Where Gandhian Values Still Live

In recent years, in some of the social media tracks, it is argued that the era of Gandhi is over. We are living in a market era where profit drives people into action. Everyone is in motion, either physically or mentally, and in such a way, lifestyle has been shaped because of the revolution that takes place in technology and communication. If the movements of the people are looked at closely, one could see the people after power and authority, fame, profit, prosperity, property, gold, gadgets, and women. While working towards the above targets, they tend to lose their moral sentiments and ethical values. Since the above is the order of the day, contrary to the above, one could see a large number of youth, both men and women with high educational qualifications, who have dedicated themselves to attacking the problems of the most marginalized in the society which they consider as Gandhian action and they never proclaim that they are Gandhians or non profit organizations or doing social service. They joined together not to work for the people but to work with the people who are most vulnerable in the hill areas or in the plain with the support of many individuals who run businesses and industries, and they are consciously supporting such a kind of responsible service activities not as charity but as responsibility. This is the uniqueness of this group of people. The activities are coordinated not by a highly educated person but by an enlightened person. The group called themselves Kukku, which is nothing but the sound of a bird.

Recently, on October 5, I went to Gobichettipalayam in Erode district in Tamil Nadu to open a very old hostel meant for scheduled caste boys and girls. I have accompanied a hundred-year-old Gandhian Krishnammal Jegannathan, who has been invited to open the hostel, as she fought for land for tillers. She has distributed 12,000 acres of land to the landless poor in Tamil Nadu and 31,000 acres of land to the poor in Bihar. She was with Vonobha Bhave and Jaya Prakash Narayan. She is the inspiration for this youth group, and hence she has been invited by this team to inaugurate the building.

It is to be noted that this hostel was created by a Brahmin by the name Lakshmana Aiyar, as per the advice given by Mahatma Gandhi. Lakshmana Aiyar and his father were freedom fighters. When Lakshmana Aiyar was in jail, he escaped from prison and met Gandhi. Gandhi asked him to take up the harijan welfare work and instructed him to surrender to the police. After his release from prison, he started the hostel for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students with his money. He belongs to a very rich family. His family has been excommunicated as he kept a harijan boy in his house and allowed the people from SC and ST to take water from his well. In this process, she has lost all his property, including his house. Someone has taken the house in an auction and handed it over to him. He was elected as chairperson of the Kopichettipalayam Municipality, and it was the same municipality that abolished manual scavenging first in the whole of India, only under his stewardship. Such revolutionary contributions have not been properly recorded, and hence, this Kukku team has taken up the assignment, both documenting the constructive activities of Lakshmana Aiyar and continuing the harijan welfare activities.

Against this backdrop, the Kukku team has been asked to take up the responsibility of renovating the hostel and rejuvenating the activities of Lakshmana Aiyar by an industrialist who is known for philanthropy and trusteeship. The group has accepted and made it a point that it is not renovating the hostel for SC/ST boys and girls, but to continue the activities in the community also. Their activities are many. They are running a naithalim school for the tribal students. Even the Gandhian institutions have given up the naithalim education system. They run a magazine for children which is called “Thumbi”. They are taking steps to revive the old architecture of our society and music through research. They create wells in the hill areas and provide water to the tribals. They run a publication to publish Gandhian literature which are in need in society. Kuku has drawn the attention of the public intellectuals, and they are being recognised.

A series of activities has been planned, and experts from fine arts, music, sculpture, clay modelling, and sports have been invited to this school, and activities are scheduled continuously for the whole year. Now it should become a high-class Ashram school. I have seen these types of activities in the villages where the Sri Aurobindo Society works as an outreach programme. Sri Aurobindo Society normally works with children, mostly the Dalits, but within a short span of time, they bring transformational change in attitude, behaviour, and performance of the students. By doing these kinds of activities with children, they attract the attention of women, youth, and parents of the children, and in due course, all become part of the transformational activities that are being carried out in the village. In the same way, this small group of youth is involved in such activities through this hostel. Those who are in transformational activities of the community in Tamil Nadu know the Kukku.

They are deeply involved in recreating the original knowledge in all the domains by travelling on an alternative path with alternative leadership for achieving sustainable development. The group has writers, engineers, musicians, artists, and craftspeople working with the most marginalised group. While looking at their activities, behaviour, and attitude, one could see in them the traits of transformational leadership. If anyone analyses the perspective of this youth group, one could easily see that they are contextualised Gandhians. They are very simple, action-oriented, deeply spiritual, not religious, and their activities are mostly people-centric and not individual-centric. They never eye on funding but are trying to focus on the issues, and money comes by seeing their actions in society. They built a trust through their selfless actions. Hence, they are neogandhians working for transformational change among the most marginalised groups, and it becomes a model for many as they have not built up institutions.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a former Professor and Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute