Gandhi on State

Comment on Gandhi's views on the State. UPSC 2015 Paper 1A Qn no 1e

Gandhi believed the modern state was a manifestation of power and law which were based on coercion as the State is inclined to impose its own will on individuals with the help of an elaborate machinery of police force, law courts, prisons, and military power.

Gandhi condemned political power on moral grounds and not on historical or economic grounds. His philosophy was rooted in a vision of self-sufficient, autonomous communities based on non-violence, truth, and self-governance, which he saw as an alternative to the coercive nature of the state.

The state, for Gandhi, represents violence in its concentrated form but is necessary since human beings are social by nature and morally incapable of acting in a socially responsible manner.

He opposes absolute state sovereignty. He desired a state that would employ as little violence and coercion as possible and wanted individual actions to be regulated by voluntary efforts as far as possible.

Gandhi distrusts any increase in state power as he thinks it destroys individuality which lies at the root of all progress. He desires the establishment of a society in which the state exists outside the daily life of the common man. The ideal society would be a decentralized one giving ample scope for self-development.

He conceptualized self-governing and self-sufficient village communities based on majority rule. Even in majority rule, he emphasizes on conscience and moral persuasion of individual human beings.

His concept of the state of enlightened anarchy is a state where everyone is his own ruler. He supports a greater role of the state in economic affairs, which contradicts his otherwise minimalist views on the state. Like Plato, Paine, and J.S. Mill, he places enormous importance on education as a precondition to the enjoyment of democratic freedom and the ability to fulfill obligations. Gandhi is a champion of non-violence or ahimsa.

Gandhi observed that the modern states were more powerful than ancient and medieval ones as they were more organized and centralized.

He was convinced that if non-violence could be adopted as a universal principle of human behavior, political power as well as the state would become redundant.

However, it is essential to note that Gandhi's critique of the state was idealistic, envisioning a moral society driven by individual ethics and collective self-control, which could be challenging to implement on a large scale. While his ideas on non-violence, self-governance, and decentralization continue to inspire debates on state power and individual freedom, the feasibility of a stateless society remains a contentious issue among scholars.

 

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