Book review: Nutan Kapoor Mahawar and Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee (Eds),Gandhi and the World

A deep desire to critically engage with some of Gandhi’s key works and ideas in the context of contemporary global challenges provided the context for organising the two-day International Webinar on ‘Gandhi and the World’ in October 2020 by the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi, India. The event coincided with the 150th birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and sought to constructively explore Gandhi’s global impact by tracing his philosophy and its contemporary relevance. The papers that make up this edited volume, Gandhi and the World, are based on the proceedings of this conference.

The edited volume by Nutan Kapoor Mahawar and Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee is a welcome intervention for a variety of reasons. The papers included in this book cover different aspects of Gandhi’s philosophy—social, economic and political—deliberating his relevance against the background of the moral and spiritual decline and the growing intolerance, conflict and violence in the contemporary world. Another aspect of this volume is that it brings together people from diverse backgrounds, including academicians, researchers and policymakers from four continents (Asia, Europe, South America and Africa) who, through their writings, present an overview of their thoughts and interpretations of Gandhi, his life and his teaching.

Besides the introduction and valedictory section, the book has three major divisions—Gandhi and his Contemporaries, Gandhi and the World: Different Geographies, and Studying Gandhi in a Globalized World. Divided into 25 chapters, the book undertakes an ambitious task to map out the global legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. The introduction has substantial matter, and the editors credit Gandhi’s enduring global legacy to his deep-rooted philosophy of ahimsa and his ‘alternative conception of politics going beyond the parochialism of race, ethnicity and even the modern nation-states’ (p. 1). T. C. A Raghavan, in his foreword, identifies ‘Mahatma’s principal philosophies of Satyagraha, Ahimsa and Sarvodaya as essential elements for building societies on inclusive development and universalism vital for not treating other cultural communities as the other and strive for social change through satyagraha’ (p. v).

The introductory conversation between Arvind Gupta and Makarand Paranjape succinctly captures this mood by offering an insightful and analytical understanding of the importance of Mahatma Gandhi in the twenty-first century. While advocating the need to invoke the Gandhian project, Paranjape cautions attempts at the fetishising and absolutising of Gandhian principles of ‘non-violence, the hatred of machinery, or critique of lawyers and doctors and highlights the need for radical transformation of human consciousness at a global level by invoking cooperation on global problems of materialism and violence, religious bigotry, ecology and climate change (pp. 21–23).

The first section of the volume contextualises Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas in correspondence with the ideas of his contemporaries: Martin Luther King Jr., Swami Vivekanand, Nelson Mandela and Leo Tolstoy. The second section looks at the relevance and effectiveness of Gandhi’s political, moral and spiritual impact on different parts of the globe including Central Asia, the Middle East, West Asia, South Africa, the Pacific Islands, South-East Asia, Europe and America. The third sections brings key concepts of truth and non-violence, justice, peace and morality, gender equality, ethical environmentalism and ethical journalism to highlight Gandhi’s concern for creating an equitable, sustainable and responsible society, There is also a discussion on Gandhian thought about women and their role and status in society, based on the study in Mexico, which is followed by a book discussion and includes a Gandhi Katha on Gandhi’s extraordinary life and journey told through oral story-telling tradition (Chapters 21–23).

Mahatma Gandhi’s appeal was not restricted to the land of his birth but spanned across the subcontinent, far and wide. Gandhi has inspired movements and leaders across the world to promote equality and justice for all. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela are just few examples of icons amongst the many who walked the Gandhian path. Readers will benefit from the rich discussions (Chapters 3 and 5) that looks at the method of creative non-violence adopted by the two leaders for transformative politics (Chapters 3 and 5). Galina Alekseva (Chapter 6) brings out Tolstoy’s deeper moral, spiritual and moral connection with Gandhi. To add to the epic proportions of the book, there are succinct summaries of Gandhi’s political trial during his early stay in South Africa and the recent attempt at removing the Gandhi statue from Gandhi Square in the city of Johannesburg for his alleged racist views on native Africans. Eric Itzkin (Chapter 8) has extensively drawn from various sources, arguably defending Gandhi and acknowledging his deeper humanity and contribution to ameliorate the conditions of the weak, marginalised and oppressed.

In a post-Gandhi global context, there has been a burgeoning interest in Gandhi. In the region of Central Asia, Nematjonovich notes the impact of the anti-colonial struggle led by Jadid using effective Gandhian methods of satyagraha—negotiation and compromise—in Uzbekistan (pp. 76–77). In a superbly crafted analysis of ‘Gandhian political ideology as an alternative form of thought in conflict resolutions’, Chapter 9 discusses the problem of heightened inter-state conflicts and security challenges in the Middle East offering a Gandhian solution. Similarly, the discussion on Gandhi’s influence on the question of understanding indentured labour question in Fiji and parts of Awadh’s poor peasantry in India between the period 1920-22 brings out both the differences and commonalities in their struggle against colonial rule.

The editors deserve special appreciation for bringing together a wide range of scholars from different continents to reflect on Gandhi and his continued legacy. The book offers essential insights on contextualising Gandhi from a global perspective and makes a case for Gandhi as a cosmopolitan thinker. In the field of peace and conflict research, a fair amount of work on areas of conflicts have been undertaken, but there has been a serious apathy to engage Gandhi both in terms of understanding his deeper philosophy of conflict and the historical significance of practical non-violence. Apart from Weber (1991), Bondurant (1965); Naess (1974) and Galtung (1965), there appears to be little in the way of major works undertaken to examine Gandhi’s philosophy and praxis of conflict. The book is a welcome addition to this illustrious project. Individual chapters are no doubt mostly written by experts in the field, and this is a good collection of essays.

A few critical observations by way of a suggestion on the book’s methodology, presentation and style deserve a little mention here. A book preparation requires a different treatment from conference proceedings. Since the book has developed mainly from the proceedings of a webinar, it was imperative that a few presentations, which are loosely structured and don’t make any substantial point or arguments to the broader objective of the book, were left out from inclusion in the volume. A few chapters have only 2–3 pages of content, while others run into several pages. Included in the volume are also chapters without any citation (e.g., Chapters 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11).

Ensuring consistency of style and presentation is useful for the reader, but the chapters lack uniformity. In few chapters, (e.g., Chapters 8 and 9), in-text citations have been used, while in others (e.g., Chapters 3, 6, 10, etc.) foot notes have been used intermittently.

Notwithstanding the aforementined limitations, the chapters are thematically arranged, and achieve the uniformity without losing the virtue of diversity, which tie these papers together with each other and make a direct impact on the overall outcome of this book project. The book will be useful for people from diverse backgrounds, including academicians, researchers, policymakers, and students and scholars in political science, Gandhian studies, peace studies and philosophy.