Monday, 26 January 2009

காந்தியும், குடியரசும்/ MK Gandhi and democracy



“My notion of democracy is that under if the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest………No country in the world today shows any but patronizing regard for the weak……….Western democracy as it functions today is diluted facism………The democracy can’t be worked by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below by the people”.

“I believe that if India and through India the world is to achieve real freedom then sooner or later we shall have to go and live in the villages in huts, not in palaces. Millions of people can never live in cities and palaces in comfort and peace”.



O tiller of the soil,
Rightly they call you father of the world;
You, and you alone, provide
For all mankind;-Cotton, fruits, flowers and grass,
And food grains too,
The food that sustains all creatures,
And clothing that is welcome to all.Braving heat and rain,
Unremitting in toil,Robust of health.
Ever you moved in contentment.
Of worth supreme is the tiller's work,
Work that tends to others's good;
Tireless in your labour,
You teach a good lesson to the world.

Those Indians who wish to be happy in this country or wish to render any real service to India should ponder over the poem given above and try to act upon it. Even if there is a single reader who is convinced that he must take to agriculture, he need not wait for others to join him.
---Written by Gandhiji in his article, 'Supreme virtue of Agriculture' published in Indian Opinion in 1910.

Democracy
(From epigrams of Gandhi)

Democracy necessarily means a conflict of will and ideas, involving sometimes a war to the knife between different ideas. T-3-291

Democracy can only represent the average, if not less than the average. MM-343

The very essence of democracy is that every person represents all the varied interests which compose the nation. T-5-75

Democracy comes naturally to him who is habituated normally to yield willing obedience to all laws, human or divine. T-5-104

Democracy demands patient instruction on it before legislation. MM-344

Democracy, disciplined and enlightened, is the finest thing in the world. MM-338

Democracy and dependence on the military and police are incompatible. MM-347

Democracy is a great institution and, therefore, it is liable to be greatly abused. MM-345

Democracy is an impossible thing until the power is shared by all, but let not democracy degenerate into mobocracy. MM-345

Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep. MM-341

Democracy and violence can ill go together. MM-347

Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side. MM-342

The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within. T-3-301

In the days of democracy there is no such thing as active loyalty to a person. You are, therefore, loyal or disloyal to institutions. T-3-25

Democracy will break under the strain of apron strings. It can exist only on trust. MM-339

My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest. T-5-277

To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and their oneness. MM-339

What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education. T-7-209

Intolerance, discourtesy and harshness are taboo in all good society and are surely contrary to the spirit of democracy. MM-342

The line of demarcation between democracy and monocracy is a often thin, but rigid and stronger than unbreakable steel. MM-346

In true democracy every man and woman is taught to think for himself or herself. MM-338

The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular. MM-347

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of the heart. MM-338

People in a democracy should be satisfied with drawing the Government’s attention to mistake, if any. MM-341

You have to uphold democracy, and democracy and dependence on the military and the police are incompatible. T-7-284

Under democracy, individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded. MM-341

No perfect democracy is possible without perfect nonviolence at the back of it. MM-348
The only force at the disposal of democracy was that of public opinion. T-8-100

True democracy is not inconsistent with a few persons representing the spirit, the hope and the aspirations of those whom they claim to represent. T-3-301

The voice of the people may be said to be God’s voice, the voice of the Panchayat. MM-340

A born democrat is a born disciplinarian. T-5-104

A democrat must be utterly selfless. He must think and dream not in terms of self or of party, but only of democracy. T-5-104

The true democrat is he who with purely nonviolent means defends his liberty and, therefore, his country’s and ultimately that of the whole of mankind. MM-347

A democratic organization has to dare to do the right at all costs. MM-346

If fighting for the legislatures meant a sacrifice of truth and non-violence,
democracy would not be worth a moment'’ purchase. T-4-156

Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today. T-1-131

But today the discussion is...
India really a democracy or Nehru-Gandhi Dynastic Monarchy
Part1

Part2

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