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Swadeshi for you and me
IN OUR globalised age where economic equations and ideas have undergone a sea change, we hardly hear the word, swadeshi. But Independence Day is a time for harking back to the days when a nation yearned for self rule. It might be worth pondering over the origin of that much bandied word `Swadeshi'.
While Swadeshi-sm had its formal birth in Bengal, in the first decade of the 20th Century, the concept was already a hotly debated one throughout India with almost every national leader worth his salt having tried to define it. Significantly, some of the most valuable and thought provoking definitions of the term have come from these early national leaders. They have articulated their views on the concept in a manner which is not contradictory with many modern economic practices. And yet it is such a misunderstood word!
The grand old gentleman, Dadabhai Naoroji claimed that Swadeshi was a forced necessity for India in what he termed its unnatural economic muddle. Only through Swadeshi could the country stop impoverishing itself by supplying a great amount towards the upkeep of a foreign country.
To Gokhale, Swadeshism went beyond a more industrial concept. It encompassed within its scope a "deep, passionate, fervent, all embracing love of the motherland", manifesting itself in all activities including the industrial. It was this love which prompted him to approach this concept in a balanced way. While advocating Swadeshi as a weapon against the tremendous drain on Indian resources, he also cautioned that "it behoves us, not to throw away any cooperation from whatever quarter it may be forthcoming".
Hence he felt that the true Swadeshi cause was one that promoted the advancement of India with a spirit that was not "narrow", "exclusive" or "intolerant".
Leaders such as Ghose termed the movement as a prelude to a greater brotherhood with the trading nations of the world. While Lala Lajpat Rai pointed out that the aim of Swadeshi was to produce those articles at home which were now made abroad, he also remarked that it should be an education in the organisation of our capital, labour, resources and energies "for the greatest good" of Indians. The boycott was a means to this end.
Tilak was more vociferous. Supporting a resolution on the Swadeshi movement in 1906 at the Calcutta Congress, he suggested that there must be a stop on the consumption of foreign goods and that it was a mistake that this sacrifice should come from poor villagers who after all did not require them. It was the middle class that had to set the example of self help, determination and sacrifice in this direction, considering that Swadeshi was a forced necessity in the unnatural economic conditions in India.
Many friends of India supported the concept. Annie Besant cited the example of students who were being weaned back to the use of Indian style dress made of Indian cloth as an example. Swadeshi took a practical step when many fairs and exhibitions were set up in order to instil pride in Indian goods and to make the average Indian aware of what was available.
We might then say that the Swadeshi movement was not just a movement to boycott foreign goods which was an immediate means to acquire a specific end, but that it was something which would be used to enhance an Indian's pride in things Indian. It was not a mere setting up of factories in India or of more competition with the west. It also envisaged an encouragement of the traditional industries at home. As A. Coomaraswamy said, `we should not buy Indian goods only out of a painful sense of duty, but because "we feel them to be more suited to our needs, more expressive of ourselves, better worth having".
PRATIMA ASHER
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