Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T15:47:28.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gandhi’s Failure: Anticolonial Movements and Postcolonial Futures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2017

Sandipto Dasgupta
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

M.K. Gandhi was the undisputed leader of India's struggle for independence. Yet his vision for postcolonial India was completely marginalized at the moment of decolonization. The article takes this seemingly paradoxical juncture as the vantage point from which to offer a critique of Gandhi's political thought and more broadly an analysis of the shift from anticolonial movements to postcolonial rule. Through the voices of Gandhi's two most significant contemporary critics—B.R. Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru—the article shows how his ideas failed to either inspire the struggle of the ruled (Ambedkar), or address the anxieties of the would-be rulers (Nehru). Gandhi's vision for a postcolonial India persisted within the conceptual constellation of negating colonial modernity, rather than the historical possibilities of postcolonial futures. These predicaments provide an opportunity to analyze the persistence of modern western political imaginaries in the decolonized world. Not through mere assertions of continuity or mimicry, but rather through the concrete struggles, aspirations, and anxieties that constituted the strands of those transitional moments.

Type
Articles
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 647 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agarwal, S. N. 1946. Gandhian Constitution for Free India. Allahabad: Kitabistan.Google Scholar
Amin, Shahid. 1984. “Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District, Eastern U.P., 1921–22.” In Subaltern Studies III, ed. Guha, Ranajit. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Amin, Shahid. 1995. Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura 1922–1992. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B. R. 1943. Ranade Gandhi and Jinnah. Bombay: Thacker and Co.Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B. R. 1946. What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables. Bombay: Thacker and Co.Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B. R. 1948. “Speech at the Constituent Assembly, 4 November, 1948. The Constituent Assembly Debates of India. http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/debates.htm; accessed April 24, 2015.Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B. R. 1979. Writings and Speeches, Vol. 1. Bombay: Government of Maharashtra.Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B. R. 1990 [1936]. Annihilation of Caste. New Delhi: Arnold Publishers.Google Scholar
Arnold, David. 1982. “Rebellious Hillmen: The Gudem Rampa Risings 1839–1924”. In Subaltern Studies I, ed. Guha, Ranajit. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Austin, Granville. 1972. The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bilgrami, Akeel. 2002. “Gandhi’s Integrity: The Philosophy Behind his Politics.” Post-Colonial Studies 5(1): 79–93.Google Scholar
Bilgrami, Akeel. 2014. Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chakrabarty, Bidyut. 2015. “Universal Benefit: Gandhi’s Doctrine of Trusteeship.” Modern Asian Studies 49(2): 572–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha. 1986. Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha. 1993. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, Sandipto. 2014. “A Language That Is Foreign to Us: Continuities and Anxieties in the Making of the Indian Constitution.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East 34(2): 228–242.Google Scholar
Dalton, Dennis. 1993. Gandhi’s Power: Nonviolence in Action. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Devji, Faisal. 2005. “The Practice of Prejudice: Gandhi’s Politics of Friendship.” In Subaltern Studies XII: Muslims, Dalits, and the Fabrication of History, ed. Mayaram, Shail, Pandian, M. S. S., and Skaria, Ajay. New Delhi: Permanent Black.Google Scholar
Devji, Faisal. 2010. “Morality in the Shadow of Politics.” Modern Intellectual History 7(2): 373–90.Google Scholar
Devji, Faisal. 2012. The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Frankel, Francine R. 1978. India’s Political Economy, 1947–1977: The Gradual Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1941. Constructive Program, Its Meaning and Place. Ahmedabad: Navjivan.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1960. Trusteeship. Ahmedabad: Navjivan Trust.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1997. Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, ed. Parel, Anthony J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1910]. “Letter to Maganlal Gandhi.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 10. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1915]. “Letter to Hermann Kallenbach.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 14. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1920]. “Democracy ‘versus’ Mobocracy.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 21. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1921a]. “Zemindars and Ryats.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 23. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1921b]. “Discipline.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 23. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1928a]. “Speech at Morvi.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 4. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1928b]. “Government Power v. People’s Power.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 42. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1929a]. “Zamindars and Talukdars.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 48. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1929b]. “Duties of Capitalists.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 48. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1931a]. “To the U.P. Zamindars.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 52. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1931b]. “Speech at Birmingham Meeting.”. In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 54. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1931c]. “Speech at Chatham House Meeting.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 54. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1931d]. “Interview to Charles Petrasch and Others.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 54. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1933]. “Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 61. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1934]. “Interview to Nirmal Kumar Bose.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 65. New Delhi: Government of India .Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1939a]. “Requisite Qualifications.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 75. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1939b]. “Enlightened Anarchy: A Political Ideal.” In Gandhi’s Experiments With Truth: Essential Writings by Mahatma Gandhi, ed. Johnson, Richard L.. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1945]. “Answers to Questions.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 88. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1946a]. “Speech at Congress Workers Conference.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 89. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1946b]. “Independence.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 91. New Delhi: Government of India .Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1946c]. “Speech at the Meeting of Deccan Princes.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 91. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Gandhi, M. K. 1999 [1948]. “Draft Constitution for Congress.” In The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book). Vol. 91. New Delhi: Government of India .Google Scholar
Godrej, Farah. 2006. “Nonviolence and Gandhi’s Truth: A Method for Moral and Political Arbitration”. Review of Politics 68(2): 287–317.Google Scholar
Gopal, Sarvepalli. 1979. Jawaharlal Nehru—A Biography. Vol. 2. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guha, Ranajit. 1982. “On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India”. In Subaltern Studies I, ed. Guha, Ranajit. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guha, Ranajit. 1998. Dominance without Hegemony: History and Power in Colonial India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hardiman, David. 1981. Peasant Nationalists of Gujarat: Kheda District, 1917–1934. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hauser, Walter., ed. 1994. Sahajanand on Agricultural Labour and the Rural Poor. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers.Google Scholar
Hennigham, Stephen. 1976. “The Social Setting of the Champaran Satyagraha: The Challenge to an Alien Elite.” Indian Economic and Social History Review 13(1): 59–73.Google Scholar
Herring, Ronald J. 1999. “Embedded Particularism: India’s Failed Developmental State.” In The Developmental State, ed. Woo-Cummings, Meredith. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Jaffrelot, Christophe. 2005. Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability. Delhi: Permanent Black.Google Scholar
Kaviraj, Sudipta. 2010. The Imaginary Institution of India: Politics and Ideas. New Delhi: Permanent Black.Google Scholar
Mantena, Karuna. 2012a. “Another Realism: The Politics of Gandhian Non-Violence.” American Political Science Review 106(2): 455–70.Google Scholar
Mantena, Karuna. 2012b. “On Gandhi’s Critique of the State: Sources, Contexts, Conjunctures.” Modern Intellectual History 9(3): 535–63.Google Scholar
Mehta, Uday Singh. 2010. “Gandhi on Democracy, Politics and Ethics of Everyday Life.”, Modern Intellectual History 7(2): 355–71.Google Scholar
Nandy, Ashish. 1983. The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1936. An Autobiography. London: Bodley Head.Google Scholar
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1946. The Discovery of India. New York: John Day.Google Scholar
Nehru, Jawaharlal. [1937] 1968. “Speech at the National Convention of Congress Legislators.” In Framing of India’s Constitution, ed. Shiva Rao ed, B.. Vol. I. New Delhi: Indian Institute of Public Administration.Google Scholar
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1988. A Bunch of Old Letters. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Parekh, {date]–see n. 21Google Scholar
Parel, Anthony. 2006. Gandhi’s Philosophy and the Quest for Harmony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Parel, Anthony. 2011. “Gandhi and the State.” In The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, ed. Brown, Judith M. and Parel, Anthony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sarkar, Sumit. 1983. Modern India: 1885–1947. Delhi: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sarkar, Tanika. 1985. “Jitu Santal’s Movement in Malda, 1924–1932: A Study in Tribal Protest.” In Subaltern Studies IV, ed. Guha, Ranajit. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sarkar, Tanika. 2011. “Gandhi and Social Relations.” In The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi, ed. Brown, Judith M. and Parel, Anthony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sarkar 2016—see n.1, 5Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1998. Seeing Like the State. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Skaria, Ajay. 2002. “Gandhi’s Politics: Liberalism and the Question of the Ashram.” South Asian Quarterly 101(4): 955–86.Google Scholar
Skaria, Ajay. 2011. “Relinquishing Republican Democracy: Gandhi’s Ramrajya.” Postcolonial Studies 14(2): 203–29.Google Scholar
Skaria, Ajay. 2016. Unconditional Equality: Gandhi’s Religion of Resistance. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terchek, Ronald J. 2006. “Gandhi’s Politics.” In Gandhi’s Experiments With Truth: Essential Writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi, ed. Johnson, Richard L.. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar