Mahatma Gandhi, “The Father of the Nation” is one of the greatest freedom fighter, a revolutionary social reformer and above all an ace communicator. Not only he held lofty principles but he effectively propagated his message among the masses by using the then existing media, mostly the print as well as through public meetings. Among his other qualities of leadership he was the best communicator. His distinguish quality was that he truthfully believed in the message and skillfully conveyed his philosophy which he himself also practiced. He sent his thoughts through the life by setting a personal example. His autobiography titled “My Experiments with Truth” narrates the actual life he lived and practised his principles for setting a personal example. This was also the secret of his success as a communicator.
More than anyone else, Mahatma Gandhi recognized that skillful communication is the most effective tool to shape public opinion and mobilize it for popular support. He was successful because he had a latent skill in communication that surfaced in South Africa where he started during 1903 “The Indian Opinion”. Gandhi’s journalism belonged to an era where there were no modern mass communication gadgets. He did make use of his mighty pen to convey his heart to millions of his followers and admirers across the globe.
Successful Media Use
After return to his motherland on January 9, 1913, he spearheaded the freedom struggle. Gandhiji did make best use of the nationalist press and his own journals: Young India, Navjeevan and other periodicals to reach the masses in every nook and corner of the country. He also knew that the secret of reaching out to the hearts of people living in the rural areas was through the age-old oral traditions as also public lectures, prayers meetings and padayatras (walks). He used all the available means of communication channels of the time to give a new direction to the national struggle and assumed the inspiring leadership on the national scenario and won the freedom through the unique technique of non-violence, Satyagraha, truthfulness.
Gandhiji never for a moment minimized the important role of newspapers (then radio was under the British Government control and the television channels were non-existent). He would scan through all the newspapers and reply suitably to any misrepresentation or distortion of facts. It is to his credit that he did use the traditional and modern media of communication with telling effect.
Trend-Setting Style
Gandhiji made his personality felt through the columns of Young India and other periodicals. The impending change was visible from the very beginning. He turned those into his “views papers” ventilating his point of view .The Young India sold more copies than the combined total circulation of several other newspapers in the country. There were not only new thoughts, simple but stylish language and a fresh air of fine quality of journalistic writings. It is a unique feature that Gandhiji had not been accepting advertisements for his periodicals and what is more, he had allowed his articles to be freely reproduced in most other newspapers in India or elsewhere.
Gandhiji proved that style was the master and his writings were complete departure from the one that was in practice. His English was biblical and he was meticulous about the use of proper words at the particular moment. Above all, his sentences were simple and lucid. In fact, he wrote from his heart and directed it to the hearts of his targeted readership. Gandhiji himself declared all his journals as ‘views papers” because all of them were organs of political and social movements which discussed with intensity and concentration the public problems.
Gandhian Era
Gandhiji, in fact, brought many new elements which introduced a free life in the field of journalism. Many of his followers were moved to write and publish in the Indian languages and regional journalism began to acquire an importance and there was hardly an area in the country that did not have its newspapers.
An effective communicator, Gandhiji was fearless and eloquent with his words. He reached out to millions of people and convinced them of his cause. Gandhiji was probably the greatest journalist of all time, and the weeklies he edited were probably the great example of weeklies of that period. He published no advertisements but the same time he did not let his newspapers run at a loss. He wrote simply and clearly but forcefully, with passion and burning indignation.
Indelible Imprints
“One of the objects of a newspaper, he said, is to understand the popular feeling and give expression to it, another is to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments, and the third is fearlessly to expose popular defects”, Mahatma Gandhi has always stressed.
The Father of the Nation was not only one of the greatest freedom fighter with his unique technique of non-violence but was the best communicator who mobilized the public opinion for attainment of freedom. Gandhiji made optimal use of other channels of communication very efficiently and effectively as he had a rare knack of “inventing apt news events” to get the best coverage by the media. Mahatma Gandhi exercised his high moral values in his political life and practice of mass communication which stands out as a light house for all times to come.
Gandhism, Truth, Simplicity & Religion
Gandhi dedicated his whole life to the wider purpose of discovering truth or Satya. Truth in Gandhi’s philosophy is “God.” His simplicity shown in his simple lifestyle, his dress advocating the use of homespun Khadi by the spinning wheel. He believed all religions to be equal and at the core of every religion was truth and love.
Gandhi & Non-Violence
Non-Violence and Truth were his time-tested weapons throughout his life and he had applied them meticulously even in the extreme situations. He lived on a simple vegetarian diet and fasts rigorous for long periods, for both self-purification and protest in support of his justified demands. By means of a hunger strike, Gandhi had helped bringing about India’s Independence from British Rule, inspiring colonial people to work for their own independence and ultimately dismantle the British Empire. Gandhi’s principle of Satyagraha (truth force) has inspired generations of democratic and anti-racist activists including Martin Luther King Junior and Nelson Mandela. He had often stated that his values were simple, drawn from traditional belief – Satya (truth) and Ahimsa (non-violence). Gandhi’s philosophies and his ideas of truth and non-violence had the influence of the Bhagvad Gita and the writings of Leo Tolstoy. He was also inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s famous essay on Civil Disobedience.
Gandhi & Non-Cooperation
Gandhi used two other powerful tools, Non-cooperation and peaceful resistance, in his fight against injustice. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of civilians in Punjab, which followed violence thereafter was the eye-opener for Gandhi that led him to demand a complete self-government and control of all Indian government institutions into Swaraj or complete individual, spiritual and political independence. Of late, there has been a noticeable trend among leaders across the globe showing keen interest in the non-violent methods to address problems, they are truly following Gandhi in letter and spirit and this is perhaps the reason that led the United Nations to adopt the resolution to observe his birthday as the International Day of Non-Violence.
Gandhi & South Africa
The civil Rights movement launched by Gandhi in South Africa was a major turning point in Gandhi’s life as he had faced the discrimination commonly directed at blacks and Indians. The incidents like throwing off a train, not allowing him to travel by stagecoach and barring him from entering into several places, had changed him totally. Gandhi extended his period of stay in South Africa only to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote. Though he failed to halt the passage of the bill, his campaign was most successful in drawing the attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He founded the National Indian Congress in 1894, and through this, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a homogeneous political force.
Quotable Quotes of Mahatma Gandhi
- The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- Service is not possible unless it is rooted in love or ahimsa.
- Voluntary service of others demands the best of which one is capable, and must take precedence over service of self.
- The platform of services is as big as the world. It is never overcrowded.
- My creed is service of God and therefore of humanity.
- For me, humanitarian service, or rather service of all that lives, is religion. And I draw no distinction between such religion and politics.
- Human body is meant solely for service, never for indulgence.
- That prince is acceptable to me who becomes a prince among his people's servants.
- God took and needed no personal service. He served His creatures without demanding any service for Himself in return.
- Man becomes not the lord and master of all creation but he is its servant.
- My nonviolence bids me dedicate myself to the service of minorities.
- Ahimsa must express itself through acts of selfless service of the masses.
- Renunciation made for the sake of service is an ineffable joy of which none can deprive one, because that nectar springs from within and sustains life.
- The safest rule of conduct is to claim kinship when we want to do service and not to insist on kinship when we want to assert a right.
- Men's triumph will consist in substituting the struggle for existence by the struggle for mutual service.
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