Warriors of Non-Violence (2009)

Like others, one’s admiration for Gandhiji forced one to follow a certain path. It is a very difficult one, where you cannot cry out in anger against the injustice inflicted against others and yourself, you cannot resort to all the popular ‘weapons’ required to fight a modern battle, and in sustained silent work alone you must believe that the love and trust of the public will come. That will allow you a chance to influence their sensibilities and values, to the point of mutual surrender and suddenly momentum for change will be triggered. Most difficult of all, you must uphold the highest ethical vision in every daily act and hope that it will not be misconstrued for something clever or matlabi. In essence, the process cannot be divorced from whatever end you seek, there is little room for any kind of compromise in a world full of demanding compromises.

In this scenario, one has sustained the first fifteen years of non-violent battle, trying to place art, culture and its educational values at the center of India’s developmental framework. It is still a half baked cake. One part of the work entails bringing back into India our artistic heritage in the hope that some object may trigger the love and energy of our people to participate a bit deeper, to take new responsibility for building infrastructure with creative self-sufficiency, one free of asking or demanding patronage from the government or sponsorship from the corporate world or donations from the philanthropists. If we can show our people that India’s developmental problems can be tackled through creating a base for the arts and cultural heritage, a new energy and idealism may re-enter our daily mindsets. Thus there is a faith in the artistic objects of deep heritage.

Amid the hundreds of crores spent by Osian’s on building the art collection, archive and library, many of the items have been focused on Gandhiji’s inspirational energy, from the last photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson before his assassination to the iconic Dandi March sculpture study by D.P. Roy Chowdhury. Each has been bought with the hope that when our people see and share these items in a space created with love and passion (The Osianama Complex being built at the former Minerva cinema) they will go beyond themselves to participate in fighting the system with new vigor. For that is all an art object can do: energize each human being to go beyond their limits and become warriors of a non-violent journey with an inner fearlessness and want for freedom.

Hearing of the auction of Gandhiji’s personal items naturally meant we would bid and buy those items, bringing them back home like hundreds of objects before that. Then I read that the Government has demanded the auction to be stopped and is expected to buy the items itself. While I am one hundred per cent behind our government regarding the intent, and that too at any costs, I disagree with the process.

It is time for the Indian in the private sector to stand up and put their money into purchasing what needs to be bought for the larger good. This must emerge voluntarily with love and free will. There is no need for anyone to show charity to India, there is no need for us to beg and depend on the goodwill of individuals who own private property and may want legitimate money. If we want something, there are enough of us in this country to immediately come together and buy, openly, legally and with pride.

Osian’s is definitely not a very rich global institution at present, and to buy these artifacts my staff may again have to go without salary for a month or two, but each one of them will gladly do so, without a second thought, when we bid to bring back Gandhiji’s energy, an energy our people are desperate to share once again in a context of new institutions and vision.

Naturally it is important to understand the responsibility of harnessing this energy. Is it just the task of the government? Is the government really best equipped to tackle this issue? Where will the line be drawn, what about all the other leaders? Think about all the artifacts scattered within India, daily decaying before our eyes, from great temples, mosques, step wells, basilica, palaces, forts, bridges, lacking in funds and vision to energize all who pass by. How many artifacts fill our dusty public museums, unable to quench the great thirst for learning, which itself is now slowly dying, as economic success comes to again and again dominate and distract the youth.

How to tackle this decay of heritage and a lack of respect? Where are the private-public partnerships of substance and mutual trust? I was the youngest member of India’s first National Culture Fund Board, and in three years one saw the sadness and inability of the public sector to build new private-public bridges, and ten years on, we are still making the same mistakes. More than ever it is in Gandhiji’s conviction that through love and honesty, through public service by the private individuals, whatever the accusations against them, a great civilization re-emerges to share herself with the wider humanity.

With the artifacts abroad we must not bully them back, but buy with pride. Wealth must find greater obligations in both the public and private sectors. That will inspire the people at the first step, and thereafter many more will be expected, but they will be in partnership, in mutual respect, with the public participating and all heads, private and public, accountable.