The Democratic Legacy of Nehru and Gandhi

Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Museum 

Today we had classes at the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Museum and Library where we learned about Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru’s backgrounds and their nfluence on Indian nationalism. Nehru was India’s first prime minster and was responsible for the ‘Nehruvian’ consensus: that India would be a sovereign democracy moving toward capitalism.

Our first lecture of the morning was given by Aditya Mukherjee, the Director of JNIAS and coordinator of our program. He spoke on India’s development strategy since independence, focusing on India’s political economy and leaders who enabled both democratic and economic reforms. For example, Gandhi saw democracy as the best protector of the well-being of the poor and as the best way to improve India’s prosperity. Gandhi believed in their innate political savvy and their dignity as human beings, adopting a very atypical respect for the poor and uneducated masses. We found Gandhi unusual because in many ways because he was a groundbreaking intellectual, but he was also extremely in touch with people- two characteristics that do not often coincide.

Gandhi and Nehru exhibited great self-awareness in their contributions to Indian democracy. In particular, they recognized the maxim that there is ‘no room for individual heroes’ in democracy. The two leaders purposely empowered the masses as much as they could, which was important and rare in a budding democracy. So often, when colonial regimes transition, whoever grabs power first spends most of their time trying preserve their power. In contrast, Gandhi and Nehru constantly spoke and acted in ways to curb their own power and welcome alternate ideas. Gandhi’s principles sunk into the populace so much that service and freedom became values. One mechanism of Indian democratization was students who voluntarily moved out into villages to serve and remained there the rest of their lives.

India is remarkable among post-colonial societies because it adopted the best parts of British democracy. In other parts of the world, the colonizing power became so demonized during the transition process, little hope was left for democracy. The Indians were able to simultaneously harbor two very opposite desires: one to end colonial domination and the other to recognize the imperative for independence. India’s success lies in the fact that these leaders chose economic arguments instead of inciting racial, religious or partisan fervor.

We were also impressed by the attitudes Nehru and Gandhi adopted after spending so much time in prison. Nehru was imprisoned nine times for a total of 3,262 days, and Gandhi for even longer. We’ve read many stories about how prison time radicalized Muslim intellectuals across the Middle East. It is striking how Nehru and Gandhi’s prison time made them staunchly advocate peaceful dissent. Perhaps this is because as Dr. Goswami puts it, “The British were civil in their evil.” We think the emergence of civil disobedience as a social movement tool and political mechanism could also springs from India’s culture, especially the peaceful Hindu traditions.

In the second lecture on building a democratic and secular society, Mridula Mukherjee gave multiple examples of how Gandhi and Nehru educated Indians on how democracy works. Gandhi led by example, even defending his political opponents within the Indian National Congress. He realized the importance of free debate, saying “unless this simple rule is observed, we will never evolve democracy.” Mukherjee also stressed the importance of arriving at democracy by democratic means. India’s democratization represented the will of the masses. This speaks to the idea that democratization cannot be imposed because to do so would be to corrupt democracy with autocracy. Rather, as in India, it must be supported from the local level up. It seems to us that a leader with the skill and vision of a Nehru or a Gandhi would really help in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The day ended with a tour of the library and archives. There, we got to handle photos of Prime Minister Nehru with U.S. presidents and see microfilm of British newspapers the day after India’s independence. We also viewed a film on how Gandhi’s teachings on civil disobedience inspired peaceful civil liberty revolutions throughout the 21^st century.

--Laura Joost & Diane Raub, MPIAs 2011

--Jawaharlal Nehru