Examine Gandhi’s concept of Swaraj.

 Swaraj is a combination of two Hindi words, swa (self) and raj (rule), meaning rule over oneself. The idea of Swaraj or self-rule was popularised by Gandhi with his mass appeal, although this concept had been used by other freedom fighters as well. Dadabhai Naoroji in 1906 at the Congress session at Calcutta had declared Swaraj as the goal of Indian National Congress. Bal Gangadhar Tilak had also openly declared 'Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it'. Tilak along with British rights activist, Annie Besant, had started the All India Home Rule League in 1916 to take forward the demand for self-rule. Due to Tilak’s untimely demise in 1920, he could not see India attaining Swaraj in 194,7 but Gandhi worked on this idea and made sure India gets independence. Gandhi and Tilak were united in their love for India and their quest to seek Swaraj for India. Both leaders had immense respect for each other but had differences regarding their methods to achieve Swaraj. Unlike the extremists who wanted to retain British institutions once India gained Swaraj, Gandhi did not support western institutions like parliamentary democracy in India. They also differed in their means to achieve Swaraj. Gandhi totally favoured the path of morality and truth to fight the British while Tilak argued that since the British rule in India was immoral by its nature, there was no harm in using immoral means to overthrow it.

Instead of using English words like freedom or independence, Gandhi preferred to use Swaraj. It reflected his desire to give importance to Indian traditions and moral superiority of Indian civilisation over its western counterpart. Gandhi did not want to retain western institutions as it would amount to ‘English rule without the Englishman’. In his book, Hind Swaraj, Gandhi proclaimed, “You want the tiger's nature, but not the tiger; that is to say, you would make India English. And when it becomes English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englistan. This is not the Swaraj that I want.” In Gandhi’s scheme of things, 'Swaraj' has a different meaning than the English word, independence. Independence indicates a carefree attitude where individuals may do anything that they desire. On the other hand, Swaraj imposes the duty of self-discipline and control on individuals. The idea of Swaraj can be traced back to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where Swaraj means autonomy of the moral self and strict control over senses. The idea of Swaraj struck a chord with the masses and became popular with the people across India despite challenges of caste, class, region and religion. Gandhi’s vision of Swaraj focused on morality and individual at its centre. The individual needed to control his/her senses so that pursuit of wealth and power could be kept away to focus on renunciation and self-realisation. Swaraj could be understood with four meanings. These four meanings convey four different characteristics of Swaraj, but they are complimentary. First three meanings are negative while the fourth one is positive in character. Swaraj as national independence, political and economic freedom requires abolition of alien rule, absence of exploitation and poverty, respectively. Spiritual freedom is positive in character as it is a state of being which everyone wants to achieve once the first three conditions are fulfilled. It means self-rule or spiritual freedom cannot be achieved until the first three negative factors are not done away with. 

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