DECEMBER 29

Take Away the Justification

India’s freedom movement can be divided into two stages: from 1857 to 1920, and from 1920 to 1947. It is a well known fact that, during the first period, the British government dealt ruthlessly with the freedom fighters and that, after 1920, that same British government ceased all violence. There is only one way to explain this. In the first phase, the freedom movement had been marked by violence. But after 1920, when Mahatma Gandhi came on the scene, he proclaimed that the freedom movement would be entirely non-violent.

When Mahatma Gandhi shunned violence, the British government perforce did likewise. This is because the use of violence inevitably requires some form of justification. The former freedom fighters, by resorting to violence, were only playing into the hands of the British who then had no scruples about retaliating with violence. When they refrained from violence, they left the British with no grounds for brutal reprisals. Baffled by Mahatma Gandhi’s strategy of non-violence, an English collector sent this telegram to the secretariat: Kindly wire instructions on how to kill a tiger non-violently.

There are certain groups in India who suggest that communal problems may be solved by resorting to active ‘self-defense.’ But that would only aggravate the situation. It is in no sense a solution. The only certain way of tackling such problems is to deprive the oppressor of any justification for his oppressive conduct. Provocation should be seen as a ruse to spur the victim on to that very retaliation which will be seized upon as a pretext for further attacks. As such, it should be ignored. There should be no reaction, no retaliation. In that way, no oppressor can continue to oppress. Even with a gun in his hand, he will lack the moral courage to pull the trigger.