Ahimsa, Gandhi, and the Angry Hindu
Ahimsa, Gandhi, and the Angry Hindu
This chapter begins with an error in a newspaper clipping, something that came over The Times of India at a most inopportune moment. The error attributed violence to Gandhi, while it placed him in a pantheon of important national leaders, all of whom are said to oppose violence. The thumbnail version of ahimsa (nonviolence) is the seemingly arbitrary addition or subtraction of “non-” to “violence,” the inclusion of the himsa of ahimsa as part of a political movement and its cultural resources. Violence and nonviolence have become that over which one establishes mastery and thus over the appeal and power that a figure like Gandhi carries. In a Hindu nationalist context, ahimsa stands in the service of himsa, the one a sign of strength, the other a sign of cowardice.
Keywords: ahimsa, nonviolence, violence, Gandhi, political movement, Hindu nationalism, The Times of India
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