Can Gandhiji still inspire nations to live in harmony?

This week we will be celebrating the 157th birth anniversary of Gandhiji. Don’t we feel his relevance more acutely today at a time when the world is lost in the fog of war?

It seems the entire global order is collapsing. More than 50 nations are embroiled in bloody conflicts. The US, the world’s greatest power, is waging a war against a relatively smaller country, Iran. While Iran’s effective resistance is bleeding American power, the US has destroyed the very image of the global village that it so assiduously cultivated.

There was a time when the US meant a melting pot of global talent. Whether it was Nobel laureate Har Gobind Khorana in the last century or chief executive officer of tech giant Google Sunder Pichai or film actor Priyanka Chopra, whosoever went there became a part of that country’s success story. Since the end of World War II, many Western nations have followed the same policy. That’s the reason Rishi Sunak could become prime minister of Britain and Alok Sharma could become its trade and business secretary. Industrialists Swraj Paul, Lakshmi Mittal and Anil Agarwal could earn celebrity status and their billions in Britain. Even many of my Indian origin friends in France, Germany, Russia, etc., arrived in these countries as refugees. They contributed in these economies and societies. I consider them the real ambassadors of India.

But why did former colonial powers adopt this liberal attitude at the end of the colonial age?

It’s because equality and fraternity were the only balms that could have healed the wounds left by two world wars. In those days, appeals and ideas of the giants like Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein or Jean-Paul Sartre weren’t confined to their own geographies, though the media wasn’t as pervasive and easily available as it is today. Literacy was limited in the world and yet ideas like perfume would spread far and wide on their own. Ideas of these philosophers would inspire the entire world.

There was a time when the Palestine Liberation Organization’s head Yasser Arafat was the most popular leader in the Muslim world. Times changed and within a few years Arafat was replaced by Osama. What was the reason for this decline?

The answer reveals the reasons for the present day chaos. The Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union heated up even before the end of World War II. This was the time when both groups wanted to expand their ideological influence. There was another world, a group of recently independent developing nations led by Jawahar Lal Nehru, Joseph Tito and Gamal Abdel Nasser. Half of the world’s population lived in these nations. They had abundant natural resources and manpower. They were needed to maintain secure sea ways. This was the reason the US and Soviet Union created a string of institutions that worked to strengthen cultural and economic relations. The West attracted talent to increase trade while the Soviets wanted to expand their ideological footprint.

The Cold War supported people’s uprising. It helped Fidel Castro rule Cuba for life under the nose of the US and made Che Guevara a global youth icon. Meanwhile, hippies were challenging the US establishment in their own ways. But after the fall of the Soviet Union, the silent tussle came to an end.

Now, the entire world was focused on becoming rich. People were sold dreams. Labour was expensive in the US. So, China and other developing countries were targeted. Whatever labour laws prevailed in these countries were set aside and humans were turned into productivity machines. I am not against capitalism. It helped in reducing global poverty. But every glitter has a dark shadow. This is the very shadow that nurtured the right wing globally. The covid pandemic was the proverbial last nail in the coffin.

Weakening bonds

Today, every country thinks about itself. As a result, the bonds of human fraternity that held societies together for centuries are weakening. Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela are firmly tucked in the past. Today, there’s no global institution or an idea that can rein in autocratic leaders.

Today, Nathuram Godse’s viral fiction is trumping Gandhi’s appeal. I would like to ask these idiots whether they would like to bring up their child like Gandhi or Godse? The answers to these queries carry the solutions of our deep-rooted concerns. However, those men of ideas who could guide us in our hour of need are now consigned to the attics of history.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal.