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JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY
Indian Social Thought-6.2
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Group assignment by Koumari Banerjee-16.
Smriti Sardar-31. Swagatalakshmi Saha-23.

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Sangita Ghosh-22. Radhika Dasgupta-57. Barsha
Roy Choudhori-49

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Tagore and Gandhi: Walking Together,
Walking Alone (from nationalist perspective)
Tagore and Gandhi both were born in 1860s and through their different spheres
of activity, became renowned figure of our nation. Both of them contributed a lot
for our nation, sometimes by writing while sometimes by protesting. Their main
aim was to make India free from British rule since both of them believed in
independence. They believed attainment of self-growth can only be possible
when people can breadth freely and not under any such cruel rulers. Not only
independence from Britishers but also they wanted to free India from all such
taboos for example casteism which were hindering the growth of our nation.
Tagore and Gandhi supported each and also sometimes differed with each other
without a hint of bitterness. They always looked towards building an India that
will be free from hatred and bigotry.

When Tagore's and Gandhi’s heart bled for the Indian Peasants

Focusing on Tagore's contribution towards the “Swadeshi Movement” , we find

that his primary concern was welfare and developments in the rural areas which
he named it as "village patriotism".

SELAIDAH and KALIGRAM ; these places are instances to support that Tagore
practiced what he preached. His objective behind such an initiative towards
regenerating Indian Villages was:- " to establish real Swaraj in the villages as
these would be the microcosm of what should happen across the country". 

Tagore's primary focus was on the welfare of the Indian peasants and thus was
conscious of the exploitative zamindars. With reference to this, Tagore wrote a
letter to his son-in-law NAGENDRANATH GANGOPADHYAY whom he sent abroad
to study agriculture science .
  The letter wrote on 29th October, 1907 says:-

"Remember that the landlords wealth is actually the peasants; they are bearing
the cost of your education by starving themselves. It is your responsibility to
repay the debt in full".

Towards the end of the letter, Tagore writes to Nagendranath that the welfare of
their families should come before the welfare of your family. The statement is
indeed indicative of his feelings for the exploited sections of society.

When Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, he saw that peasants in North
India are being oppressed by the Indigo planters. His heart bleeded and therefore
he wanted to start a mass movement as he did back in South Africa in order to
protest against the injustice. This gave rise to CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA, the
first satyagraha movement by Gandhi. He ignited that fire among the peasants so
that they can protest against the indigo planters for barely paying them.

SWADESHI- Through the lens of Gandhi and Tagore

Charged up by the fire of Indian Independence movement, the Swadeshi

movement or the ‘Make in India’ campaign, which was started from Town Hall,
Kolkata, on 7th August 1905, with the objective of boycotting foreign goods, along
with the appreciation and usage of locally produced goods, occurred when Lord
Curzon, the Viceroy of the contemporary times, announced the partition of
Bengal, as the Indian National Movement began in Bengal (Indiatoday,2015).
According to Kumar(n.d.), Gandhi was known to be the ‘champion’ of Swadeshi,
which though many people thought to be absolutely spiritual, but may actually
have been Gandhi’s step forward to revitalize India’s culture and capability.
Heavily influenced by Gita, Gandhi say , “Swadeshi is ‘swadharma’ applied to
one’s immediate environment” (Understanding Gandhi's vision of swadeshi, n.d.).
Gandhi’s vision of almost every important national movement, including Swadeshi
is looked upon economic, political and social perspective by the scholars.
From the economic point of view, it can be said that Gandhi wanted to create a
self-reliant India, where people(especially from rural India) can manage their own
livelihood with whatever they can produce from the surroundings and skills.
According to Kumar, Gandhi’s focus was not to make a self-reliant individuals or
self-reliant families, but rather to create self-reliant villages, worthy of the title
‘village republic’, and in that process, India would get its own “decentralized,
homegrown, handcrafted mode of production” in place of “centralized,
industrialized, and mechanized modes of production”, which the colonisers had
normalised. Using services provided by ‘neighbours’ was deemed to be the most
important. Understanding the importance of reviving the indigenous industries,
Gandhi found ‘Khadi’ and the spinning wheel, or what we know as ‘charkha’ to be
of utmost importance (Understanding Gandhi's vision of swadeshi, n.d.).
Politically, Gandhi did not stay fixated on what good can Swadeshi practices do.
Alongside revitalising the indigenous industries, he also talked about how instead
of fetishizing Swadeshi by appreciating every product, even that of lower quality,
the faults in the product (if any) should be rectified, so as to hold the chance to
export high quality products along with meeting one’s own need. In the social
context, Gandhi opposed the caste system even by acknowledging the division of
labour, considering all work as equally important. He opposed the orthodoxy
within caste system, identified with the, stood beside the untouchables and did
everything possible to assure their upliftment, in spite of risks.
Thus, it can be said that though Gandhiji’s concepts and ideologies are now
mostly used on a spiritual level, those concepts initially flowered during the
colonial rule, and was to encourage the upliftment of people of (rural)India, and
to make way for a self-reliant India to come through, and it did then. Gandhi
realised the cultural and spiritual capability of India and its people, and restore
the prosperity back accordingly.
With the decision of partitioning Bengal by Lord Curzon on October 16, 1905 gave
rise to the DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY. The Indian National Congress had started
the Swadeshi Movement where Indians rejected all the British items and use all
native items. Rabindranath tagore wrote the song “Banglar mati, Banglar Jol”.
 On the day of partition people gathered including many famous people with
Tagore at the forefront and everyone went at the river bank of Ganga for taking
bath together. After this bath in the ganga, they tied rachis on each other’s wrist
irrespective of caste, creed, gender, religion. On the same day he was present at
two very large meetings. It is generally believed that Tagore immersed himself in
the swadeshi movement by addressing meetings. Since Bengal was being
partitioned on the basis of religion, he tried to break that stereotype through the
practice of rakhi. He actually tried to bring the feeling of brotherhood among the
people of our country.
Rabindranath continued to write on the importance of Swadeshi movement. He
wrote songs like “Amar Sonar Bangla”( my golden Bengal) later on which became
the national anthem of Bangladesh.

Gandhi and Tagore: legacy of Non-Violence

Ahimsa generally means non-violence. But to Gandhi, “it has much higher,

infinitely higher meaning. It means that you may not offend anybody; you may
not harbour uncharitable thought, even in connection with those who consider
your enemies. To one who follows this doctrine, there are no enemies. A man
who believes in the efficacy of this doctrine finds in the ultimate stage, when he is
about to reach the goal, the whole world at his feet. If you express your
love- ahimsa-in such a manner that it impresses itself indelibly upon your so-
called enemy, he must return that love. This doctrine tells us that we may guard
the honour of those under our charge by delivering our own lives into the hands
of the man who would commit the sacrilege. And that requires far greater
courage than delivering of blows”.

Gandhi thoroughlypreached and practiced non-violence and he believed that

without ‘satya’ and ‘ahimsa’, there can be nothing but destruction of humanity in
our then war-plagued world. But, by abstaining from violence, Mahatma Gandhi
unleashed an indomitable moral force which not only helped India to attain
independence from British imperialism and colonial oppression, but also inspired
millions of people all over the world.

He believed in ahimsa so firmly that he stated that nonviolence was the law of our
being and the force which held human life together and it was the bond of love
and nonviolence which united human beings, not hate or violence. He made
nonviolence the central organizing principle of all his activities, social, economic
and political, and said that it was mandatory to make the law of nonviolence
functional in all human activities and processes. He explained that when life came
to be organized consciously on the basis of the principles of the law of
nonviolence, its results would be unimaginable.

Historian Ravindra Kumar writes in his pamphlet ‘The Rowlatt Satygraha in

Lahore' that Lahore was like a volcano due to inflation of the world war period.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre also known as the Amritsar Massacre took place
on 13th April, 1919. The whole world was stunned at the extent of cruelty. After
this incident an enquiry committee was set up by Gandhiji, Nehru and others
which declared General Dyer to be the sole accused. Rabindranath Tagore
renounced his knighthood after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He wrote a letter
to the viceroy of India to repudiate the British honorary title. Tagore commented
that Jallianwala had “revealed to our minds the helplessness of our position as
British subjects in India” he said that what had occurred was “without parallel in
the history of civilised government, barring some conspicuous exceptions, recent
and remote.” We can notice the same spirit in Gandhi’s action, as he also refused
to accept the gold medal offered by the British Government at that point of time.
Gandhi wrote in his Young India “this satanic government cannot be mended it
must be ended.” The seeds of the non-cooperation movement can be traced back
to the Jallianwala Bagh incident. As a protest to this incident the non cooperation
movement started stirring up. The non-cooperation movement (1920-22)
organized by Gandhi, was to persuade the British Government of India to grant
self-government or ‘swaraj’ to India. Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi,
the non cooperation movement was to be non violent. The essence of the
movement lied in boycotting government educational institutions, the courts,
government service, foreign goods and elections and eventually refusing to pay
taxes. Gandhi’s support to the coeval Muslim campaign against the divide of the
ottoman empire after world war I, strengthened the movement further. His
resolution of the non cooperation movement was accepted by the Indian National
Congress at Calcutta in September 1920 and was launched in December 1920. The
movement didn’t gain success and was shaken with the Chauri Chaura incident ,
on 5 th February 1922 with the murder of twenty two persons by an angry mob in
the village of Chauri Chaura ( U.P) which led to calling off the movement by
Gandhiji Himself and a month after this incident he got arrested. The non
cooperation movement marked the incorporation of the mass population in
Indian Nationalism. Thereby creating an awakening among the masses and
strengthening the spirit of Nationalism. Mahatma Gandhi played a vital role in the
history of freedom struggle in India. The Gandhian movements were
fundamentally moral as his aim was to achieve the right goals. Even though it has
been 73 years since Gandhiji’s death, his principles and ideas still live on which
inspire citizens and leaders from all over the world.

Gandhi and Tagore in Non-Cooperation Movement

Gandhi emphasized on the importance of spinning on Charkha and it was spread

in all over india as on the basis of mass mobilization and resulted in the launch of
non-cooperation movement.

Rabindranath was in Europe when Gandhi was making the preparation for non-
cooperation movement. When he received the news he reacted positively but
with fear. In September 1920, he wrote to Andrew and through that letter we can
see how Tagore had supported Gandhi.
“I found our countrymen are furiously excited about non-cooperation. It will grow into
something like our Swadeshi movement in Bengal… Let Gandhi be a true leader in this, let him
send his call for positive service, ask for homage in sacrifice which has its end in love and
creation. I shall be willing to sit at his feet and do his biddings if he commands me to co-operate
with my countrymen in the service of love.”

[ Tagore to Andrews, 18 sept 1920, Das Gupta, Friendships,p-223]

Bringing Hindu-Muslim close

By the middle of 1920, Gandhi’s attention was turning towards the organization of
an All India Mass Movement against British rule. During that period Muslim
opinion in India was outraged and this anger in Gandhi’s eyes, merged with the
horrors of Jalianwala Bagh and its aftermath. Gandhi used that fire and tried to
bring Hindu and Muslims together once again.

On the other hand Tagore through his writings tried to bring hindu and muslims
together and also tried to create the sense of brotherhood among the people of
our country. He also started the ritual of Raksha Bandhan .

Reflection of NATIONALISM through films

Ghawre Baire Aaj

The 2019 film " Ghawre Baire Aaj" directed by Aparna Sen triggers the present
Indian minds with the sense of Nationalism. The film is beautifully directed in line
with Satyajit Ray's " Ghore Baire" both of which successfully portrays the
characters from Tagore's "Ghore Baire" novel.
However, focussing on Aparna Sen's film , we find an attempt to give a critical
view of today's "INDIAN POLITICAL STRUCTURE" through the characters.
To be precise, the film basically highlights the protests between *left-wing* and
the right-wing politics in context of Delhi's present scenario.
"NIKHILESH" in the film starring Anirban Bhattacharya is shown a progressive and
liberal who stands in contrast with "SANDIP" starring Jishu Sengupta who is a
staunch believer of MARXISM and a right wing activist and politician.
While we find that Satyajit Ray's film that released in 1984 was an exact
presentation of the Swadeshi Movement, the rise of Hindu nationalism and
women coming out of Purdah System; Aparna Sen's recreated movie puts effort
to uphold the gradual shift towards the right-wing party which has much reflected
the Hindu nationalist positions.
The film thus pictures a sharp contrast between *"Hindu polarisation in politics*
and "Left-wing activism" to eradicate inequality.
Besides, through the character "Vrinda" starring Tuhina Das, she tries to construct
the evolution of women's position in Indian Society. Because, version of Tagore's
"Bimla" is shown to be a Dalit girl untangling herself from her rural tribal
ancestors and embracing the virtues of urbanisation including "education".
Thus, it can be concluded that Tagore's "Ghore Baire" that was penned down to
raise the issue of eastern tradition culture v/s Western culture through the love
triangle and colonial political scenario of those times, definitely stands a hallmark
and the screening of political affairs through the films sensitizes people with the
contemporary socio-political affairs.

Gandhi

The 1982 biographical film ‘Gandhi’, follows Gandhi through his voyage, on what
triggered him with the thought of bringing a change in the conditions of the
contemporary times, the multiple events and protests that followed which
brought significant turns in the timeline of India’s colonial history, and ultimately
his death. His journey starts from a non-violence protest against the
discrimination Indians face in foreign, and actually ended up securing some rights
for Indians. On his return to India, he generated a massive non-violence
campaign, which put enormous pressure on the British government. Then follows
the salt march against the British imposed salt tax, the Dandi March, multiple
hunger strikes, and Swadeshi, some of which were successful, while the others
remained fruitless(for example- the partition of Bengal). The film is a must-watch
for all Gandhi enthusiasts, to secure a brief outlook on what his life looked like.

CONCLUSION
Overall we can find that Tagore and Gandhi had shared a great bond of friendship
and their nationalist aspect was quite same. Both of them wanted to see an
independent India free of any sort of fear. It is an essential constituent of the
Gandhi-Rabindranath heritage- a beacon as India walks the razor’s edge to
fashion a society that is inclusive, free of bigotry and hatred. Both of them had
never abandoned their faith in human dignity, in humility, their commitment to
service and over all the rejection of violence.
References :
 bn.m.wikipedia.org
 https://bn.banglapedia.org/index.php/
 https://www.britanica.com
 https://www.sbsc.in
 https://youtu.be/qn742Fn5jZc

 Understanding Gandhi's vision of swadeshi. (n.d.).

https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/understanding-gandhis-vision-of-swadeshi.html
 Swadeshi movement. (2005, April 25).
In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement
 Swadeshi movement: Timeline and important facts that you must know. (2015, August
7). India Today. https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/
swadeshi-movement-286966-2015-08-07
 Kumar,S. (n.d.). Gandhi's Swadeshi - The Economics of Permanence.
http://gandhistudycentre.org/articles/Gandhian%20Economics-Economics%20of
%20Permanence%20by%20Satish%20Kumar.doc
 https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/ahimsa-Its-theory-and-practice-in-Gandhism.html

 Tagore and Gandhi – Walking Alone, Walking Together by Rudrangshu

Mukherjee.