn \npw cmPys P\-
]mTw ]Tn-n-sv hy-am-p-Xpw Hma-s-Sp-p-Xp-am-bn-cpp XpSp-mb knJv Iq-sm-e-I.
cmjv{So-b ]np-W-bp A{I-a--fn-sem-gp-Inb tNmcp-g-I-fn apnb 1980-I cmPy-ns D-c, ]n-a,
]qh-ta-J-e-I-fpsS kmaq-ly- kzmyw sISp-n. `K]q,
Bkm-anse s\n, Imivao Xmgvhc Fn-hn-S--fnepw
av sNdp-\-K-c--fnepw acWw XmWvU-h-\r--am-Sn. Nnebn-S--fn apn--fm-bn-cpp Cc-I-sf-n an-S--fn
Ah knJp-Imtm lnp-tm FXn-sc-bm-bn-cp-p.
cmPys hKob-ambn tNcn XncnpI-sb ey-tm
sS lnp-Xz-i-n-I-fpsS t{]c-W-bn Atbm[y {]m\-n-\mbn Nen F.-sI. AZzm-\n-bpsS cYw, ]e-cpsSbpw A`n-{]m-b-n hn`-P-\-n\v tijw apsm-cn-epw
ImWm kz`m-h-hn-ti-j-n-ep--Xm-bn-cp-p. cY-bm-{Xbn-eqsS ssIh hKob tNcn-Xn-cn-hns A\--c-^efmb
- n c
- p p 1992se _m_vdn akvPn Zv XI, apw ss_

Iem]w Fn-hbpw AXp-t]m-ep Zpc--k-am-\-amb av

kw`-h--fpw.
"CshnMv Zn F\nan' F teJ-\-n Dw_tm
Ftm Fgp-Xpp: ""i{Xp Dm-tI-Xv kp{]-[m-\-am-Wv,

\s \nh-Nn-p--Xn\v am{X-a aqey-hy-h-bpsS

tXmX-f-pXn\p XS-k-sa \ne-bn-epw, AXns\
XcWw sNp--Xn-\pw, \psS hne hy-am-p--Xn-\pw.
AXp-sImv Ftm-sg-nepw i{Xp Cm-Xn-cn-p-tm-,
\ Hns\ Is-pp.''
1969 KpP-dm-n-ep-mb henb hKobmXn-{I-a-
p tij-ap Iem-]-{]-hm-ls hni-Zo-I-cn-p--Xn\v
CXv aXn-bm-Iptam? Dw_tm Ftm Iqn-tpp:
XpSw apX Xs \psS i{Xp--fmbn amdp-h
\s t\cnv `bsSpp--h-c-. ]s Ah A-s\b-m-Xn-cn-p-tmgpw Ahsc As\ Nn{Xo-I-cn-p--Xv
Nnev Xm]-cy-ap-m-bn-cn-p--Xn-\memWv.
Cy-bpsS c-cq-nX Ncn-{X-n A{I-a-ns
\nc-h[n Bhr-n-I-fp-v. Ch-bpsS Dhw kzXz-ns
ASn-p-d-n--entem As-n asm-ns ASn--aentem Bbn-cp-p. Xan-gv\m-nse Iosha-Wn-bn-epw
_olm-dnse eva]qs_-sY-bnepw Cc-I ]mh-fpw
`qc-ln-X-cp-amb ZfnXv Ij-I-sm-gn-em-fn-I-fm-bn-cp-p.
hKhpw PmXnbpw A{I-a-ns tI{-m-\-p-m-bncp-p. Iosha-Wn As-n eva]q--s_sY
A]-hm-Z-a-. sslZ-cm-_m-Zns\ As-n antkm-dm-an-s\,
\mKm-emUn-s\, aWn-q-cns\ As-n Pp Imivaocns\ ebn-n-p--Xn-\mbn Cym-cmjv{Sw t]io-_ew
Poverty Pokhran: India in 1974 was sheepish about the nuclear
explosions it conducted in Pokhran. However, when history repeated
a second time in 1998, it was celebrated as an emerging power expressing its new-found aggressive nationalism.

Imn-b-tm Cc-I cmjv{S-ns i{Xp--fm-bn-cp-p.

Imivao- Xmgvh-c-bn `oI-cX \S-am-Sn-b-tm lnp ]
WvUn-p-I-fm-bn-cpp eyw. Bkm-an ]pdw-\m-p-ImcmWv {]bm-k-a-\p-`-hn--Xv. 2002 KpP-dmv I-Xm-Is
kaq-l-nse Hcp hn`m-Khpw kwm\ `c-W-Iq-Shpw
tNv kwm-\s apkvenw P\-hn-`m-Ks ey-anSp--Xm-Wv.
apjn-dp lk Nqn-m-p-Xv t]mse KpPdmv
Iem]w Cy-bpsS cmw hn`-P-\-am-Wv. Ctm cv
hn`mKw P\fm-Wp--Xv. KpP-dm-n-ep-mb kw`hfm nc-ambn {hWn-X-cm--s--h, Cu {hW-
_m[n-msX \ntj-[-ns mbn`mh-n Ign-bp-h.
"t]{Sn-bvkv Hm^v KpP-dmv' F Ihn-X-bn
{_nojv Ihn Im]vI Ik-t_mh KpP-dm-nse PohnXZpcnX-sf Ipdnv ]d-bp-p:
She has extinguished eyes. She folds
and unfolds her hands, then
pulls a photo from a plastic pouch.
Samira and Salma, she says,
Engaged. University students.
Their fiancs gave me this.
Salma and Samira. I could do nothing.
I couldnt watch, how could I watch.
I had to watch. Why do I live now?
The men came with big knives
laughing while they did it.
They were laughing.
I could do nothing. I couldnt watch.
I had to watch. I couldnt help them.
Why do I live now?
She puts the photo back into the pouch,
And smooths it carefully, a sheet
Over a sleeping child.

Godhra/Modi: The train tragedy in Godhra and the anti-Muslim violence unleashed soon after with the overt support of the state
government was the beginning of the rise of Narendra Modi as a Hindutva mascot.

cmPyw aptmp t]mb-Xmbn \mw `mhn-p-p. XfpsS IrXy--fn Ip-t_m-[-ta-Xp-an-msX cmjv{So-b-m

cmPyw `cn-p--Xn-\mbn P\--fpsS AwKo-Imcw tXSp-p.
P\w Ahmbn Bchw apg-p-p. ""Cy-bn \psS
bYm {]iv\w cmjv{So-b-a-, kmaq-ln-I-am-Wv'' - cho{\mY SmtKm Fgp-Xn. Ihn, F-tbpw t]mse, ZoLZin-bm-Wv.=
]cn-`mj: \nPmkv Pph

FRAMING GANDHI
Amrith Lal

Black & White (On International Workers Day, Gandhi from Kochi), Oil on Canvas, 6 ft x 4.5 ft (Series of 5)

Riyas Komu, 2013-15

he photograph was shot in 1931 when Gandhi was the eyes despite the smile on his face? Was that a moment
62. Hind Swaraj had been written. It was 16 years when he had had a glimpse of the future? The bare-chested
since he returned from South Africa. The Khi- old man with taut arms and ribs visible in the photograph
lafat and Non-cooperation movements were
Since the 1940s, physical annihilation and intellectual approbehind him. A year before,
he had walked to Dandi
priation have been deployed to wipe out Gandhi from public
and made his countrymen
consciousness.
taste the salt of history. The
Congress had become a mass
movement and swaraj, most Indians thought, was their could have been a representative Indian peasant, the Last
birthright. What had then caused the sorrow, so revealing in Man for whom Swaraj was to be gained. Did he sense a

betrayal by his own people, as early as in the year of this

photograph? Did he foresee a future where he would be
lost to his own people?
The photograph sets the context for the exploration
that the artist invites us to undertake with him. First exhibited as Black & White in 2014 as part of The Missing
Pavilion, the painted Gandhi portraits were set inside a
crate, covered on all sides except in the front. The crate
stands as if it had just been shipped in or is about to be
shipped out. The port of arrival or departure is not known.
However, the crate marks its space in its location. It is an
exclusive world the artist wants us to investigate. A set of
five portraits with key words/titles embossed on top were
placed inside the crate, one after the other, as if filed in a
cabin. There was just enough space for us to step in and
peep at them. We walk past Satya, Ahimsa, Antyodaya and
Sarvodaya to reach Swaraj. The path ended with Swaraj.
We now confront the wall and the space closes in. We trace
the steps backwards and step out. By changing Black &
White into On International Workers Day, Gandhi From
Kochi, Riyas experiments with Gandhi. He changes Gandhis background.
The titles hold the key to Gandhijis universe; they are
his panchsheels. These may appear as separate ideas, but
are inter-linked and together constitute the essence of his
truth. These suggest a moral vision and constitute together
the political idea of India as envisaged by him. Satya to
Swaraj is a continuum. These establish the pact between
the individual and the society, the citizen and the state.
Without Satya, there is no Swaraj; without Antyodaya,
there is no Sarvodaya. Ahimsa, of course, is the core of
every act. Each exists in the other and together these make
the whole.
The artist has pitted them against a new set of key
words - perception, violence, victim, fear and control. When words are cleansed of their moral essence, they
acquire new meaning. The newspeak hinted at by the artist
suggests the possibility of making a deracinated Gandhi,
who could be commandeered at will for propaganda. The
staff he is seen to be holding during his journeys to Dandi
or Noakhali could be interpreted as a lathi that disciplined
a people. His insistence that each person clean his own
latrine a revolutionary idea in a society that invented a
caste to handle human waste could be reduced to a fetish
for public sanitation.
On International Workers Day, Gandhi from Kochi is
not to be passively consumed; it is a wake-up call for us
to reflect on our times. It reminds us of the necessity to
be on guard against loss of memory and manipulation of
ideas. It tells us about the need to retrieve words and their
essence. The message of On International Workers Day,
Gandhi from Kochi, indeed, is explicit.
Since the 1940s, physical annihilation and intellectual appropriation have been deployed to wipe out Gandhi
from public consciousness. His opponents knew of the
radical edge in Gandhis ideas better than his followers.
Who better understood his subversive potential than his
murderer, Nathuram Godse? Godse recognised that the
self-proclaimed sanatani Hindu, who had created his spiritual universe with Satya and Ahimsa as the core beliefs,
and had said that if some found his Hinduism eclectic then
that was their problem, was the biggest obstacle towards
establishing the Hindu rashtra outlined by Godses own
mentor, VD Savarkar. Despite the savagery that accompanied
the Partition, a Hindu swaraj would remain a marginal idea
in Indian politics for a long time because Gandhi stood

sentinel to the new nation. Hindutva was unacceptable

because it was tainted by Gandhis murder. Nehruvian
India deliberately ignored Gandhis Hind Swaraj but it
did share his respect for all religions and support for fostering pluralism in the society. Answering a student from
Gujarat Vidyapith about the concrete form of religious
instruction to be followed in the institute, Gandhi wrote:
Just as preservation of ones own culture does not mean
contempt for that of others, but requires assimilation of
the best that there may be in all other cultures, even so
should be the case with religion. Our present fears and
apprehensions are a result of the poisonous atmosphere
that has been generated in the country - the atmosphere
of mutual hatred, ill-will and distrust. We are constantly
under a nightmare of fear lest someone should undermine
our faith or the faith of those who are dear and near to us.
But this unnatural state will cease when we have learnt
to cultivate respect and tolerance towards other religions
and their votaries. These words, written in 1928, need to
be remembered in times of political mobilisations in the
name of religion. The pact between religions, irrespective
of their numerical strength, was very clear to him: It had
to be of mutual respect, not toleration.
Writing in the 1950s, socialist leader Rammanohar Lohia
warned of governmental and priestly Gandhians, who were
instrumental in appropriating Gandhi for the State. Their
Gandhi was a depoliticised saint who provided ample
material for peace seminars and the like, and had forgotten
to stand up for rights and justice. Now, a new Gandhi, more
a sanitary inspector than a saint, is being sought for. Lohia
called for a retrieval of the heretic Gandhi, who could say
western civilisation was a good idea without malice and
subvert tradition by speaking with a vocabulary drawn
from the very same tradition. The heretic Gandhi was not
a saint or a conformist. He was political to the core and
constantly inventing and innovating to make politics an act
of truth and an agency for antyodaya and sarvodaya. His
swaraj was about being fearless, and ahimsa was not the
refuge of the coward. He was not a pin-up or a photo-op,
but a man of action who spoke his mind without cunning
and conceit. The heretic Gandhi is someone we may spot
in anti-state stirs, in the struggles of the landless and the
marginalised, in debates for re-thinking democracy and
development.
On International Workers Day, Gandhi from Kochi is
a reminder of the possibilities of Gandhi. In the decades
since his murder, he has been caged by friends and foes.
There may even come a time when Godse would assume
custody of Gandhi and claim to represent him. If the threat
of closure to Gandhian possibilities is real, so is the potential
to retrieve his legacy and make him the pivot of a politics
of resistance. The choice is ours.

Bnv \Sp ]cythWn ]mfnbmIm

At l w \s W n p t m AX n \ v ] m
es a m c p p Ib m W v Cu t^mtm{Km^v. mv & sshv
F Xe-s-n 2014 sP.-F.bphn \S Zn annwKv
]h-en-b {]Zi-\-n Kmn OmbmNn{X Hcp
s]npnemWv m]nncpXv. ap`mKsamgnsI
Fm hifpw adv. s]n Ctm XpdapJtv
IbnhnXv Asn FnbXv F anemWncnp
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FhnsSsbtm Adnbn. \tfmSv At\zjnm
Bnv BhiysSp temIamWnXv. {][m\
hmpI/XehmNI apIfn tcJsSpnb
Av Nn{XfpsS Iqw s]npn ASpnbncnp
p. Hn\p ]nmse Hmbn, Hcp Im_n\n ^b
sNpXv t]mse. Hp ISp sNm\pw t\mm\pw

Kmn AXn-cp-Ip-n

1931

Kmnv 62 hbkptm FSp

t^mtm{Km^mWnXv. lnv kzcmPv FgpXs
ncpp. ZnWm{^nbn \npw Kmn Cybn
senbnv 16 hj. Jnem^v, \nlIcW {]
m\ Atln\v ]nnemWv. Hcp hjw apv
Atlw ZWvUnbntev bm{X \Sn, Xs \mpImsc
Ncn{Xns Dv cpNnnp. tIm{Kkv _lpP\{]
m\ambn amdpIbpw _lp`qcn]w Cymcpw
kzcmPv XfpsS PmhImiamsWv Nnnm\pw
XpSn. ]nsmWv Cu kSn\v ImcWw? apJs
Nncnbn Hfnnm\mImsX IpIfn AXv
hyamWv. `mhn bntep kqN\ Atln\v e`n
\nanjamtWm CXv? Xpd amdnShpw saen ssIIfpw
sXfn hmcnsbpIfpambn Cu Nn{Xnse Kmn
Cy IjIs {]XoIamImw, kzcmPns {]tbmP\w
e`nt Ahkm\a\pjy. kzw P\fmep
h\bpsS kqN\ Atlw A\p`hntm, AXpw Cu
Nn{XsaSp hjtmfw t\cs? kzw P\v
Xm \jvS amIpsav Atlw apIqn Incptm?

Installation view of Black & White (2014) at JNU, New Delhi as part
of The Missing Pavilion exhibition.

am{Xap CSta Dmbncp-pp. kXyw, Alnwk,

AtymZb, kthmZb FnhbneqsS \ \
SspXv kzcmPnemWv. hgn kzcmPn Ahkm
\npp. `nnsb A`napJocnptm CSw CmXm
Ipp. ]nntev \Sv \ ]pdspp. mv
& sshns\ k-cmPy sXmgn-emfn Zn\-n sImnbn \npw Kmnbntev amnsm v, Kmnbpambp
dnbmkns ]coW XpS-cpp. KmnbpsS ]
mew dnbmkv ampp. Cu XehmNIfmWv
KmnPnbpsS temItv hgn XpdpXv. ]
ioe. Ch {]tXyI Bibfmbn tXmntbmw,
]s ]ckv]c_nXhpw Kmn-bpsS kXyns
kbpamWh. [manI ImgvNmSv aptmp hv Ch
HcpannpXv Kmn hn`mh\w sNbvX Cysb
cmjv{SobmibsbmWv. kXyw apX kzcmPv hsc
Hcp XpSbmWv. Ch hynbpw kaqlhpw Xn,
hynbpw cmjv{Shpw Xnep knbmWv.
kXyanmsX kzcmPn; AtymZbbnmsX kthm
Zbbpw. Alnwk, Xobmbpw Fmnsbpw
tI{_nphmWv. Hmtcmpw asmn \npp,
Hcpanv Ch ka{KamWv. Chsb Bnv asmcp Iqw
hmpIsXnsc AWn\ncpp ImgvNmSv, A{I
aw, Cc, `bw, \nb{Ww. AhbpsS [manIkbn
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km[yXbntemWv, {]NmcWmbn Bm\ph
nbmm\mhp Kmn. ZWvUnbntepw \hvJmen
bntepap bm{Xbn Atlw In IcpXnbncn
p hSn, P\sf ASnempXn\p
emnbmbn hymJym\nmhpXmWv. Hmtcm hynbpw
AhchcpsS iuNmeb hrnbmWsa
Atlns \n_w a\pjyhnkPw ssIImcyw
sNpXn\v Hcp PmXnsb Xs ]Spmnb
kaqlnse hnhmibw s]mXpiuN kuIcy
mbp AanX{ibmbn XcwXmgvntbmw.
\nPohambn {Klnt H k-cmPy sXmgnemfn Zn\-n sImn-bn \npw Kmn. \psS Ime
ns {]Xn^e\n\p DWphnfnbmWXv. kva
cWm\jvS, BibfpsS Zphym-Jym\w Fnh
bvsXnsc Pm{KX ]mentXns BhiyIX AXv
\s HmasSppp. hmpIfpw AhbpsS kbpw
hosSptXns Bhiys ]nbmWv AXv ]
dbpXv. k-cmPy sXmgn-emfn Zn\-n sImn-bn
\npw KmnbpsS ktiw hfsc kv]jvSamWv.
1940I apX Kmnsb sIme-s-Sp-pI am{X-a,

10

_un-Im-]-l-c-W--fm s]mXpt_m[n \npw aXfpsS Imcynepw.

Kmnsb XpSp \om\pw {iaw \Sp. KmnbpsS
\psS ham\Ime `oXnIfpw aphn[nIfpw Cu
Bibfnse hnhmIX Atlns A\pbm cmPyv krjvSnsncnp hnjabamb Aco
bnItfmfpw \mbn i{Xp Xncndnp. ns ^eamWv ]ckv]csshcnsbpw,
Atlns LmXI\mb \mYpdmw tKmUvtktbm ZpjvShnNmcfpsSbpw Ahnizmknsbpw Aco
\mbn amcmWv KmnbpsS hnhmI km[yXI w. \ \nccambn Hcp Zpkz]v\ns t]
XncndnnpmIpI? kXyhpw Alnwkbpw tI{ SnbnemWv. Btcm \psStbm \apv thshcpsStbm
hnizmkfmn kzw BobtemIw sInsSp hnizmkns ASnthcdppsa `nXnbnemWv \.
kzbw{]Jym]nX k\mX\ lnp, Xs lnpXzw av aXtfmSpw Ahbnse hnizmknItfmSpw _lpam\
hnimehoWapXmsWv Bscnepw Isp hpw klnjvWpXbpw ]menm \ ]Tnm Cu
pshn AXhcpsS {]iv\amsWv ]d hyn Akzm`mhnIamb Ah CmXmIpw.'' 1928 FgpXs
CtlamWv Xs amKZibmb hn.Un. kh Cu hmpI, aXns t]cnep cmjv{Sob
DZvtLmjn lnpcmjv{S kwm]\n\v Ghpw imoIcWfpsS Imev HmantXmWv. aX
he n b
XSks a v
t K m U v s k Xncndnp.
\ \nccambn Hcp Zpkz]v\ns t]SnbnemWv. Btcm
hn`P\ n\v ]nmse
\psStbm \apv thshcpsStbm hnizmkns
Actdnb A{Ian\p
ASnthcdppsa `nXnbnemWv \.
ti-jhpw Kmn Cu
]pXnb cmjv{Sns Imh
`S\mbncnpXn\m Cy cmjv{Sobn Xn, Ahbnse AwK_ew IWnseSpmsXbp
lnp kzcmPv FXv tIhesamcp ]mizhIr kn, Atln\v hsc hyXbpXmbncpp.
Xmibambn XpSp. KmnbpsS sIme]mXItms tIhew klnjvWpXbvp]cnbmbn ]ckv]c _lpam\
S Id hoW lnpXz AkzoImcyambn. s\lvdphnb neqnbpXmWXv.
Cy KmnbpsS lnv kzcmPns\ a\x]qhw
tkmjyenv t\Xmhv cmw at\ml temly 1950Ifn
AhKWnp, ]s Fm aXtfmSpap Atl km hnemknepw ]ptcmlnX`mhnepap
ns BZchpw kaqlnse _lpkzcXbvp Kmnbamsc Ipdnv apdnbnv \In. cmjv{Sn
]npWbpw ]php.
\v thn Kmnsb Zpcp]tbmKsSpphsc Ipdn
KpPdmv hnZym]oTnse Hcp hnZymn, X v. Ahsc kw_nnStmfw Kmn Acmjv{So
] n p St c aX] m Ts f I p d n v Db n bhcns hnip\mWv. kam[m\ skan\m
t N m Z y n \ v adp]Snbmbn Kmn FgpXn: ""HcmfpsS t]mep Imcyv Bhiyntesd hnjbo`hn
kwkvImcns kwcWsaXv asmnt\mSp p Hv. AhImipw \oXnbvpw thnbp
CIgve, adnv Fm kwkvImcfnepap Ghpw \nesImepI hnkvacnsp. CtmgnXm asmcp
anIhbpsS kzmwioIcWamWv. CXp XsbmWv ]pXnb Kmn, hnipt\mfp]cn km\ndn Ckvs]

IvSdpsS tdm \nhlnp KmnbmWv Bhiyw.

hn[hmZnbmb KmnbpsS hosSpemWv tem ly
BhiysXv. ]mmXy \mKcnIX \ Bibam
sWv ]dbpIbpw ]mccys AXn\pnse
hmpI sImp Xs {]XnhymJym\npIbpw sN
p Kmn. Cu Kmn hnipt\m ka-c-k-s-Sp-ht\m A. XnI cmjv{SobhmZnbpw XpSbmb
Isenepw ]pXpenepw cmjv{Sobs kXy
ns {]h\hpw AtymZb, kthmZb
FnhbpsS \nhmlIXzhpamp hynbmWv.
`oXnclnXamIpXmWv Atlns Alnwk.
`ocpfpsS A`ba Alnwk. Atlw Nn{Xtam
t^mtm{Kmt^m A. Iuietam Ir{Xnatam CmsX
Xs a\knepXv ]dbpIbpw {]hnpIbpw
sNpbmfmWv. cmjv{Sns\Xnscbp kacfn,
`qclnXcpsS {]tm`fn, ]mizhIrXcpsS
Iqn, P\m[n]XyXsbpw hnIk\sbpw
]p\xhnNn\w \Sp NIfn hn[ahmZnbmb
Kmnsb Itmw.
KmnbpsS km[yXIsf Ipdnp HmasSp
emWv k-cmPy sXmgn-emfn Zn\-n sImn-bn
\npw Kmn. Atlns sIme]mXIn\v
tijap ZiIfn, Atlw an{Xfmepw i{Xp
fmepw IqneSbvsncnpIbmbncpp. tKmUvsk
t]mepw KmnbpsS {]Xn\n[m\w sNp Imeap
mtbmw. Kmnb km[yXI CmXmpIsb
`oXn bmYmyamsWn, Atlns ]mccy
]p\cpoh\ km[yXIfpw A{XtmfamWv. {]Xntcm[
cmjv{Sobns tI{_nphmIm Atln\v
Ignbpw. Xocpam\ntXv \fmWv.=
]cn-`mj: \nPmkv Pph
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist.

11

GANDHI AND A QUESTION

THAT WAS NEVER ANSWERED

S Gopalakrishnan

andhi appeared more gracious

when he was lost for an answer.
As we know, ones character
shows its real strength, when it is
challenged or it encounters testing times.
The ways Gandhi could justify himself
when his roads ahead were not clear

which he made his entire argumentative

existence in public life.
Gandhi, much before Steven Pinker
narrated the decline of violence in human
history in his 2011 book, The Better
Angels of our Nature, believed that the
history of mankind had an unbroken

No wonder that he himself said once that if he had to

choose between the ideas of Truth and India, without
any hesitation he would have gone for the first.
showed the mans grip on the basics on

stream of consciousness around the

idea of non-violence and that only made

human life possible on planet. Gandhi
encountered all the written histories
of the world around wars that empires
fought and he believed that it was the
mutual trust and love among individuals
that represents the actual histories of the
mankind. This uncompromising position
made him a suitable representative of a
kind of modernity that looks at the flow of
human history as progress towards more
peaceful mutual co-existence. When
Gandhis image comes as the centre-point
of an exhibition in Fort Kochi coinciding
with the May Day of 2015, what came to

my mind first are the Jewish, Christian,

Islamic, (Buddhist and Jain in the case
of Gandhi) and Hindu influences on
Gandhi, an individual, and Fort Kochi,
a habitat. If the idea of non-violence had
played a major role in Gandhis life, it
was essentially because of an amalgam of
different schemes of thought that formed
his philosophy of life. When it comes to
the people of Fort Kochi, the case is not
different either.
Here is a man, who relentlessly wrote
and spoke thousands of pages and words
on battles, conflicts, bloodshed and
peace. I feel Truth and Non-violence

12

This painting titled Gandhis Assassination is done by famous Polish expressionist painter Feliks Topolski (1907 - 1989) in 1945, three years before
Gandhi was murdered. It is in the collection of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
are the two words that he has written
most in life and the word India would
find a much lower place in his active
vocabulary. No wonder that he himself
said once that if he had to choose between
the ideas of Truth and India, without
any hesitation he would have gone for the
first. But, of course, there were questions
where Gandhi had no readily available
answers and this short note is trying to
look into one such important moment.
Gandhis interpretation of the
Bhagavad Gita was something that was
never heard before. The basic premise
where Gandhi stood for reading the text
is not that convincing to me. Gandhi
thought the text had nothing to do with
war, but that Arjunas vishadayogam
was not about killing at all, but was
a conflict in the mind of a satyagrahi
called Arjuna. Krishna as a teacher was
trying to clear the doubts, but not in any
way pushing Arjuna to take arms to kill
fellow-beings.
Dutch anarcho-pacifist Bart de Ligt, a
Christian priest, wrote an open letter to
Gandhi in 1928 criticizing his positions
during the Boer War and the First World
War. Gandhi replied:
There is no defence for my conduct

weighed only in the scales of ahimsa. I

draw no distinction between those who
wield the weapons of destruction and
those who do Red Cross work. Both
participate in war and advance its cause.
Both are guilty of the crime of war. But
even after introspection during all these
years, I feel that in the circumstances in
which I found myself I was bound to adopt
the course I did both during the Boer War
and the Great European War and for that
matter the so-called Zulu Rebellion
of Natal in 1906. Life is governed by a
multitude of forces. It would be smooth
sailing, if one could determine the course
of ones actions only by one general
principle whose application at a given
moment was too obvious to need even a
moments reflection. But I cannot recall
a single act, which could be so easily
determined. Being a confirmed war
resister I have never given myself training
in the use of destructive weapons in spite
of opportunities to take such training. It
was perhaps thus that I escaped direct
destruction of human life. But so long
as I lived under a system of Government
based on force and voluntarily partook
of the many facilities and privileges it
created for me, I was bound to help that

Government to the extent of my ability

when it was engaged in a war unless I
non-cooperated with that Government
and renounced to the utmost of my
capacity the privileges it offered me.
It was a difficult task for his opponents
to engage with Gandhi critically. Gandhi
always enjoyed the benefit of crystal
clarity in his arguments and simplicity
in language had always been his winning
point in every argumentative engagement.
There was a singular incident in
Gandhis life where the apostle of nonviolence had no direct answer, that
too for a question from the first Indian
Commander-in Chief of the independent
Indias army. General Cariappa visited the
father of the nation on 3 December 1947,
fifty eight days before the martyrdom of
Gandhi. Cariappa under the influence
of values in non-violence approached
Gandhi and asked an extraordinary
question, How I can put this over, i.e.,
the spirit of non-violence to the troops....
without endangering their sense of duty
to train themselves well professionally
as soldiers. Gandhi waited for a while
with a deep silence, with an introspective
mind. Then he replied, I am still groping
in the dark for the answer. I will find it

and I will give it to you someday. It

was through one of the most unfortunate
acts of violence in history, the possible
answer from Gandhi was snatched away
from history as he fell victim to violence,
and hence an army chiefs significant
question about non-violence as a method
of conflict resolution still remains
unanswered.

Kmnbpw
Dcanm
tNmZyhpw

Im

enSdptm Kmnv IqSp-X

`wKn-bp-m-bn-cp-p. Imen-S-dptm-gm-Wtm Hcm-fpsS Fp-dv bYm
n ]co-n--s-Sp-I. AXp hni-Z-am-p-Xn-\p-ap]v C{X-Iq-Sn.
A^vKm\n-m-\nse t_mw_n-ns\
pdnpw AXn-t\msSmw tZim--c`o-I-cX-bvs-Xn-scbpw AXp-bp Fn-bm
Xocm cmjv{Sobss\Xn-I--hw-iob
hnjbsfp-dnpw temI-am-[y-a- Hcp
Zpc-tm-hw IWs N-I XpS-cp-Ibm-Wv. cmjv{S`oI-ccpw cmjvt{SXc`oIc-cpw
\S-n-b, \S-p AXn-{I-a--fpsS Hms-cpw tImSn--W-n-\p-h-cp C-sa-bn
kt-i--fmbn \nd-bp-p. Zpc---fpsS

13

Two fathers from Gujrat, Aluminium, Size: Variable

t\cn-p Cc-I-fm-hv Fm Ncn-{Xk-`-fpw ]T-\-km-a-{Kn-bmbn amdp-p.

CXv hnhc kmtXnI hn-h-ns asm
cp kw`m-h-\-bm-bn-cn--Ww.
C\n-hn-j-b-n-tev ISmw. bp-hncp--hn-Nm-c-v Ghpw klm-b-I-amb
m\-tIm-i-ambn Kmnbpw At-l-n

Riyas Komu, 2008

kn-o-I-c-W-n-eqsS _n.-Un. enKvv

Fsmcp ]ptcm-ln-X Kmnv Hcp
Xpd Is-gpXn. Alnw-km-hm-Zn-sbv
]pIsIm Kmn t_mh bp-nepw
temI-bp--nepw ]s-Sp--Xnse sshcpy-w Nqn-m-p Im-bn-cpp AXv.
CXn\p adp-]-Sn-bmbn 1928 Atlw bMv

Fs kw_-n-n-S-tmfw Alnwk Hcp Xz-hn-Nm-cX-{-a-. AXv, Fs Poh-hm-bphpw \nb-a-hp-amWv.

s cN\Ifpw D]-tbm-Kn--s-Sp-tm
Hnepw Ah-km-\-hm-mIm hnk-Xnp. Xpd a\-tmsS Pohn B At\zjn-bpsS Nne [-k--S--sf-p-dnpw
Fgp-tXXpv.
ln-wk-bpsS HmI-sf adm t{]
cn-n-pIbpw Poh-cm-in-bpsS Bhn`mhw
apX Ahn-cm-a-ambn XpSp-t]m klhnXzn-sbpw Alnw-k-bp-tSbpw
HmIsf \ne-\nphm\pw {ian
Kmn, \thm-m\w sNbvX B[p-\n-I-a\p-jys e-W-]qcmb {]Xn-\n-[n-Ifn-semcmfm-Wv. bpw, kam-[m\w, bp
\n-cm-kw, lnwk XpS-nb hnj-b--sf-pdnv Kmn \qdp-I-W-n\p t]Pp-I-tfmfw
]e-tm-gmbn Fgp-Xn-bn-p-v. Kmnv
IrXy-amb D-c- Cm-sXs]mb Nne
ss\Xn-I-{]-iv\- Alnw-k-bpsS {]tbmKs kw_-n-n-S-tmfw Dm-bn-cp-p.
temI-km-l-N-cy-n bp-hn-cp--{]-Nm-cIv aptm-p-t]m-I-W-sa-n ]kn-^nk-ns Cu ]cn-an-Xn-Ifpw Adn-ncn
Ww. Bbp-[-ap-t]-nv bp-n-s\-Xn
sc {]iv\-ap--bnv Ap-\-t\mSv Aymb- \op-\np hmZ-K-Xn-I \ncn-bnpw ASn-m\{]iv\-n-\p adp-]
Sn ]d-bm KoXm-Im-c\v Ign-n Fsm
cmv tXmn-bm sXn-. KoXm-mpIqSmsXXs ]ms\smv Imcy-
sNnm\p A[n-Imcw ]mkmc-Yn
v Dm-bn-cp-p-Xm-\pw. C-c-samcp hnjmZ-tbm-K-n Kmn-bpsS [c-tm]mbhpw sNps]Sp-p.
1928 Cshm-ep-j F {^p {]

Cy-bn FgpXn: ""Alnwk-bpsS am{Xw

Af-hp-tImhv Fs {]kvXpX s]cpam-s \ymbo-I-cn-m Ign-bp-sav
F\nv tXmp-n-. \miIm-cn-bmb Bbp[- D]-tbm-Kn-p--hcpw sdUv-t{Imns ]Wn-sNphcpw hyXy-kvXm-cmsWv F\nv Hcn-epw tXmn-bn-n-.
cp-t]cpw bp-n ]s-Sp-p-Ibpw
AXns KXnsb aptmp sImp-t]m-hpIbpw sNpp. bp-sa Ip-n\v Ccphcpw ]m{X-am-Ip-p-v. GXm-bmepw
C{Xbpw sIm- Ign-npw B-]cn-tim-[-\-bn t_mh bp-Im-epw
Hmw temI-bp--Im-epw 1906se t\mfnse kpep Iem-]-Im-epw \ne-hn-ep-mbn-cp kml-N-cy--fn Rm As\
sNm _m[y--\m-bn-cp-p Fp
tXmpp.''
Hcp PohnXw ]e in-I-fm-emWv \n
bn-s-Sp-Xv Fpw Hcm-fpsS Fm
sNbvXn-Ifpw Htc-sbmcp s]mXp-X-z-n
s shfn--n Xocp-am-\n--s-Sm-hp
Ah--bp-m-bn-cp-s-n Imcy-
Fs-fp--am-Ip-am-bn-cpp Fpw Kmn
XpSs-gpXn. At-l-ns Pohn-X-n
A-c-n-ep H Ah-kcwt]mepw Dmbn-n--s{X.
Hcp {]Jym-]nX bp-hn-cp- F
Imc-W-m, Ah-k-c- Dmbnpw
Pohn-X-n Hcn-epw Hcp amc-Im-bp-[ns-bpw ]cn-io-e\w Xm t\Sn-bn-n
Fpw AXp-sIm-m-bn-cn-Ww t\cn-p
Poh-l-Xy-bn\ns-nepw Am-ev
Hgn-p-\nevm Ign-Xv Fpw ]d-

bp Kmn bp-fnse ]m-fnspdnv Cs\ Fgp-Xn: ""kmbp[-i-n-bn hniz-kn-p Hcp km

cns Iogn Pohn-p-tmgpw B k
mcns B\p-Iq-ey- A\p-`-hn-ptmgpw Ign-hns ]cnanXn-Ip-n
\np-sImv B kmcns\ klm-bnm Rm _m[y--\m-Wv. As-n
Rm {]kvXpX kmcpambn t\c-tXs \n-lI-cWw {]Jym-]n-n-cp-n-cnp-Ibpw B kmcns B\p-Iq-ey-
_ln-jvI-cn-n-cn-p-Ibpw sNbvXn-cn-p
Bfm-bn-cp-n-cn-Ww.''
Bi-b-hy--X-bnepw `mjm-ip-n-bnepw
A\-\y-amb ]mShap-m-bn-cp Kmn-tbm
Sv X-im-kv{Xw-sIm-smpw Pbn-m
Ign-bn-sv Xmzn-I--tbm-Ky-cmb A
s dmUn- CS-Xp-] _pn-Po-hnIphsc D-a-t_m-[y-ap-m-bn-cp-p.
]e DZm-l-c-W-sImv Xs hmZ-apJ- aptmp sImp-t]mb Kmn
Xs bp-]-m-fn-spdn-p hniZo-I-cWw Cs\ Ah-km-\n-n-p: ""`mj
AXns D-am-h--bnt]mepw H-cm-fp
sS Nn-bpsS ]qmhnjvIm-c-n-\p
hl-\-am-Ip--Xn ]cm-P-b-s-Sp-p. Fs
kw_-n-n-S-tmfw Alnwk Hcp Xzhn-Nm-c-X-{-a-. AXv, Fs Poh-hm-bphpw
\nb-a-hp-amWv. F\n--dnbmw, Nne-tm
t_m[-]q-ambpw ap Nne-tm AmsXbpw Rm ]cm-P-b-s-Sm-dp-v. Fm
F\n-Xv [nj-W-bpsS Hcp {]iv\-a-.
lrZ-b-n-t-XmWv.''
1947 Unkw-_ aqmw XobXn P\-d
Icn-b Kmn-sb-m-Wp-hm sNp.
Alnw-km-hm-Znsb cmjv{S-]n-Xm-hm-nb
cmPy-ns BZy Cy Iam---C-No-^n\pw Ap\hnjm-Z-ns {]
Xn-k-n-bp-mbn. Atlw tNmZnp:
""\apv Hcp ssk\y-ap-m-bm AXv
\-bp--Xm-bn-cn--Ww. Alnw-k-bpsS
aqey-s-p-dnpw Bh-iy-s-p-dnpw
F\n-mIm-hp--Xp-t]mse ]d-p-sIm-Sp-W-sa-pv. ]t, Hcp ssk\y-tm
Sv Fs\ Alnw-k-sb-p-dnp ]dbpw?
D-c-hm-Zn-Xz-t_m[w eLq-I-cn--s-SmsX
Hcp s{]m^-j-W ssk\ys cq]-sSp-p-tm CsX-s\ km[npw?''

Kmn Nncn-p. Atlw N-bn

\q\qpsIm-t-bn-cpp. CSbvv N
\nn P\-d-ens\ t\mn ]dp:
""\nsfmw Ipn-I-fmWv. Rm\pw Hcp
Ipn-Xs. Fm \n D-bn Cu
kwi-b-s-p-dnv IpsdqSn Nnn-n-p-Xn-\m Rm Ipsd-qSn apXn Ipnbm-sWtbpp. \n t\XrXzw sImSpp ssk\y-tmSv Alnw-k-bpsS
Bh-iy-s-p-dnv ]dbW-a-t. Hcp-c-n-\p-thn Rm Ccp-n Xnc-bp-I-bmWv. Hcp Znhkw F\nv Hcp-cw e`npw.
Rm\Xv Xmsf Adn-bn-p-Ibpw sNpw.''
AXn\p-tijw A]-sp Znh-k-
tf At-l-n\p Pohn-m Ign-p-p.
Icn-b-bvv Dcw Inn-b-Xn\v tcJ-Ifn-. Kmnv Ccp-n sXc-tb-n-h
Cu k`w Alnw-km-hm-Z-n\v _-ebw \evIn-bn-. adnv AXv IqSp-X
hn\o-X-am-hp-Ibpw kXym-t\zjWn\v
IqSp-X k-amhp-Ibpw sNbvXp.
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D-a-ss[-cy-im-en-bpsS
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]cm-ain-p-tm-gm-Wv. Xm Hcp]t
tXmt-mw. Fm Hcp ]m Alnwkm-hm-Zn-bm-bm temI-n Hcp in
pw Abmsf tXmev]n-m Ign-bn Fv
Kmn Icp-Xn. 1938 amv 27\v Kmn ]
dp: ""sIme-bm-fn-bpsS i_vZ-tLmjtam
tNmc-p-gtbm bp-tam-I-m t]Sn-p-hpthn-bp--X Alnw-k-bpsS
amw. \psS Alnwk Hcp ]ms
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Ahp- t]-Sn-bn-. Rm CXv ]d-bp-
Xv Fs ]m_m-e-t\mSv D]-an-m-\p
sImXn-sIm-m-Wv. Hcp ]m _me
\n`b\mWv ]pdv tNmc-sbm-gp-In-bm-
Ah hoSn-\p-nbdn Hfn-n-.
kzw icocw apgp-h apdn-thv tNmc-sbmen-p-tmgpw AN-e\mbn \nevp
]ms\ Rm In-p-v. Alnwk
ioen-t-Xv Ccw ss[cy-im-en-I-fmWv. Cusbm-c-h--bn Rm CXphsc
Fn-bn-n-. Fn `ocpXzw _mn-bmWv.''
ASn-m\ ss\Xn-I-{]-iv\-sf kw_n-p At\zjW--fn AS a\p-am-b Kmn CS-s]-n-cp--Xv. ssZ\wZn\
N-cy-I-fn Atlw ImWn-p-shp ]
d-b-s-Sp {]i-kvX-amb ]nSn-hm-in-I
Ccw Ah-k-c--fn At\z-j-W-ns
Ipeo\ acy-mZ-Iv hgn-am-dn-sm-Sp-pp.
bplnwkm \ncm-k--fpsS Bib
`wKn Fm- Imefnepw lrZbmhI-ambn XpS-cp-sa-nepw Kmn Ccp-fn
sXc AXns A[n-I-`w-Kn-I Bcp
Ispw. A^vLm-\n-m-\nse Ims
v t_mw_n-n-\n-S-bntem XI th
Uv t{SUv sk-dntem IpSp-nb Hcp
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The writer is a columnist with various Malayalam
Publications

14

UNSAID, UNTHOUGHT OF,

UNMENTIONED

The hidden presence of Gandhiji in the women involved in environmental struggles

Anitha Santi

Riyas Komu, 2014

Pattanam, Paravur, Kerala

Fore-thought:
In the two decades between the clear definition about
civilization and progress that Rabindranath Tagore explained
in 1924* to the Talisman that Gandhiji prepared in 1948,
passed a world that witnessed many a change and tumultuous
discoveries about freedom, independence and democracy.
These upheavals in India were marked by the undeniable
movement of Women (a real From the Kitchen to the Stage*)
into a political process we call Indias Freedom Struggle. It
went beyond concepts like emancipation of women and
saw significant participation of women (that 17,000 of the
30,000 who were part of the Salt Satyagraha is not just a
statistical numerical representation) and exhorted women to
be think-tanks in the development of creative strategies and
pro-active action programs. Apart from the usually mentioned
names like Kamala Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Anasuya Sarabhai,

Sushila Nayyar and Miraben there were several thousands of

women who envisioned what India after gaining freedom
should be. It would be a dull and lifeless rhetoric to mention
here that men like Gandhiji fought their own battles to go
beyond the attitude of giving woman an opportunity to
state categorically that the world will view in all its wonder
and glory when woman has secured an equal opportunity for
herself with man and fully developed her powers of mutual
aid and combination. (YI, 7-5-1931, p. 96)

The Context:
Kerala has a unique socio-cultural, eco-geographical
and political characteristic. The biologically-rich rainforest
ecosystems of the Western Ghats, high rainfall, an agricultural
system most suited to the humid tropical climate and ecology
form the backdrop of the people in Kerala. Although the land

has 44 rivers, numerous wetlands and backwaters, stable

and rich ecosystems, the people had a culture of prudence
and simple lifestyles and ecologically viable land and water
use practices. We knew that our rich and stable ecological
foundations are vulnerable and fragile, and once destroyed
can never be restored by humans. In the face of the present
ecological crisis and environmental disasters, it is no wonder
that people have responded spontaneously and strongly
against the destruction of the vital life-support systems and
often against development. Women have naturally been in
the forefront of most of the struggles for nature and natural
systems. As early as the 1960s, people have been raising
questions on the very ethics and mode of development and
development for whom and at what cost. They had started
questioning not only the viability and sustainability of
the western model of large scale development, but also
its suitability to our culture. The social, ecological and

15

generational justice which was being undermined by such

indiscriminate ecological destruction and impoverisation of
people dependent on natural resources for sustenance was
also questioned. In all these struggles, public dialogues and
debates, women have taken a prominent role, perhaps much
more than in other spheres of conflicts.
The much lauded peoples campaign for Decentralised
Planning in Kerala with a concern for gender equity,
along with social justice and efficient implementation of
developmental planning brought into the foray the 73rd and
74th Amendments of the Indian Constitution which allowed
33% representation of women in all three levels of local selfgoverning bodies, including the leadership in 1995. Several
studies have shown that the Womens Component Plan fell
short of expectations and its allocation did not come close
to the 10%, and the gender stereotyping that happened in
project formulation created inadequacies in implementation.
The task to secure the interests of women remained a
politically unsupported activity of women alone often seen
as an extension of their domestic roles. The simultaneous
presence and absence of gender concerns in the political
decentralisation process in Kerala has to be interpreted in
terms of the development paradigm that we are striving to
achieve with women getting a role.

Struggles of women in the environmental

movements of Kerala: What lies hidden?
The period between 1970s and 1990s saw the advent of
Women in Development (WID) and Women, Environment
and Development (WED) but also witnessed tumultuous
change where womens access to resources that sustain life
and communities were increasingly usurped by development
and progress based on exploitative, extractive patriarchal
and violently undemocratic dominance. Women the world
over came out in resistance to this. Social equity came to be
synonymous with ecological and sustainable equity. Thus
women like Amrita Devi to Asu Beniwal (Hug the Tree
Movement, 1730), Rachel Carson to Petra Kelly, Medha
Patkar to Wangari Maathai became female icons of social
change and ecological thought.
In Kerala too which encapsulates all indices of
development like female literacy, bargaining and entry
into male-dominated spaces, and de-construction of family
structure, women started questioning and voicing their
thoughts. The mute button no longer worked in the remote
control panel held by men! The environmental movement
saw this in full measure.

How Best Do I Act And React?:

The beginning of involvement
The 4 cornerstones of the logical thought structure
that prompted women to take part in the environmental
movements in Kerala would be (to state it in the most linear
terms)
1.The need to question
2.The need to zoom in on skills necessary for being part of
action
3.The need to sustain
In all the above one can see that women had to deny and
re-define their own and the societys concepts and time-tested
patterns of the institution called FAMILY and MARRIAGE.
It became tragic and inevitable that any woman who adopted
one or all of the above 3 had to forego her family. It is here
that Gandhijis concepts and clearly spelt out thoughts on
women start emerging.

The need to question:

This implies that a woman who is chaste and pure will
not question. Chastity becomes an issue that reflects not on
the moral courage of a woman but on her moral conduct.
Women like Darley (lone fighter in Neyyatinkara against sand
mining in the Neyyar), Anita (pig farm struggle in Kainur in
Thrissur), Jayasree (paddyfield conversion in Eriyamkudi in
Thrissur) had to face ridicule and ostrasication relating to
their morality. It is here that Gandhijis writings on chastity
becomes the strength of these women without them ever
mentioning or even thinking about him!

The need to zoom in on skills:

The most frequently mentioned skill that women
expressed in all the oral testimonies was the capacity to
break dependence on men and become fearless. Mariyamma
of Kottayam, who campaigned for mangrove ecosystem,
Narayani who lived all alone marooned in a surreal landscape
in the wetlands of Chemballikundu in Kannur for the migrant
birds had to use soul force against brute force (Gandhi,
Hind Swaraj, 1921). The most recent example of breaking
socially accepted norms is that of Jessira, who still questions
seashore sand mining in Kannur, along with her 3 children.

The need to sustain:

The energy and will to sustain a struggle in all the cases
visited and observed was the strength and consistence of
women. They remained undistracted and focused even when
all forces, including the state were against them. The act
of civil disobedience and the strategy of passive resistance
evolved naturally in all the issues. The women of Muriyad
a large freshwater and paddy ecosystem that was and
is under threat from land reclamation were clear about the
ways in which they would resist this. The women in ChavaraNeendakara and in the more recent Villapilsala Waste Factory
struggle sustained the momentum by the power of passive
resistance. We also cannot forget the women and children of
the Koodankulam anti-nuclear struggle in Tamil Nadu. The
decade long sit-in that octogenarian Gourikutty Amma did
to save the Kallar River from the Vamanapuram Project (in
Trivandrum) the bold attempts of Leelakumari Amma who
first raised the Endosulfan issue, and the Nilppu Samaram of
the Adivasis in front of Secretariat saw the rallying of passive
resistance and civil disobedience. The classical resistance
against a global corporate that Mailamma and her group
showed and sustained in Plachimada remains to be properly
understood. The women in the Athirappally movement also
expressed deep thoughts about why they have chosen this
path of struggle.

Food for thought:

The above brief record is just a window to a large world
that remains to be explored and recorded.
The women in the environmental movements of Kerala
have been thrown into the face of struggle and opposition and
have taken it on not by choice or compulsion but because
there is no choice at all. But all of them have found immense
meaning and fulfilment in the sacrifices, corrections,
regulations and abnegation that the chosen path demands
of them. They admit that this exposure and the need to go
beyond their private lives and concerns with a do or die
attitude have opened a vast and challenging world hitherto
unknown to them. With little or no precedence of activism or
ideological positioning, most of the women have stumbled,
struggled, fallen and stood up with courage and honesty that
the urgency of the situation demanded of them. When their
food, water and life-sustaining land and air were getting lost
or polluted, when they were pushed against the wall and
links to the only free world available severed, they acquired
skills and tact necessary for survival and struggle. The pitfalls
associated with fighting the often invisible enemy (sometimes
within too) empowers them to face it alone. An observer from
outside or some within the group itself identify the shadow
of Gandhian thought in each of this struggle. The most
poignant linkages that remain as we close this sojourn from
one end of Kerala to other is about the moral courage, the
capacity to dialogue and the accidental chancing upon their
own reserves of fearlessness that the women have recreated
and rediscovered in their lives. They may not have read the
Collected Works of Gandhi or even thought, mentioned or
spoken at length about him but they perennially return to
Mahatma Gandhi, while at the same time going beyond him.
The above brief record is just a window to a large world
that remains to be explored and recorded where women go
beyond Gandhian thought.
Tagores talk in China about Civilization and Progress, 1924
V.T.Bhattatharipad Adukkalayil ninnum Arangathekku, 1929.

The writer is an independent researcher in ecology and environmental

education.

> Editorial

BRICK was
born from an
impulse
It took birth in the chaos of Indias final preparations to hold the Commonwealth Games in
the national capital in 2010, spending over $15
billion. It wasnt the splendour of the steel and
concrete structures sprouting on either side
of river Yamuna which inspired me, but that
which lay behind the view-cutters. It was what
India tried to hide from visitors and our collective consciousness that got me thinking.
Like all major events, the Commonwealth
Games too had come at a cost. The host city
Delhi was built by migrants and refugees, who
then become leftover poor of Indias economic miracle. Added to my own experiences with
migrants and workers displaced by violence of
development, these contrasting images pose
manifold philosophical questions voiced in different ways. BRICK strives to spark and galvanise discussions as well as attract and foster
critical investigations into myth, culture, society and politics.
BRICK is also my concerted effort to extend
my artistic and intellectual preoccupations and
social engagement outside of the world of art,
into the public sphere. The tool of the graphic
is employed, tracing a link back with the best of
propagandist pamphleteering which succeeded
through most of the previous century as a powerful medium for the creation of public voices,
leading to a collective scream of conscience.
At a time when the possibilities of dissent have
dangerously narrowed, it is clear that neither
self-realisation, nor a political vision, is possible without some civilisational anchor. Gandhi
himself was anchored in Indian civilisation,
from the syncretic customs of Indias villages
to the multifarious depths of the Mahabharatam. I believe that Gandhi is a compelling figure
not because of the extraordinary standards he
set for himself, but because of the extraordinary standards he set for others, his intellectual
acumen and moral insight, his resistance to all
forms of oppression and his profound commitment to the democratisation of the public
realm.
BRICK III attempts a relook at Gandhi, from
Kochi, through On International Workers Day,
Gandhi From Kochi. It reflects on Gandhi, the
figure, his philosophy and his ideology, as a
tool to not only consider the historical precedent but also where we are now in the present
and for political consideration by assimilating
many-sided truths. =

16

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Editor + Design: Riyas Komu / Graphic Design: Ceepee Latif / Malayalam Translation: Nijas Jewel / Editorial Co-Ordination: Abhayan Varghese, Gautam Das, Susan Dileep and Manu VR
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