Gandhi scholar prefers Gandhigiri to Gandhism, reflecting Mahatma's approach
Telegraph | 29 January 2025
Gandhigiri makes more sense than Gandhivaad or Gandhism because it means trying to implement Gandhi’s ideas in the altered circumstances of our lives, a scholar who has extensively studied the Mahatma told a Calcutta audience.
“Gandhism means nothing. Gandhigiri makes perfect sense. I am glad this film (Lage Raho Munna Bhai, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, which was released in 2006) came up with this expression. I hadn’t heard of it earlier,” said Sudhir Chandra, a visiting professor at the Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
A former senior fellow at the Centre for Social Studies in Surat, Chandra was one of the panelists at a session titled “Gandhivaad to Gandhigiri” on January 24, the fourth day of the Coal India Kolkata Literary Meet 2025, in association with The Telegraph.
“This (Gandhigiri) was what Gandhi had been doing all his life. There is no single principle, which we believe to be cardinal to the so-called Gandhism, which Gandhi at some moment or the other in his life did not violate or did not deviate from,” said Chandra, who has authored multiple books on Mahatma Gandhi, including a definitive biography.
Chandra gave an example from an account by Nirmal Kumar Bose — an Indian anthropologist who worked closely with the Mahatma and wrote several books about him — of August-September 1946, when Gandhi was fasting in Calcutta.
The city and the rest of eastern India were scarred by communal violence. Gandhi had arranged for a group of Muslims in Mia Bagan (now Beleghata), who had been threatened, to be taken away to a safe place.
A bomb was hurled at the truck carrying them, resulting in the death of two persons. Later, some of those instrumental in the attack had a “change of heart”.
“They came up to N.K. Bose and said they felt guilty and wanted to take responsibility for these people’s safety. But they had one condition. They wanted to carry their unlicensed guns to ward off anti-social elements.... Nirmal babu says: ‘I was taken aback when Bapu said he was with them. He also said if Prafulla babu (Prafulla Ghosh, the then chief minister of Bengal) with all his forces cannot take the responsibility of protecting these people, then let these boys do that’. Now, so much for Gandhi’s non-violence. There are many such examples,” said Chandra.
“For Gandhi, the important thing is the essence of what he is saying. Once you have understood the essence, do what you consider proper, prudent and wise. Gandhigiri is trying to implement Gandhi’s ideas, principles in the altered circumstances of our lives. That is the only thing that makes sense,” he said.
The other panellists were Rudrangshu Mukherjee, chancellor and professor of history at Ashoka University; Rajit Kapur, actor, producer and director who won the National Award for portraying Gandhi in Shyam Benegal’s The Making of the Mahatma (1996); and Alka Saraogi, a Calcutta-based Hindi author whose latest novel is based on Gandhi and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, Rabindranath Tagore’s niece who started Bharat Stree Mahamandal, the first pan-Indian women’s organisation in 1910. Gandhi had called Sarala Devi his “spiritual wife”.
“While we were discussing... it also struck me that a figure as multifaceted as Gandhi really requires many lenses, many perspectives to unpack,” said Sujaan Mukherjee, curator at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, who was the moderator. Mukherjee asked Kapur about Benegal asking him to read My Experiments With Truth (Gandhi’s autobiography) while preparing for this role. “Yes. That was my Bible for preparation. Benegal wanted me to imbibe his (Gandhi’s) state of mind, his conflicting thoughts, his internal conflict, all that happened in South Africa,” Kapur said.
Mukherjee shared his understanding of the relationship between Gandhi and Tagore.
“Their biggest point of convergence was in their idea of what constituted Swaraj. Neither Tagore nor Gandhi saw Swaraj as just political independence from British rule. Without individuals having the ability to regulate their lives autonomously, free from the power of institutions, any political independence from British rule would be inadequate and impoverished,” he said.