Lohia: The Rebel Gandhian

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Dr. Lohia imparted to socialism an earnestness and dynamism much needed in the context of the problems of reconstruction and development along the lines of the values of creativity, justice, equality and freedom-the values which he called eternal in significance. He emancipated socialism from the anaemic schism of European socialism and projected it as an independent and full-fledged system of social transformation in its various aspects-political, economic, cultural and spiritual. He advanced socialism as a revolutionary yet democratic ideology with the dimensions that are variegated but well concatenated. In developing socialism as a complete and coherent philosophy and ideology of social reconstruction, Lohia adopted numerous insights of Gandhi in order to ensure that socialism could deliver not only the immediate but also the permanent goods of life and at the same time save humanity from the evils that bedevilled the realization of its values of justice, freedom and dignity of man and equality and real democracy at the hands of Europe, the then Soviet Union and the United States. It was on the basis of the Gandhian insight of Satyagraha that he forged his weapon of struggle in keeping with the spirit of democracy and reverence for the forms of life, including particularly the human. Again, it was the Gandhian idea of importance of the small machine technology which showed him the path of solving India's problems of employment while, at the same time, avoiding the pitfalls associated with the heavy industrialism of the West.

In Gandhi's emphasis on decentralization and people's participation, Lohia found the key to making socialism democratic and democracy socialistic. Unless resource is had to these twin avenues, the people cannot avoid the evils of capitalism with its possessiveness and communism with its tendency to stamp out diversity and suppress creativity with its proneness to regimentation. It is in this perspective that an evaluation of the ideas of Dr. Lohia has been presented in this study by the author.

AJAY SINGH ALMUST (b.1954) comes of a family noted for its dedication to the cause of freedom struggle as well as to the reconstruction of the Indian Polity. His father, an MP of socialist convictions and with devotion towards the ideas and ideals of Dr. Lohia, viz Manjay Lal, has served the country as a Legislator, Minister and Parliamentarian. Unlike his father Dr. Ajay was a radical leftist in his burgeoning political career, but finding radical leftism too much riven by groupings and schisms and giving second thoughts to the strategy of social reconstruction he veered round to the democratic radcalism of Dr. Lohia. He pursued his studies side by side with his political activities. He went in for political science as his course at both graduation and post-graduation levels. Amongst diverse political ideologies he supported Lohia's socialism and chose Gandhi's impact on Lohia as the subject of his doctoral dissertation. The debacle of Marxism in Eurasia made him all the more convinced that man's urge for freedom is as strong and invincible as his craving for justice and therefore, the two have to be combined in order to render socialism safe and democracy enduring. This much needed combination of the two ideals is the forte of the thought of Dr. Lohia, and in this combination the influence of Gandhi has been crucial. Hence his choice for this study. He feels humanity will find its solution to the problems in a socialism that is informed by the spirit of creativity and freedom and in a democracy that is symbiotically concatenated with people's socialism. Whereas European socialism was bedevilled on account of its schism, socialism in India proved as flop because of populism and personalism. Lohia stands for people's socialism and people's democracy both of which are to be enriched by the Gandhian ethos of decentralization and participation and small machine technology suited to the needs and conditions of the populous countries like India. He has accomplished this study in the hope of furnishing new perspectives which would make democracy meaningful and socialism successful.

There is much in common between Gandhi and Lohia: Both were freedom fighters against colonialism and imperialism. Both were fighters for justice and equality in society. Both stood for social, economic and moral emancipation of their people. Both rejected the western model of politics and development: Both were opposed to statism. Both upheld the principle of decentralization of political and economic power. Both assigned a dynamic role to the people and stood for their participation in the political processes. Both accorded due importance to the villages in their scheme of national reconstruction. And both gave primacy of place to the pursuit of moral values and techniques that were significant to social good and harmony. While idealist in their vision, both were realist in action and built bridges between the abstract and the concrete. At the same time, Lohia was an original socialist, and on vital points differed from the Mahatma. This work is an attempt to evaluate the measure of influence Lohia has absorbed from Gandhi's

ideas and struggles. There are reasons why Gandhi's influence on Lohia was crucial and considerable: Quite from the beginning, to serve the people in distress due to repression and exploitation was the purpose to which Gandhi had dedicated his life. It was this spirit which was behind the various struggles he had launched against the rulers and the exploiters. He stood for the liberation of the workers and peasants. But his forte lay in the unique method he employed in his struggle the method of Satyagraha. It was, again, Gandhi who had first drawn the attention of the Congress to the cause of the poor and down-trodden in the Indian society: He brought the problems of the poor and the down-trodden into the agenda of the Congress and announced in unequivocal terms that the organization stood for dumb and poor millions.

**Contents and Sample Pages**