Gandhi’s unique vision of socio-political change continues to fascinate people, among them historians and scholars. Khadi: Gandhi’s Mega Symbol of Subversion by Peter Gonsalves is yet another addition to the remarkably diverse Gandhian scholarship. Gonsalves, who teaches social communication at SalesianPontificalUniversity, Rome, analysed Gandhi’s sartorial revolution in his previous book, Clothing for Liberation: A Communication Analysis of Gandhi’s Swadeshi Revolution. He used three leading theories of communication to highlight the significance of Gandhi’s clothing outside the historical context. The current work seeks to expand on those themes.

Clothing is not only an expression of taste and tradition but a way of asserting one’s identity as well: “In a country like India where people of many creeds and caste live together, clothing was a means by which one identified oneself as a member of a particular caste, religion or community.”

“The Gandhian approach to revolution is to be distinguished from other types of revolution, in that it sought to touch simultaneously upon several aspects of the exploitive order through simultaneously low-profile actions and symbolic expressions, often with more ramifications than one could gauge from their appearance,” writes John S. Moolakkattu in the foreword.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, Khadi is divided into six parts, analysing the evolution of Gandhi’s ideas of non-violent revolution and their implementation and the consequent controversial results for the Indian freedom movement. Gandhi was a peculiar man who continues to influence people the world over. His choice of khadi as a symbol of unity for Indians was not made on a sudden whim but was the result of a slow process of spiritual and political transformation. When Gandhi went to England for his studies he tried to appropriate Western culture and attire. It was when he went to South Africa and witnessed the racial prejudice against non-whites, derogatively called “coolies”, and was subjected to the same treatment as any other uneducated Indian that Gandhi decided to raise his voice against injustice. However, in the beginning, his call for change was an exclusive affair, meant only for the educated classes. But when Gandhi met Balasundaram, a labourer brutally beaten by his employer, his idea of resistance evolved into a message of unity for all Indians. His experiences began to be reflected in sartorial choices as he “had begun to value clothing as an expression of his moral and political convictions in public spaces. It was a realisation he would exploit fully in India and before the world.” South Africa thus saw Gandhi’s transformation from a Westernised young lawyer into a leader of all Indians fighting for independence.

Khadi provides a concise history of the arrival of the East India Company and its influence on the Indian economy. Gonsalves admits that while new capitalism was definitely going to replace the “self-sufficiency of the village system,” a development overtime is different from an abruptly forced change: “The change brought about by British imperialism was unprecedented,” he writes. “It gradually destroyed the economic and structural basis of ancient Indian society,” and trade rules were eschewed in favour of the British. Gandhi sought to subvert this eco-political change by creating a swadeshi mentality among the Indians and rejuvenating the culture of the charkha in the villages, which had been obliterated due to industrialisation. This, according to Gonsalves, dealt a permanent blow to the British Raj and Gandhi emerged as a man of many controversies.

Gonsalves explains that colonialism is not a sum of revenues and arms but an ideology based upon the superiority of the white race over non-whites. The English dress code, according to Gonsalves, was only a part of the general attitude of cultural condescension. Gandhi, on the other hand, used clothing as a means for creating unity in all Indians. He discusses in detail the “khadi the unifier” revolution, along with the initial British bafflement and their retaliation.

Gandhi’s idea of purna swaraj transgressed religious and social boundaries and was opposed by many conservative Indians. The book also analyses the most challenging ordeal of Gandhi’s political career besides the issue of ‘untouchability’, which was the tension between Hindus and Muslims.

The last part of the book highlights the philosophical aspect of Gandhi’s ideas of sociopolitical change through non-violent means such as attire.

Non-violence, according to Gonsalves, is the defining characteristic of Gandhi’s approach towards change, social and political. Whereas revolution by means of violence depends upon extreme actions to bring attention to its goals, non-violent revolution aims to bring about change through actions and ideas that belong to the realm of the mundane and the ordinary.

Khadi: Gandhi’s Mega Symbol of Subversion

(HISTORY)

By Peter Gonsalves

Sage Publications, India

ISBN 9788132107354

344pp.