Mahatma Gandhi

With the resurgence of nationalism in this age of aggressive globalisation, the call to dream in English is often a demand for conformity with what are declared to be national mainstreams. The demand for unilingualism and conformity is complicated by the idea of dreaming in English as articulated by colonised and subordinated groups in other contexts. What should give us pause, however, is any easy equation of the English language, or Western democracy, with fixed notions of science, rationality, progress and modernity. How might we think through these conundrums and challenges?

The present national crisis of violently conflicting communal identities represents a choice between the inclusiveness of Gandhi and the exclusions of Savarkar. Gandhi did not separate religion from politics. He brought a religious ethic to politics rather than political militancy into religious communities. Meanwhile, Savarkar's Hindutva ideology was narrow and exclusivist in its conflation of janma bhoomi (motherland) and punya bhoomi (holy land). In spite of its pretensions to be nationalist and modern, its militant chauvinism and authoritarian fundamentalism make Savarkar's Hindutva the antithesis of Gandhi's Hinduism. Hindutva defines India as Hindu and wants all Indians to be Hindus. In contrast, Gandhi's Hinduism gives space to all. This paper argues that the future of our multicultural, pluri-religious people can only be even bloodier with the preclusions of Savarkar's Hindutva. Only Gandhi's sarva-dharmasamabhava can possibly be an effective basis for a tolerance on which to premise a just inter-religious peace and harmony.

Japan by Yamaguchi Hiroichi; National Book Trust, W New Delhi, 2006; pp 198, Rs 50.

This essay discusses some aspects of India-South Africa relations and the role of South African Indians, who more accurately should be described as South Africans whose ancestors were of Indian origin, as well as the role of India and Indian political leaders in the liberation struggle in South Africa. It also touches on some problematic aspects of nationality formation in South Africa, the similarities and differences of this process in India and South Africa and the cautionary lessons that South Africa may usefully learn from the Indian experience.

In the second decade of the last century, as the world limped back from a long-drawn war and India found itself on the verge of a new wave of anti-imperialist struggle, a strange friendship was forged between three unusual men. This paper looks at the friendship between Mahatma Gandhi, C F Andrews and S K Rudra against the backdrop of such tumultuous times. Through letters and records that still stand as testimony to their friendship, this paper analyses issues of freedom of choice, and implications of nationality.