Personally, I had always considered Mahatma Gandhi to be one individual among many, who had helped in gaining Independence. Why then the hype about Gandhiji alone?
Of late, a change has occured in my viewpoint about him. Triggered off by Richard Attenborough's film "Gandhi". I was intrigued and did some research about this famous Indian. Looks like Gandhiji was a person with tremendous amount of will power. How long can a person restain from striking back, despite repeated injuries by the enemy? How long can a person disobey the ruler? And most important, how long can u go hungry?! Gandhiji inspired millions and won just by saying NO. No fights, no insults, just "NO"!
The logic is that, it is possible to win a battle by tiring out the enemy by not retaliating to the taunts or tortures. This does not mean that one should yield the the other's demands, but rather disobey sans violence. Either the enemy will give in voluntarily, or there will be extreme pressure by the sympathisers which will force the enemy to give in. Of course, the easier way to fight might be to take up arms. But think about the bloodshed and the after-effects of such a fight. We still hold bitterness against the British, not because of their rule, but primarily because of Jallianwala Bagh.
Well then, will the path of disobedience without violence work against all instances of righteous struggle? In the cause against....Hitler? I doubt it. It is my belief that only 10% of the population are very bad, and 10% saints. The remaining 80% are normal, with equal proportion of compassion and hatred. The theory of disobedience might, perhaps work, with this set of population.
