MAHATMA GANDHI AND HIS CONCEPT

OF SWARAJ
ABSTRACT:
Hind Swaraj is the most seminal work of
mahatma Gandhi. It inspired people in India to work for
independence from British colonial control. He used
non-violence as a technique of protest. For Gandhi’s
swaraj is self-government view of swaraj and struggled
for independence from British rule and from
industrialization. He asked Indians to refuse to obey the
unjust laws of the British, as no government can
function if the people and masses refuse to obey its
laws. Swaraj of the people means the sum total of the
swaraj of individuals.
INTRODUCTION:
Swaraj for Gandhi ji was not just political freedom
but freedom from hunger, disease and ignorance.
Although the word swaraj means “self-rule” Gandhi ji
gave it the content of an integral revolution that
encompasses all speres of life. At the individual level
“He was an apostle of peace, non- violence and was an
ardent flower of Purna swaraj.”
Gandhi ji wanted to end the British rule in India
but aim was greater. His aim was to get swaraj. Gandhi

1
ji had serious attention on how to realize swaraj. He,
had a clear view that swaraj will not come the thinking
or by any miracle but it will come from patience, hard
work and observed that swaraj means vast organising
ability, penetration in to the village solely for the
services of villages, in other words it means national
education i.e., education of masses.
“He pointed out that “Real swaraj will come not
by acquisition of authority but by the acquisition of the
capacity by all the resist authority when it is abused. In
other words, swaraj is be attained by education of
masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and
control Authority.
OBJECTIVES:
1. To understand the relevance of Gandhian concept
of Swaraj in the contemporary scenario of higher
education.
2. To study whether the Gandhian concept of Swaraj
would free the society from the constraints of the
conventional educational setting.
3. To examine whether the Contemporary
educational institutes are able to create an
environment needed to implement Gandhian
Concept

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 4. To provide a direction for radical transition and the
careful design of educational system, outside the
formal structure with respect to freedom,
flexibility and economy.
5. To explain the influencing the success of Swaraj
initiative.
KEYWORDS: Swaraj, self Restraint, Freedom,
Political, Economic and Social Swaraj.
SWARAJ
The concept of Swaraj has been given much
importance in Gandhi’s spiritual, political, social and
economic ideas and has been frequently espoused in
his writings and speeches. He re-evaluated the
meaning of Swaraj according to the times he lived in,
and used the word, Swaraj, to reawaken the spirit of
Indian people. According to him the word Swaraj was a
sacred word, a Vedic word, meaning self-rule and self-
restraint. Gandhi believed that national Swaraj could be
achieved by the same means that were needed for
attaining individual swaraj. Gandhi believed that the
methods of attaining individual Swaraj with national
Swaraj were similar and complementary to each-other.
Gandhi proclaimed that self-government depended
entirely upon one’s initial strength, upon one’s ability
to fight against all odds. He said that political self-
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government, that is, self-government for a large
number of men and women, is no better than
individual self-government, and, therefore, it is to be
attained by precisely the same means that are required
for individual self-government or self-government or
self-rule.
POLITICAL SWARAJ:
Gandhi believed that each nation should have is
own system of government according to the conditions
prevalent in which there would be the rule the people.
The essence of his concept of Swaraj was that power
must be in the hands of the people. He aimed at a
democratic state based on moral authority. He insisted
that democracy would be an impossible thing until the
power was shared by all. Gandhi was impressed by
Abraham Lincoln’s concept of democracy as ‘a
government of the people, by the people for the
people’ 24. Gandhi opined that under democracy
individual liberty of opinion and action
Should be fiercely protected. He emphasised that a
democrat must be totally selfless and must not think
about himself/herself or party but only of democracy.
He wanted a healthy and honest difference of option in
democracy.

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 Gandhi tried to give a democratic orientation to
the concept of Swaraj. He believed that the
government of the country must be based on the will
of the majority of the people which should be
ascertained through adult suffrage. The people who
elect such swaraj government should have contributed
manual labour to the state. To quote him, “By Swaraj I
mean the government of Indian by the consent of the
people as ascertained by the largest number of the
adult population, male or female, native-born or
domiciled, who have contributed by manual labour to
the service of the state and who have taken the trouble
of having registered their names as votes.” 25 Gandhi
accepted parliamentary form of government as the
immediate goal of his conception of Swaraj. His Swaraj
was the parliamentary government of Indian in the
modern times. He supported parliamentary Swaraj as
the immediate political objective, but also as an ideal
to strive for. Basically, Gandhi wanted the rule of
majority only to the extent that it could be regarded as
an expression of the collective social will.
ECONOMIC SWARAJ:
Gandhi believed that Indian had lost political
control due to losing the control over its economy. In
his exhaustive treatise ‘Hind Swaraj’ he devotes a

5
complete chapter ‘Why was India lost?’. This chapter
gives an economic argument for the enslavement of
India by the British. If further goes on to give Gandhi’s
vision for a good economic system. Gandhi’s concept of
Swaraj included economic Swaraj which was not
separated from human condition in its totality. For
Gandhi political Swaraj would not work without
bringing about an economic Swaraj. For Gandhi
economic development was related to the concept of
Swaraj. Economic developed does not allow individuals
or nations to formula and take decision for themselves
(Swaraj).
Village decentralization (Gram Swaraj)
Gandhi saw each village as a self-reliant unit. He
was more inclined towards development of cottage
industries and not large-scale industrialization. He felt a
decentralized economy would negate exploitation of
labour and corruption. He always espoused thar there
are abundant resources in nature for everyone’s need
but not for everyone’s greed. Gandhi believed that
decentralization was essential for the survival of
democracy. Gandhi preferred the decentralization of
small units of production as compared to the setting up
of large-scale units in few places. He wanted to carry
the production unit to the home of the masses,

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particularly in villages. Cottage and village industries
help increasing employment. Commodities can be
produced cheaply as there is no need for a separate
establishment; very few resources are needed. There is
no problem of storage. Transport cost is negligible.
Integration of cottage industries with agriculture
provides which to the farmers in the off-season time.
This helped in utilizing all their energies are best suited
for all a rural life. These industries increase the income
of the villages and satisfy their basic needs. According
to Gandhi this would help in the removal of poverty
and unemployment from the villages and also make
them self-sufficient economic units.
Swadeshi and Khadi:
The concept of Gandhi’s Swadeshi gave
preference to local products even if they are inferior
grade or expensive than things manufactured
elsewhere and tried to resolve the problem of local
manufacturers. Gandhi’s Swadeshi did not imply
rejection of all foreign goods just because they are
foreign, and to go on wasting national time and money
in the promotion of manufactures of one’s country for
which it is not suited. This would be wrong and against
the Swadeshi sprit. In the Swadeshi economic order
there will be healthy exchange of products and not cut-

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throat competition through the play of market force.
The guiding principle that he laid down in respect of all
foreign goods was that those things should not be
imported which were likely to prove harmful to the
interests of the indigenous industry.
Gandhi found khadi as the necessary and most
importance corollary of the principle of Swadeshi in its
practical application to society. Gandhi stressed the
importance of the development of Khadi industry. For
Gandhi, khadi was the symbol of unity of Indian
humanity of its economic freedom and equality and
Swaraj. He believed that the development of Khadi
industry would save millions of people from hunger
and poverty. Gandhi advocated the use of charkha and
the ‘Charkha’ was considered to be the symbol of non-
violence. His slogan was ‘Swaraj through spinning’.
Bread and labour:
Gandhi was influenced by law of bread and labour
as out forward by T.M. Bondaref and which was also
propounded by Ruskin and Tolstoy. This law
emphasises that man must earn his bread (livelihood)
by his own labour (work). If all people laboured for
their bread, there would be enough food and clothing
for all, they would be healthier and happier, and there
would be no problem of food shortage, no disease and

8
no misery. He strongly believed that without physical
labour no one was entitled to get food. He advised the
rich also to do physical labour for earning a livelihood.
Gandhi’s perception of economic Swaraj was based on
self-control and self restrain by the individual and
society as a whole. He was against consumerism and
amassing of wealth by individuals, all these he put
forward when people practised self-control and
restrained their wants and needs. Self -control by the
individual as a unit and society collectively was also a
key concept of Swaraj of self-control.
SOCIAL SWARAJ
While elaborating upon social Swaraj wanted a
state of social existence where each individual
irrespective of his/her religion, race, caste, sex, place of
birth, residence or parentage will enjoy equal social
status. Thus, the society shall be an integrated
community devoid of any artificial and manmade
distinctions. It shall be a society inspired by the spirit of
social equality of status and equal dignity of all its
members irrespective of a variety of natural and
manmade distinctions.
SWARAJ AS SELF-CONTROL
Gandhi championed the cause of individual
freedom. According to him swaraj really means self-
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control who observes the rural of morality, does not
cheat or give up truth, and does his duty to his parents,
wife and children, servants and neighbours. Such a man
can truly enjoy swaraj and a nation enjoy swaraj if it
can boast of a large number of such good citizens. An
individual Swarajist has to observe eleven vows like
truth, nonviolence, non-stealing, non-possession,
celibacy, fearlessness, manual labour, non-indulgence
in food, use of Swadeshi, equal respect for all religions
and eradicating untouchability. Gandhi considered
individual as an end and as such opposed to servility.
Gandhi believed that swaraj or true freedom is
conformity to moral law, the inner conscience, and the
law of one’s true being.it induces a person to seek the
good and attaint it, an end that is worthy. Freedom
means self-control, a conquest over self which can be
attained only by being fearless. It involves rigorous
discipline and requires that one’s vows of self-
purification and self-realisation. It is through active
involvement and participation in the day-to-day affairs
of society that the individual attains solvation or
‘moksha’. Gandhi insisted on the need to rationalise
and synthesise desires in an integrated life in order to
attain the morals necessary to distinguish humans from
brutes. Another implication of Swaraj is moral and
spiritual freedom or “anisakis” which comes as the

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consequence of all and reason leading to concentration
of energy. This was the most important lesson that
Gandhi learnt from the ‘Bhagavat Gita’.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Through this paper author wants to express Gandhi
ji’s views on freedom. According to Gandhiji,
independence cannot be attained by violence. He says
that it can be found not by violence, but by opposing
them by disobedience and self-sacrifice. Gandhi ji said
that the British were able to rule over Indian because
Indians cooperated with them. If Indians fought, they
could never rule, but this fight should not be violent. It
should be non-violent and non- cooperative.
CONCLUSION
To conclude we can say that for Gandhi swaraj stood
for our control on ourselves, making free ourselves
from the slavery to the mind and desires. Thus, his
concept of swaraj is very different from the
“Independence” that we celebrate only every 15 th
August. Even today’s digital India is not ignoring
Gandhi’s philosophy as expressed in hind swaraj.
REFERENCE
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1. B.L Grove, Alke Mehto “A new look at modern
Indian history. “New Delhi, 2015, pp-334-335.
2. M.P Mathai. “What did Swaraj mean to Gandhi?
“International workshop on nonviolence struggle,
in the Twentieth century------October, 1999, New
Delhi.
3. Ibid, M.K Gandhi, “Young India,” June 28, 1928.
4. Ibid. January 29, 1925, P. 41.
5. (Ibid:49) So this is one level at which Gandhi
himself tells us that politics was for him, a
secondary concern.
6. Tandon Neeru (ed) M.K Gandhi: Hind Swaraj.
Sahitya Ratnalaya Publishers: Kanpur, 2019 chapter
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