Politics Of Mahatma

I have been meaning to address a minor point raised by xyzji in this comment. The point was that Mahatma was a clever politician. To be sure, I have heard this comment many times earlies, but never agreed with it, for one, Congress before independence was more of a platform for freedom movement and less of a political party, but even where there was political side to Congress there is hardly any evidence that Mahatma was involved in political process and maneuvering. He was not concerned with organizations or elections as well. His involvement in Congress was mostly restricted to mass mobilization. i.e. as a movement leader.

Now its true he did intervene in rare cases, but that was hardly for political reasons and more due to ideological ones. In fact his action of nuking Subhash Chandra Bose betrays absence of political sensibility.

Now there is another charge less often heard which has some merit, that Mahatma was a demagogue, nevertheless it is also incorrect. While it its true that the movement led by Mahatma was a mass movement, one which supplanted the earlier middle class he never pandered to the masses. If the masses followed him it was because they were attracted to his ideals, not the other way. In fact as the example of Chauri Chaura shows he stood up to the masses when he felt that they were on wrong path.

I think my earlier analysis stands. Mahatma was a fanatic but not necessarily of any ideological bent, but consumed by desire for spiritual cleansing, a desire which turned his outlook increasingly self focussed, to the exclusion of any other perspective. A common failing for a Hindu.