As a journalist, Gandhi could have taught a few lessons in mass communication.
An effective communicator, fearless and eloquent with his words, he
reached out to millions of people and convinced them of his cause
Mahatma Gandhi was the most effective
mass medium of the 20th century. His journalism belonged to an era when
there was neither radio nor television. Such was the power of his 'soul
communication' that whatever he said and wrote reached the farthest
corners of this country within days and to the entire world thereon.
Mahatma Gandhi, in a journalistic career spanning nearly four decades,
edited six journals. None, including Harijan and Navajivan,
could boast a circulation of more than a few thousand copies. But such
was Gandhi's grasp of the basics of mass communication that he ensured
that his daily "outpourings of heart and soul" reached all.
If one were to ask the question as to who came first-Gandhi-the-freedom-fighter
or Gandhi-the-media-crusader-the truth would be that Gandhi-the-journalist
pre-dated Gandhi the freedom fighter by at least 20 years.
In less than a few months' stay in South Africa, Gandhi realized the
need to become a journalist to fight for the rights of the Indian community.
And he brought the highest qualities the profession could boast of-courage
in the face of adversity, unswerving adherence to truth, pursuit of
public causes, and objectivity in presentation.
His letters to the editors of South African dailies are a lesson to
all journalists on how to fight injustice in a country where the laws
are loaded against one section of the people, without giving offence
to the rulers themselves.
A telling example of this trait was his letter dated October 25, 1894
to the Times of Natal, which carried a contemptuously worded
editorial titled, 'Rammysammy'.
Gandhi wrote: "You would not allow the Indian or the native the precious
privilege (of voting) under any circumstances, because they have a dark
skin. You would look the exterior only. So long as the skin is white
it would not matter to you whether it conceals beneath it poison or
nectar. To you the lip-prayer of the Pharisee, because he is one, is
more acceptable than the sincere repentance of the publican, and this,
I presume, you would call Christianity."
Gandhi adds: "You
may; it is not Christ's. Sir, may I venture to offer a suggestion? Will
you re-read your New Testament? Will you ponder over your attitude towards
the coloured population of the Colony? Will you then say you can reconcile
it with the Bible teachings or the best British traditions? If you have
washed your hands clean of both Christ and the British tradition, I
can have nothing to say; I gladly withdraw what I have written. Only,
it will then be a sad day for British and for India if you have many
followers."
After
10 years of relentless crusade, Gandhi realised that the twin tasks of
mobilizing public opinion and influencing official decisions required
a regular newspaper. Thus was born Indian Opinion in June 1903.
He was clear about the nature and content of his newspaper. It would not
carry any advertisements nor try to make money.
Instead, he sought subscribers who would give donations. It was while
writing in Indian Opinion that Gandhi stumbled on the concept of
satyagraha.
Writing on satyagraha in South Africa, he said: "Indian Opinion
was certainly a most useful and potent weapon in our struggle."
The journal was to Gandhi "a mirror of his own life".
In My Experiments with Truth, he wrote: "Week after week I poured
out my soul in its columns and expounded the principles and practice of
satyagraha as I understood it. I cannot recall a word in these articles
set down without thought or deliberation or a word of conscious exaggeration,
or anything merely to please. Indeed, the journal became for me a training
in self-restraint and for friends a medium through which to keep in touch
with my thoughts."
Indian Opinion lasted for 11 years. It more or less forced the
South African provincial regimes to modify their repressive laws against
Indians. One day Gandhi got a call from Bihar where the Indigo farmers
of Champaran were subjected to the same kind of indignity and exploitation
as the indentured labourers in South Africa.
He promptly went there and investigated the issues, and produced a report
that would be the envy of the greatest investigative journalist anywhere
in the world. After Champaran it was only a matter of time before the
Mahatma took to journalism as his most potent weapon of satyagraha.
As coincidence would have it, Gandhi was persuaded to take over the editorship
of Young India. Simultaneously, he started to edit and write in
Navajivan, then a Gujarati monthly.
Gandhi's writings in it were translated and published in all the Indian
language newspapers. Later Navajivan was published in Hindi, as
Gandhi was convinced that Hindi would be the national language of free
India.
The Mahatma's crusade for the repeal of the Press Act of 1910 was a unique
piece of journalism. He was telling the rulers that it was in the best
interests of the government to repeal the law.
Issue after
issue of Young India and Navajivan carried samples of
the Mahatma's journalistic genius which blended seemingly earnest appeals
to the government to do what was "just and righteous".
In South Africa his writings often made the white racists look ridiculous:
"The white barber refused to cut my black hair", extending colour prejudice
to not only non-Christian skin but non-Christian hair as well. In March
1922, Gandhi was charged with spreading disaffection by writing seditious
articles in Young India.
In his own inimitable manner Gandhi said: "I hold it to be a virtue
to be disaffected towards a government, which in its totality has done
more harm to India than any previous system. India is less manly under
the British rule than she ever was before. Holding such a belief, I
consider it to be a sin to have affection for the system."
The burden of leading a nation towards freedom and the contingency of
having to face trials followed by jail terms, did not stem the flow
of writings from Gandhi's pen. There was not a day when he was not writing
on some issue or the other in Young India and Navajivan.
To these he added Harijan, Harijan Sevak, and Harijan
Bandu, which became the Mahatma's potent media for carrying his
message to the weakest sections of India. Young India and Navajivan
folded up in January 1932 when Gandhi was imprisoned for a long spell.
Between 1933 and 1940, Harijan (English), Harijan Bandu
(Gujarati) and Harijan Sevak (Hindi) became the
Mahatma's voice to the people of India. These newspapers found the
Mahatma concentrating on social and economic problems.
Caste disparities and such instruments of social deprivation as untouchablity
and ostracisation were the targets of the Mahatma's crusade. Gandhi's
assessment of the newspapers of the day was not complimentary.
He found them commercial, afraid of the government and not truthful
in reporting. His last word on the Indian newspapers came at a prayer
meeting in Delhi on June 19, 1946. He said: "If I were appointed dictator
for a day in the place of the Viceroy, I would stop all newspapers."
He paused and added with a mischievous wink: "With the exception of
Harijan, of course."
