Mahatma Gandhi, nationalism, social change and ecological economics were extensively discussed and debated in a series of lectures organised recently by the Centre of Gandhian and Peace Studies and the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal University.
According to a press release, while speaking on the topic of ‘Gandhian model of social transformation’, Aditya Mukherjee, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said Gandhiji was a unique leader who could take along leaders with different opinions and ideologies, thus quintessentially representing the “idea of India”.
He firmly stood for non-violence, equality and communal harmony.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Indian national movement’, Mridula Mukherjee, another JNU professor, said moderates, extremists, revolutionaries, Gandhians, Gandhian socialists, communists, etc., were part of the national movement.
What emerged was a nationalism that was inclusive, humane, anti-colonial, anti-imperial and based on values on secularism, democracy and civil liberties.
It was not divisive, religious, aggressive or jingoistic, even though all those forces were present at that time as well, she said.
In fact, Indian nationalism, which was also different from European nationalism, was not in contradiction with rooted internationalism and world peace, Ms. Mukherjee said.
Speaking on ‘ecological economics’, Mark Lindley, Gandhian scholar from the United States, questioned the notion of the ‘economic man’ of the classical economics and warned that the world would face serious dangers if remedial measures are not taken as natural resources are fast depleting.
He endorsed economist J.C. Kumarappa’s notion of ‘economy of permanence’ and the Gandhian ‘need-based’ economics.
