GANDHI AS A

JOURNALIST

GANDHIAN THOUGHTS
HSS F345

VIDUSHEE GEETAM
2018A1PS0698P
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CONTENTS

PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION……………………………3

2. INDIAN OPINION…………………………..5

3. YOUNG INDIA AND

NAVAJIVAN……………………………….....10

4. HARIJAN, HARIJAN BANDHU

& HARIJAN SEVAK…………………………14

5. CONCLUSION………………………………18

6. REFERENCES……………………………….20
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INTRODUCTION

Amidst all the constructive activities, Gandhi also

published six journals, The Indian Opinion (English), in
South Africa and the Young India(English), Navajivan
(Gujarati), Harijan(English), Harijan Bandhu(Gujarati),
Harijan Sevak(Hindi) in India.

He started writing when he went to England, being a

strong supporter of vegetrainism he started writing and
publishing on it in Vegetarian, the journal of the
Vegetarian Society of England. During his stay in
England he contributed nine articles to the said journal
as a freelance journalist.

In South Africa he worked as a correspondent for

Dadabhai Naoroji’s newspaper India (started in 1890).
Later in 1899 in the Boer War he served the sick and
wounded on the battle-field as a part of the Indian
Ambulance Corps. At that time, he used to write for The
Times of India weekly. Apart from volunteering he sent
across dispatches to TOI. Unlike the popular war
correspondence at that time, Gandhi’s articles contained
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a human touch as he wrote of his experiences on the war

field.

On June 4, 1903 his first newspaper Indian Opinion

started publishing in four languages Hindi, English,
Gujrati and Tamil in Natal, South Africa to voice the
sentiments of Indians living in South Africa under the
worst form of apartheid. It kept publishing even after
Gandhi’s return to India.

When Gandhi returned to India he first started an

unregistered newspaper called Satyagraha during the
protests against Rowlett Bill which was later
discontinued when civil disobedience movement was
called off.

Later in 1919 Gandhi was persuaded to take charge of

the editorship of Young India which was then published
by the Bombay Chronicle, simultaneously he also started
to edit and write in Navjivan, then a Gujarati monthly. It
was later published in Hindi. He used these two journals
to educate the public about Satyagraha.

In February 1933, Gandhi started Harijan, Harijan

Bandhu and Harijan Sevak in English, Gujarati and
Hindi, respectively. He used these three journals to vent
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out his views on untouchability and poverty and his ideas

of development of the nation through the development of
its villages.
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INDIAN OPINION

While his stay in South Africa, on seeing the Indian

community subjected to severe oppression by South
African Authorities, Gandhi realized that he needed to
become a journalist to voice this oppression and
channelize public opinion against it. He started writing
and giving interviews to newspapers like Pioneer, The
Madras Standard, The Hindu, The Statesman etc.
Initially he used to write ‘Letters to the Editor’ to bring
to the knowledge of newspaper editors any discrepancy
in the facts presented.

Gradually, he realized that occasional writings were of

no great help, so he decided to publish his own
newspaper by the name of Indian Opinion. In its
inaugural issue on June 4, 1903 Gandhi wrote:"...the
Indian community in South Africa is a recognized factor
in the body politic, and a newspaper, voicing its feelings,
and specially devoted to its cause, would hardly be
considered out of place; indeed, we think, it would
supply a long felt want".
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The newspaper didn’t aim at making profits and hence

always lacked enough funds and so, Gandhi had to
regularly pour in his savings to keep the press running.

In his autobiography he has written a chapter about the

Indian Opinion in which he writes, “Week after week I
poured out my soul in its columns, and expounded the
principles and practice of  Satyagraha as I understood
it.” He said that all the articles he contributed in the
newspaper were well thought-upon, as straightforward
and concise as possible. It had become a means for him
to practice self-restraint.

“The critic found very little to which he could object. In

fact the tone of Indian Opinion  compelled the critic to
put a curb on his own pen.”, as described by Gandhi in
the said chapter, he has further written, “The readers
looked forward to it for a trustworthy account of
the  Satyagraha campaign as also of the real condition of
Indians in South Africa.” For the Indians residing in
South Africa Indian Opinion had become a reliable
source of awareness about the political happenings
around them.
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In 1905, during bubonic plague, the newspaper was

running in loss and Gandhi was pouring his savings into
it. Around this time his friend H.S.L. Polak gave him a
book called “Unto This Last” by John Ruskin. Upon
reading it Gandhi decided to move the newspaper’s base
to a farm “on which everyone should labour, drawing the
same living wage, and attending to the press work in
spare time. Mr. West approved of the proposal, and L3
was laid down as the monthly allowance per head,
irrespective of colour or nationality."(Stated in his
autobiography) 

Within a week, Phoenix Settlement was setup and the

printing press was relocated to this settlement. Thus,
Indian Opinion was a great part of Gandhi’s experience
of learning self-rule or Swaraj.

Contents and Writing Style

Apart from editorials and columns, Indian Opinion

carried several several features of popular interest,
such as 'Weekly Diary' and dispatches from
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correspondents. Gandhi also contributed

biographical sketches of eminent figures from
around the world. The issues of 1905, for example,
contained sketches of Tolstoy, Mazzini, Abraham
Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, Ishwar
Chandra Vidyasagar, and George Washington.

 'His writing was neat, pointed and readable and

while his articles in Gujarati (meant for the less
educated section of the Indian community) were
mainly informative, those in English had sometimes
a wider range of themes and included abstract
subjects and commentaries on international
affairs.'(Taken from ‘History of Indian Opinion’ by
Dr. Y.P.Anand published on
https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/history-of-indian-
opinion.html )

In 1909 Gandhi instructed his staff to reduce the

newspaper as it was becoming strain. In 1910, the
newspaper was downscaled and further again three
years later but amount of information was
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maintained. An excerpt from the Gujarati section

regarding this:

“……. It is our hope to reduce the work of the

compositor while increasing that of the writer.”

Hind Swaraj

While returning from England to South Africa, in

1909 on the ship Kildonan Castle Gandhi wrote Hind
Swaraj which was later serialized in Indian Opinion
on 11.12.1909 (chapters 1-12) and 18.12.1909 (13-
20). It was later banned in India because the
Britishers thought that it advertised ‘dangerous
thought’ of passive resistance or Satyagraha(
written by Tridip Suhurd in ‘Gandhi’s key writings:
In search of unity’).

Hind Swaraj is a dialogue between two characters,

The Reader( Dr. Pranjivan Mehta) and The
Editor( Gandhi), where editor opposes the Modern
Western Civilization and the reader asks questions.
Gandhi opposed because he thought that the
purpose of civilization was to enable the people
understand themselves but, in his views, Modern
Western Civilization was capitalist and extremely
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profit driven, hence immoral and also worked

towards increasing bodily pleasures and drifted
people away from the actual motive.

Gandhi was not against the British but their

civilization, as can be understood from the following
excerpts taken from the Hind Swaraj :

“Now you will have seen that it is not necessary for

us to have as our goal the expulsion of the English.
If the English become Indianised, we can
accommodate them. If they wish to remain in India
along with their civilization, there is no room for
them.”

In 1912 the newspaper finally stopped inserting

advertisements as Gandhi felt that it made the
newspaper a ‘commercial concern’. In the same year the
Phoenix Settlement was made into a Trust under which
he left the newspaper when he left South Africa. Till the
issue of Jan. 28, 1914, the journal contained , "Printed
and published by M.K. Gandhi", and when Gandhi left, it
was replaced by "A.H.West and Maganlal K. Gandhi".
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YOUNG INDIA AND NAVAJIVAN

In 1919, after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre Gandhi was

in pain as he wasn’t allowed to go to Punjab. Around this
time B G Horniman, the then editor of The Bombay
Chronicle was deported to England “for his bold writing
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on the Indian situation” ( S N Bhattacharya, 1965) and

Gandhi was offered the editorship of the newspaper. He
was hesitant towards this job. But then the publication of
The Chronicle was stopped by the government and
Gandhi was offered Editorship of Young India. Gandhi
was comfortable in taking over Young India as it was
under Satyagrahis who were very active in Bombay and
Gujarat. It was converted to a bi-weekly to compensate
for The Chronicle.

This is what he said about it in his autobiography:

“I was anxious to expound the inner meaning

of ‘Satyagraha’  to the public, and also hoped that
through this effort I should at least be able to do justice
to the Punjab situation.”

However Gandhi wasn’t sure of how he could educate

the public about Satyagraha through the medium of
English. Around this time Sjt. Indulal Yajnik, who worked
with Gandhi during Kheda Satyagraha, was publishing a
Gujarati monthly called Navajivan, it was placed at
Gandhi’s diposal and was later converted to a weekly.

Navajivan was being published from Ahmedabad and

soon Young India too, was shifted there to ease the
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operations and was restored to its original weekly form

as The Chronicle was resuscitated. 

This is what Gandhi had to say about Navajivan:

“The editing of   ‘Navajivan’

has been  a  perfect  revelation to me. Whilest ‘Young
India’  has little more than 1200 subscribers,
Navajivan has 12000. The number  would leap to
20000, if it would but get printer to print that
number. It shows  that a  vernacular newspaper is a
felt want. I am proud to think that I have numerous
readers among farmers and workers. They make
India….The
English  journals  touch  but the  fringe of the  ocean 
of India’s  population.”

Gandhi’s editing of Navajivan had made vernalcular

newspapers popular. These newspaper appointed
correspondents in remote villages as well to maximize
their coverage.

“Many of his followers were moved to write and

publish in the Indian languages, in imitation of his
own direct style. They wrote a simple prose.
Regional journalism began to acquire an importance
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and there was hardly any area of the country which

did not have its newspaper. These did not displace
the English Press which provided all-India media”.(
A History of Press in India, S. Natarajan, Asia
Publishing House (1962))

Gandhi wrote on various issues in both the newspapers.

Here are some excerpts from issues of Young India , to
understand how Gandhi wrote to shape public opinion
and bring social change.

Hindu-Muslim Unity

“Now it is impossible to unite the Hindus and

Mahomedans so long as the Hindus do not hesitate
to kill their Mahomedan brethren in order to protect
a cow……….There is one and only one means open
to a Hindu to protect a cow and that is that he
should offer himself as a sacrifice if he cannot stand
its slaughter.”

* From Young India, 7 May 1919, as reproduced in

CWMG1, Volume 15, pp. 201-03.
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1.CWMG: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (New

Delhi:Publications Division, Govt of India,

Untouchability

“I may here recall my proposition, which is this: So

long as the Hindus wilfully regard untouchability as
part of their religion, so long as the mass of Hindus
consider it a sin to touch a section of their brethren,
Swaraj is impossible of attainment . . .”

“Unless this condition is fulfilled we will gain

Swaraj only to lose it the next moment.”

* From Young India, issues of 27 April and 4 May

1921, as reproduced in CW M G , Volume19, pp.
573-74.

Women

“As women begin to realize their strength, as they

must in proportion to the education they receive,
they will naturally resent the glaring inequalities to
which they are subjected.”
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“Most women are married. And they are co-sharers,

in spite of the law being against them, in their
husbands’ power and privileges.………Woman is the
embodiment of sacrifice and suffering, and her
advent to public life should, therefore, result in
purifying it, in restraining unbridled ambition and
accumulation of property.”( On the issue of property
inheritance by women)

* From Young India, 17 October 1929, as

reproduced in CW M G , Volume 42, pp. 4—6.

“Chastity is not a hot-house growth. It cannot be

superimposed. It cannot be protected by the
surrounding wall of the purdah. It must grow from
within, and to be worth anything it must be capable
of withstanding every unsought temptation. It must
be as defiant as Sita’s.”

* From 'Tear Down the Purdah’, Young India, 3

February 1927, as reproduced in C W M G , Volume
33, pp. 44—45.
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These two newspapers stopped publishing in January

1932 when Gandhi was imprisoned for a long spell.

HARIJAN, HARIJAN BANDHU & HARIJAN

SEVAK
In February 1933, Gandhi started Harijan, Harijan
Bandhu, Harijan Sevak in English, Gujarati and Hindi,
respectively. The context of these newspapers was
untouchability.

The first issue was priced at 1anaa and 10,000 copies

were printed. Gandhi wanted the newspaper to solely
rely on subscriptions so, subscribers were asked to pay
in advance.

In the first issue of Harijan published on February

17,1933 in a column titled ‘To the Reader’, Gandhi wrote,
“Since the movement has a world-wide significance and
seeks the sympathy, if possible, of the whole humanity, it
is necessary to keep the world acquainted with its
implications and progress”.

In the same issue Gandhi explained the term Harijan,

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“…….and one of the untouchable correspondents

suggested the adoption of the name ‘Harijan’ on the
strength of its having been used by the first poet-
saint of Gujarat’. I thought that it was a good word.
‘Harijan’ means a man of God.”

The newspaper Harijan became the greatest means of

communication between Gandhi and the people during
the Harijan movement, for which he was greatly
criticized. This is how he answered to those criticisms in
the issue dated December 21, 1934:

“Any problem connected with the welfare of villages

as a whole must be intimately related to the
‘Harijans’, who represent over a sixth part of India’s
population. Those who complained of monotony
were perhaps not sufficiently interested in the
cause. No doubt it would be true criticism, if I were
told that the columns of Harijan were not as
interesting as they might be made. There are causes
for this which ate inherent in the movement itself”.

Gandhi’s sole motive behind publishing Harijan was

serving the society and hence the newspaper totally
lacked in important political issues. It contained articles
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on development issues, such as village cleanliness,

nutrition and balanced diet, waste management, village
reconstruction work, village sanitation and scientific
facts on importance of honey, fresh vegetables etc. Rural
development plans from other countries were also
published for readers’ awareness.

In the issue of September 24, 1938 Gandhi wrote,

“Harijan is not a newspaper; it is a views paper

representing those of one man.”

In the issue of July 19, 1942 Gandhi explained how

Harijan was a views paper and not a newspaper’

“Let it be known too that Harijan is a views paper as

distinguished from a newspaper. People buy and
read it not for amusement but instructions and
regulating their daily conduct. They literally take
their weekly lessons in nonviolence”.

Here are a few excerpts from Gandhi’s writings against

untouchability published in the Harijan:

“ It is the clear duty of sanatanists [orthodox

Hindus] so called to denounce the disabilities in the
severest possible language and join hands with the
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reformers in protecting Harijans from humiliation

heaped upon them under the sanction of religious
custom………Not having had that luck, I have
become one by adoption. There will be no rest for
me nor society, so long as untouchability persists.”

* From Harijan, 9 March 1934, as reproduced in

CWMG, Volume 57, pp. 259-62.

“Not one single pice out of the purse has been or

will be spent for building temples. Attempt is being
made only to have public temples opened to
Harijans on the same terms on which they are open
to the other Hindus. It is a matter of choice for the
Harijans to visit or not to visit them; savama Hindus
have to lift the bar against Harijans.”

“For, when Harijans are freely admitted to temples,

all the avenues to economic betterment must be
automatically open to Harijans as to others. So far
as the moneys received are concerned, they will ‘all’
be used ‘only’ for economic uplift, if it is admitted
that educational uplift also means economic, in that
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it makes the educated Harijan fitter for running

life’s race.”

* From Harijan, 16 March 1934, as reproduced in

CW M G , Volume 57, pp. 285—86.

Here Gandhi is talking about two ways of Harijan

empowerment, temple-entry and economic upliftment.

Harijan was folded up after Gandhi’s arrest on arrest on

August 8, 1942. After three and half years Gandhi was
released on May 6, 1944 and the Harijan was
resuscitated on February 10, 1946. In the the issue of
that date Gandhi explained the reason behind doing so,

“………….Many readers, including English and

American, had all along felt a void and they began to
feel it more after the defeat of the Fascist Powers.
The reason for the feeling was obvious. They wanted
my reaction, in terms of Truth and Non-violence,
to the various events happening in India, if not
in the world. I wished to satisfy-this desire”.

Gandhi kept writing for Harijan till his death on January

30, 1948. In the journal’s issue of February 15, 1948, C.
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Rajagopalachari, the then Governor-General of India,

wrote,

“The Harijan was Bapu’s voice. And when his body

has been consigned to the elements, the ‘Harijan’
cannot go on. Any attempt to continue it must take a
different shape”.

It continued to be published for sometime but soon

closed down.

CONCLUSION

Gandhi ,in a sense, was a revolutionary journalist with

practices way ahead of the time he lived in. Starting
from the Indian Opinion in South Africa, Gandhi used the
journal for a two-way communication with his readers.
He got the name for his passive resistance movement,
‘Satyagraha’, through a campaign in the Indian Opinion,
an excellent example of how Gandhi involved the public
in political matters. Indian Opinion had contributors
from abroad as well to keep the readers aware of the
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freedom struggle going on in India and other happenings

around the world.

When Gandhi came back from South Africa only the

Anglo-Indian press was active in India, which was not
very popular. Newspapers in Indian languages were
popular but they lacked professional approach & quality
of printing. Gandhi sensed this and took up the
responsibility of Young India(English) and
Navajivan(Gujarati). He sent correspondents to remote
areas to cover the vast lands of India as much as he
could which instilled a sense of unity among his readers
which greatly helped in the freedom struggle.

In 1933 he started Harijan, Harijan Bandhu and Harijan

Sevak. These acted as his voice against untouchability.
He always said that these newspapers were more of
social service than journals, which was very evident as
these newspapers lacked political news and contained
articles which taught daily conduct to the readers, a
totally different kind of journalism in those days.

Gandhi had said:

“The sole aim of journalism is service”.

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“One of the objects of a newspaper is to understand

the popular feeling and give expression to it;
another to arouse among the people certain
desirable sentiments and the third is fearlessly to
express popular defects.”(Hind Swaraj)

Word count: 3229

References
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