Gandhiji and International Politics

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Gandhiji was a nationalist first and stood for the political and social rights of the Indians, first in South Africa and then in India. Later he strove for the political and social rights of the Indians in Canada and in different colonies etc. But his nationalism was not of a parochial type. He was an internationalist and in his own words: "It is impossible for one to be an internationalist without being a nationalist. Internationalism is possible only when nationalism becomes a fact, i.e. when peoples belonging to different countries have organized themselves and are able to act as one man. It is not nationalism that is evil, it is the narrowness, selfishness, exclusiveness which is the bane of modern nations, which is an evil. Each wants to profit at the expense of, and rise on the ruin of the other." Again and again Gandhiji had emphasized that he was fighting for India's independence not for India and the Indians alone but for the whole world. A dependent and emasculated India tied to the heels of British Imperialism was a peril to the world that was Gandhiji's view.

The term "Gandhism" was deprecated by Gandhiji himself but that was because he found people conglomerating his ideas into a sort of religious creed. But in his vast corpus of writing Gandhiji had himself used the term "Gandhism" to mean the main tenets that he stood for and the spring-board for them was Ahimsa and Truth. Satyagraha was a technique that he resorted to and recommended as a recipe or an instrument. It is in this sense that the word "Gandhism" is taken here and an attempt is made to present Gandhiji's observations on the foreign countries and his contribution to international politics and peace is sought to be indicated. Gandhiji was a nationalist first and stood for the political and social rights of the Indians, first in South Africa and then in India. Later he strove for the political and social rights of the Indians in Canada and in different colonies etc. But his nationalism was not of a parochial type. He was an internationalist and in his own words: "It is impossible for one, to be an internationalist without being a nationalist. Internationalism is possible only when nationalism becomes a fact, i.e. when peoples belonging to different countries have organized themselves and are able to act as one man. It is not nationalism that is evil, it is the narrowness, selfishness, exclusiveness which is the bane of modern nations, which is an evil. Each wants to profit at the expense of, and rise on the ruin of the other." Again and again Gandhiji had emphasized that he was fighting for India's independence not for India and the Indians alone but for the whole world. A dependent and emasculated India tied to the heels of British Imperialism was a peril to the world-that was Gandhiji's view.

It may be recalled that Gandhiji had closely followed international politics in some way or other from his very formative years. He had drawn inspiration from Tolstoy, Ruskin, Thoreau, Emerson and the Bible as much as he had from the writings of the Indian scholars and the Gita, Koran and other religious scriptures. He had a very eclectic mind and was fully equipped to be an internationalist.