Comment on "Satyagraha as a Strategy in the Indian National Movement" (UPSC CSE Mains 2015- Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1)
The Indian freedom struggle was undoubtedly one of the greatest liberation movements against imperialism and colonialism. The nationalist movement in India before the advent of Mahatma Gandhi has been described by Judith Brown as “politics of studied limitations” and by Ravinder Kumar as a “movement representing the classes” as opposed to the masses. The emergence of Mahatma Gandhi on the political landscape was not the mere instance of another emerging leader, but it was the rise of a whole new philosophy.
Satyagraha was defined by Gandhi as „a relentless search for truth and a determination to reach truth‟. The technique of Satyagraha was first used by Gandhi during the resistance of Indian workers in South Africa against Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance of 1906. This technique of Satyagraha was the most powerful weapon used by Gandhi against the British imperialism in India. Gandhi‟s Satyagraha was both a political technique to be used against British colonialism and a moral philosophy that claimed a utopian vision. Even though the passive resistance owes much to western influences upon Gandhi, his Satyagraha was in no way "un-Indian‟. Three things are of great importance in Satyagraha: Truth, non-violence and selfsuffering. Gandhi maintained that the pursuit of truth doesn‟t admit violence because man is not capable of knowing absolute truth and therefore is not competent to punish others. The wrong-doer is to be weaned away from error through self-suffering by the satyagrahis.
Gandhi knew that struggle against the British rule was not a one- step process; it was a prolonged struggle to be conducted in many phases and so he drafted his strategy accordingly. Gandhian strategy was not designed to overthrow the British rule but to generate such circumstances as to make their stay in India impossible. His strategy was designed to erode the legitimacy of British rule in India by the deepening of the political consciousness and widening of the mass base of the national movement. Though Gandhi was not the only reason behind India‟s independence but his philosophy of Satyagraha besides his strategy of Struggle-Truce-Struggle along with that of constructive programmes played a major role in bringing the imperial power to its knees.
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