Mahatma Gandhi- the Servant Leader

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in 1915 as the leader of successful movements; by now he was acquainted with many important leaders of the Congress. He was invited by them to participate in the meetings of the Congress and was given due respect by the leaders. Clad in the garb of a peasant, Gandhi saw himself as an ordinary worker of the Congress. He was firm in his principles, code of ethics and views but remained extremely polite and courteous. He looked upon the leaders of the previous generation with great respect.

Gopalkrishna Gokhale, whom Mahatma Gandhi considered his political guru, had given Gandhi a valuable advice, ‘Keep your eyes wide open; your ears too, but do not speak in public.’ It was to first understand India. Gokhale ji had given another piece of advice, which was to, if possible, try and spiritualize the politics. When Mahatma Gandhi was busy in South Africa, Gokhale ji had said in the public meeting that a ‘person like Gandhi has not been born in our country in the last 1000 years and he is not sure when in the future another would come like him’. 

On his return to India, Mahatma Gandhi decided that to understand India; he would travel only by train in third class to know the people of this country, to understand the core of their faith, of what they believe in. After a year, he had fully understood the plight of the millions in India. He saw that the real India lives in the villages; the great masses of India remained unconcerned even about political independence. They were cut off from the leaders and their promise of swaraj.  The Amritsar Congress of 1919 was the first Congress where Mahatma Gandhi’s views acquired significance. In the following one year his involvement with the Congress acquired a different character.

He came, he won and he conquered. This is what people thought in India as Mahatma Gandhi emerged as the leader during the Congress session in 1919. By the time the Congress met for its annual session in 1920 at Nagpur, he was amongst the leading figures of the Congress. The Congress acquired a truly national character with the non-cooperation movement. After fifteen years, the Congress decided to give up the policy of adopting resolution, drafting petitions, holding special sessions and advocated a strategy of direct action. This signaled the basic change in the role of the Congress. Mahatma Gandhi was clear about the methods to be adopted for the programs for Nation building focusing on constructive activities and that’s what his advised the Indian National Congress in 1934 to pursue.

Mahatma Gandhi created standards for all of us for bringing about transformative change in any collective endeavor.  The eminent Gandhian, Narayan Desai writes in his book My Life is my Message, that Gandhi’s revolution was two sided. On the one hand he was trying to convince the Congress to adopt a program of non-cooperation and on the other hand; he was hoping to build the nation through simple but concrete programs. For both these, the methods were based on truth, non-violence and purity of means. His clarity on the efficacy of his methods was unusual and novel for the country at that time. The Congress, its organizations and the many associations for constructive work became his vehicle.

The greatest achievement of non-cooperation, civil disobedience and quit India movements and programs was that it created a large group of dedicated men and women, professionals, lawyers, teachers, and political leaders who were willing to sacrifice their all for the country.  It was required of them not to cooperate with the unjust or injustice. Gandhi had realized that untruth, injustice, oppression and tyranny last only so long as their victim accepts them. The moment on learns to say NO to injustice, their edifice collapses immediately. This was true for the political, the economic and the social order. He said,’ I believe that it is possible to introduce uncompromising truth and honesty in the political life of the country…’

And how did Mahatma Gandhi bring spiritualization in politics? The path he took was especially suited for him. As he knew that the means were in his hands, but ‘the end was in the hands of God’.  ‘I will first examine the means and only then will I adopt them’, he had said. There were ways through which he attempted to give politics a spiritual color.  The first was his insistence on ‘purity of means’ that he adopted; and the means were of Non-violence and truth.  The second may have been that ‘Service to Mankind is Service to God’ which has come down to us through Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Swami Vivekananda. It is through these that the spiritualization of politics was achieved and he undertook his constructive programs.

Mahatma Gandhi’s upmost desire was to restore the dignity of the poorest of the poor. This he understood was only possible through selfless service. He had said ‘Service which is rendered without joy help neither the servant, nor the served, but all other pleasure and possessions pale into nothingness but before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.’

He felt in communion with himself in the midst of the poor and unhappy. Their joys and sorrows became his. The ills that plagued them perturbed them deeply, while their goodness made his heart dance with joy. He felt oneness with the people and according to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru there was no one who knew the pulse of the people better than Mahatma Gandhi.

In fact, one can trace the motive for working for a cause larger than his own personal desires or needs, continuing from his childhood, through his youthful days to the end of his life. He was involved in politics for the same reason. His life was a ceaseless quest for Truth and the incessant desire to measure him on the scales of truth. Mahatma Gandhi’s definition of truth is very simple, speak as you think and act as you speak. There should be unity of thought, word and deed. He was a leader who did what he said. There was no difference between what he did and what he said.  The leadership quality that one sees clearly, is that he was one leader who kept the Nation above himself and his organization.

At that time, communication media was in its infancy. The best way to communicate with the masses still remained through the word of mouth. Though people were illiterate, India had attentive ears. It could hear the soft, soothing voice of Mahatma Gandhi, who spoke in a language that they understood clearly, straight from his hearts.  He was one who lived amongst them, in an ashram, dressed just like them. Indians, though respected the bejeweled rich Maharajas and Nawabs, accepted Mahatma Gandhi as their own and gave him their hearts. 

The main impetus behind Mahatma Gandhi’s attempt at forging unity in the country was religious, that is, moral and spiritual motivation. He would not have entered the political realm without the spiritual motivation. Spirituality, bound the leader and the masses together in an invincible thread of love and respect as the servant leader marched forth leading the nation for fifteen years through the Indian National Congress. Mahatma Gandhi employed symbols and allegories that would immediately speak to the audience; while speaking to the large groups his language was replete with cultural references. If educated persons asked about his views he used language familiar to such a person.

In the book Gandhi’s Outstanding Leadership, P.A. Nazareth mentions that by empathizing with the masses, praying, working and living with them, selecting simple issues like cotton and salt which they understood Gandhi managed to enthuse and inspire them, convince them that truth, non-violence and purity of means were effective weapons for India’s political, social and economic emancipation, that a mere 100,000 Englishmen in India could not rule its 350 million people if the latter refused their cooperation and were willing to suffer the consequences, that all Indian, men and women, rich and poor, high caste, low caste and untouchables had a vital role to play in the liberation of India. Concurrently he also managed to train, plan, fund raise, finance, lead and effectively control vast group of people with desperate interests and backgrounds. Millions responded to his call; they spun cotton, they burnt foreign cloth, they submitted to beatings and imprisonment and refrained from violence.   

Through the leadership qualities like service, self- sacrificial love, spirituality, integrity, simplicity, emphasizing follower needs, and modeling Mahatma Gandhi cultivated public opinion that truth and non-violence were integral to the life of the country. Transparency was seen in all his actions throughout his life. There was no difference between his personal life and public conduct. He uttered what he thought and acted according to what he uttered. And how did he do this? By cultivating the courage of conviction, by being steadfast to his no-comprise zone, by insisting on purity of means of adhering to truth and non-violence in every sphere. For Mahatma Gandhi, the laudable ends could never justify means because such means contaminated even the noblest of objectives. Purity of means was what he insisted on while confronting discrimination, slavery, oppression, injustice and violence.

What was the reason for emergence of Mahatma Gandhi as a leader in the country? He had new methods to offer and the country saw the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi as a leader. His qualities also satisfied the aspirations of the people. With him to lead the Congress, the struggle for freedom had ceased to be an exclusive preserve of the elite. He had taken it to the common people.  He was a common man himself. He spoke the language of the people that was culturally rooted. He had exceptional command over the English language, but insisted on using his broken Hindustani. His simple life of labor, the willingness to undergo voluntary self-suffering and his faith in the oneness of all souls was in itself an example. He awakened the power of the people by reposing faith in them.

Mahatma Gandhi’s personality uniquely combined humility with self-confidence, serenity with enthusiasm. He was willing to understand his own limitations and shortcomings and subject himself to the most sever discipline to rid him of all defects. This man had a quality that attracted the educated and the illiterate alike. It was open for all to see. His words matched his action. Hindustan needed action not merely eloquence. The people of India went to Mahatma Gandhi with hope, expectation and desire. They hoped that this man who understood their suffering would lead them to swaraj.

It was a unique coming together people and leader. His quest for perfection led him to search for the truth with the people. He did not run away from politics, though to him it was not the primary quest.  Why did the masses of India love him? Mahatma Gandhi believed that the reason was his affection and love for the poor of the country. He communicated the intricate aspects of Truth, like the sages had communicated the most incommunicable knowledge by simple formulation: ‘Speak the truth’, ‘Follow your dharma’. He communicated it through his life by establishing unity between his individual life and public conduct and that is how it reached the hearts of people.

In 1934, Mahatma Gandhi resigned even from the primary membership of the Congress. He wanted the Congress to take up the constructive activities for Nation building. The Congress Working Committee often met in his presence and did not stop seeking his council. He either remained a president or a mentor to constructive work organizations established by Congress. The country saw the leadership of Gandhi for about 15 years.  Mahatma Gandhi was a revolutionary who thought about the need to remove violence and at the same time how to establish a non-violent society; a society without oppression, a society without authoritarian government. And this Mahatma Gandhi meant to do with Constructive programs to cover the maximum sectors of society; the financial sector, the social sector, the educational sector and the political sector. The political strength of constructive activity was not clearly seen by the county as much as Mahatma Gandhi wanted it to be.

‘The best way to find your self is to lose yourself in the service of others’ Mahatma Gandhi had said.