Jahangirlu: Gandhi for Our Troubled Times

Ramin Jahangirlu, a professor at the Jindal School of Law and director of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Peace Studies at Jindal University in Delhi, examines the concepts of "resistance" and "protest" in Gandhi's worldview, the leader of civil resistance in India, in an article for the Hindu newspaper. He states: "Mahatma Gandhi's approach to politics from the perspective of resistance and protest transcends a mere concept of dominance over others and serves as a potential antidote to the current crisis of democracy." Jahangirlu believes that although the new generation of Indian youth thinks Gandhi presents an idealized image of India to the rest of the world that does not align with today's reality, his philosophy of nonviolent struggle has inspired and shaped the activities of many civil and political rights leaders of the 21st century, such as Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Vaclav Havel. According to Jahangirlu, Gandhi's global message can be measured by its significant impact on all forms of opposition to unjust regimes, including India, over the past half-century. For this reason, Gandhi has "become part of the moral conscience of humanity. His name and achievements have become symbols of rebellion against injustice." Jahangirlu argues that Gandhi's critique of the behaviors shaping modern civilization is an effort to ask the right questions at the right time about all ideas related to thoughts and actions that have been inherited by us. "Gandhi's courage in questioning what the Western world presents as universal truths is tied to a specific historical context." Jahangirlu states that although Gandhi was not a philosopher, he raised philosophical questions that help us observe the consequences of these ideas on world changes. "In other words, he appeared like a social gadfly in public and did not submit to any religious, Western, or Indian belief." This mental attitude is manifested in Gandhi's Socratic revolution: questioning oneself along with an inner transformation in society. Jahangirlu believes that Gandhi's legacy exemplifies another aspect of Socratic philosophy that is absent among today's world leaders, which is courage. According to Gandhi, when someone fights against injustice, they must not only have the courage to express their ideas and opinions but also be prepared to sacrifice their life for this goal. Jahangirlu mentions that another aspect of Gandhi's public policy was his belief in suffering. "Loneliness is one of the essential characteristics of a social gadfly who always has an independent position from power and sometimes is entirely opposed to public opinion. In fact, Gandhi's moral power, like the Socratic method, makes him an autonomous individual who is often alone." In another part of the article, Jahangirlu states that when Gandhi faced opposing popular or governmental groups, he did not censor himself: "He had no fear of the power of the state or the oppressive majority. This is the same mental state that we can accept as Gandhi's political slogan and intellectual life." Jahangirlu believes that Gandhi did not have a strategic view of politics but knew what he was fighting for and what he should not pursue. In Socratic terms, Jahangirlu says that even if there is a difference between the concerns of a critical individual and those who strive for the survival of a corrupt power, Gandhi understood the truth that philosophy and politics need each other and benefit each other. "This is why for both Socrates and Gandhi, the process of dialogue and incessant questioning is considered the most oppositional and productive source of thoughts for the social gadfly in the public space. For this reason, Gandhi succeeded in creating a new vision of an independent India, not a nostalgic return to the past, by establishing the possibility of criticizing public culture. The idea of striving for truth and confronting evil presents one of the brightest examples of Gandhi's critical thinking and public questioning. "Questioning in this context is a nonviolent process of confronting power." For this reason, Jahangirlu believes that the questions Gandhi asked his contemporaries are very relevant to today's situation, which is dominated by political populism, immorality, and duplicity in politics. "Gandhi did not offer Platonic or Machiavellian theories of political leadership. He demonstrated the character of a moral and dialogical individual in leadership behaviors that are widely recognized as the right way of mutual communication and serving others." Jahangirlu believes that Gandhi sought to promote and encourage moral values in his political life that transcended personal interests and political tyranny. "This idea of transforming leadership into the ethics of freedom is a distinguishing feature of Gandhi's political philosophy." According to Jahangirlu, this is where Gandhi's understanding of democracy connects with the reality of today's world. Undoubtedly, Mahatma Gandhi's approach to politics from the perspective of resistance and protest transcends a mere concept of dominance over others and serves as a potential antidote to the current crisis of democracy. With this understanding, it can be said that Gandhi has reinvented politics as the self-actualization of the individual and the self-governance of society.