India Today – August 19, 2019

34 INDIATODAY AUGUST 19, 2019

NARENDRA MODI HAS TAKEN INDIAN NATIONALISM

TO THE 21ST CENTURY. HE HAS BUILT THE

BRIDGE BETWEEN THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE AND

CONTEMPORARY ASPIRATIONS

A NEW SORT

OF FREEDOM

BY SWAPAN DASGUPTA

A

S A RULE, GENERALS ARE NOT

MEANT TO AGONISE OVER

THE NATURE of the war they

fight. In 1933, shortly after the

bitter Civil Disobedience Move-

ment launched by Mahatma Gan-

dhi had led to a complete break-

down of the relationship between the Congress-led nationalist

movement and the British Raj, Jawaharlal Nehru posed a

question which he left unanswered: “Whose freedom are we

particularly striving for, for nationalism covers many sins and

includes many conflicting elements?”

What prompted this self-doubt in the mind of one of the

foremost leaders of the Congress is not all that puzzling. In 1933,

Nehru was in the throes of his radical phase and deeply influ-

enced by the socialist currents in Europe. In all likelihood, he

perceived the struggle for Independence as part of a larger politi-

cal struggle against economic exploitation and imperialism. The

reality, however, was not as red as he may have desired. While

the Mahatma kept his gaze firmly on a just struggle for Ram

Rajya using non-violence, the message of nationalism translated

in unique ways at the grassroots. It was not merely a question of

whose freedom, but what sort of freedom.

To the masses, Gandhi was a saint who combined political

leadership with a moral force. He provided the symbolic leader-

ship. At the same time, the actual movement was viewed as a