Publisher's Synopsis
Gandhiji was a prominent leader of Indian independence movement. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. He was not only a politician, philosopher but also a great statesman. The philosophy and ideology is relevant still today. Gandhi described Swarajya as the Ideal State. This would imply not only self-rule as is commonly understood but it implied governance of one's self, self-control and self-regulation a situation where each individual is able to govern and control him or herself thus making the State redundant. Gandhi advocated an active citizenry that would be involved in decision making and control of its destiny, rather than a huge and centralized, monolithic State structure. Gandhi's vision of the ideal state is that of a non-violent and democratic social order in which there is a just balance between individual freedom and social responsibility. He was successful in attaining the first dream, but the concept of Ramarajaya is still far from reality, ' the concept of Ramarajya is the political vision of Mahatma Gandhi, which was based upon the classical Indian myth of Ramarajya, in ideal polity, ascribed to Satyayga or Krita Yoga, the Golden Age lost in the mists of antiquity and pre-history. The story was found in classical scriptures like valmiki's Ramayana in which Rama defeated Ravana who represented the forces of evil. After that Rama established a kingdom of righteousness and justice. Thus in his struggle against the British Empire, Gandhi wanted to educate the people with the terms known to them. According to Gandhi, Ramarajya is nothing but the kingdom of God on earth; and a perfect democracy without caste, colour, class and religious prejudices. Ramarajya is a state where there should not be inequalities between the rich and the poor and he said. Ramarajya is enriched with the concepts of religious and ethnic harmony and women empowerment.
