Editorial: Martyrs’ Day

Today is “Martyrs’ Day”, an observance which marks the day in 1948 when we lost the Mahatma to a bullet fired by a crazed fanatic of misguided xenophobia. It is not a government holiday, which is perhaps why most people not in government service hold no special observance on this day which marks the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi. For this reason perhaps, the observance has been extended to be noticed beyond government offices. As per an official communiqué, apart from the two minutes silence observed in all government offices at 11 a.m. on 30 January, elsewhere as well, all work and movement of traffic will stop for two minutes at the said time when the entire nation pauses and pays homage to the Mahatma’s supreme sacrifice and to all who sacrificed their lives in the Freedom struggle. With this gesture, apt solemnity is attempted to be paid to the memory of those who died so that India could be free. Although the Freedom Fighters and their sacrifices are remembered on Independence Day and other national occasions as well, it is appropriate that their martyrdom is accorded special recognition on the day that the Mahatma was assassinated. Gandhi, after all, did not fall to the violence of a colonial master, but was snuffed out by the intolerance of fellow free citizens. Those who laid down their lives for a Free India had struggled for equal Indians and in Gandhi’s death, a clear, and some would say successful, attempt was made to shatter that dream and cleave the nation. If any true homage is to paid to the Mahatma and the martyrs of the Freedom struggle, it should be in the resolve to end intolerance of all kinds from the nation. Unfortunately, an election year in major states does not lend itself too well to such resolutions and an idea of India which impassioned young minds which powered the freedom struggle continues to be dishonoured.
Gandhi, everyone knows, was an ardent exponent of ahimsa, who challenged the British Empire and achieved Independence without a war, only to be paradoxically felled by a violent bullet. Mahatma Gandhi was a champion of the downtrodden, who, even as he led the Freedom struggle, refused to be distracted from the path of non-violence, even ending a non-cooperation movement once when he realised that not all Indians were completely committed to ahimsa. What is more, even as he steered the struggle for Independence, he worked as tirelessly towards eradicating untouchability and powering other social reforms. He advocated religious tolerance and sowed the seeds of secularism which found roots in the Constitution. He stood for truth at all costs and steadfast in his beliefs, refusing to make compromises even in the face of defeat or even ridicule. He believed in working with the people, taking them into confidence and leading them when he had won their endorsement and convinced them on what path needs to be taken and how. The basic Gandhian principle in working with people, some commentators have written, is to lead them away from conflicts of personal interests towards a community or community of interests. Gandhi’s goal was to bring about a community of interests by holding it up as the common good, by making Sarvodaya the motivation of all individual action. It is a process of the right discernment of the context for the sake of right action which would help to take it from conflict to harmony without sacrificing any value to that harmony. Bapu is the Father of the Nation, and on Martyr’s Day, it is important that we introspect on how we measure up as his children.