Faced with today’s crises, what would Gandhi do? | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
May 20, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2025
Faced with today’s crises, what would Gandhi do?

Analysis

Abhay Bang, Hindustan Times
05 July, 2020, 06:45 pm
Last modified: 05 July, 2020, 06:51 pm

Related News

  • Health workers, employed during pandemic, call for job security after four years of service
  • Covid-19 disrupted progress on Measles, Rubella elimination: WHO
  • World better positioned against mpox than for Covid: Vaccine alliance
  • US FDA approves updated Covid shots ahead of fall and winter
  • Biden tests positive for Covid, will self-isolate in Delaware

Faced with today’s crises, what would Gandhi do?

This thought experiment yields a nine-point action programme

Abhay Bang, Hindustan Times
05 July, 2020, 06:45 pm
Last modified: 05 July, 2020, 06:51 pm
Gandhi’s final piece of advice to us would be to pray. At the end of each day, sit quietly, reflect, and submit yourself to god, to life, to nature, to truth, to history. You have done all you could have. Photo: Getty Images via Hindustan Times
Gandhi’s final piece of advice to us would be to pray. At the end of each day, sit quietly, reflect, and submit yourself to god, to life, to nature, to truth, to history. You have done all you could have. Photo: Getty Images via Hindustan Times

The current global crisis is multi-layered. The Covid-19 pandemic, economic recession and climate crisis are compounded by the lack of political and moral leadership. What would Mahatma Gandhi do had he been faced with this crisis?

This thought experiment yields a nine-point action programme. One, far deadlier than the virus is the fear pandemic that has paralysed the world. Gandhi would ask us to first shed this fear, as he asked the Indians to shed the fear of the British.

Two, caring for the sick was his natural instinct. People with Covid-19 need physical care and nursing. Gandhi would have nursed them. He would be fastidious about hygiene and mask usage. Gandhi's emphasis on a healthy lifestyle, empowerment for self-care, and care in the community would make perfect sense.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Three, Gandhi gave us his famous talisman to guide us to our duty towards "the most helpless and wretched human being that you ever saw". The displaced urban migrant workers, hungry and humiliated, would unquestionably be his talisman. Gandhi would rush to them. He would help preserve their dignity and hope and join the walking bands of migrants as a symbol of unity and protest against the government's apathy and irresponsibility. That would be his New Dandi march.

Four, communal unity was the last but incomplete cause of Gandhi's life. When the virus had arrived, some leaders were busy stoking communal hatred. Uniting against communal divisions would be Gandhi's foremost cause, even risking assassination. He would try to unite people of all religions and castes and send them as volunteers to serve in each other's areas.

Five, the fear of infection and strict lockdown has forced people to shut their doors and shun social contact. Gandhi would question — how can there be neighbourhood and community without contact? I suspect Gandhi would go to the extent of launching a satyagraha by challenging the ghettos created by the lockdown. When the veil is suddenly removed, one sees clearly the depth of alienation the pandemic and fear has led to. It has made everybody "an untouchable".

Six, faced with Covid-19, the global and national leadership have committed blunders and changed the goalposts. Armed with little knowledge about it, judgement errors are natural, but where is the honest admission of failure? Gandhi would admit to his errors. And, surprisingly, that would make people trust him even more.

Seven, in the past 12 years, we have seen that a globalised economy crumbles in the face of faraway tremors such as the financial crisis in the United States or the emergence of a new virus. Gandhi would remind us of the stability of local production and local consumption (gram swaraj).

Eight, consumers will ask, "What about our needs?' Gandhi would explain that this unlimited desire to consume is not a need. If we limit our greed, we can happily live without several excesses of modern society.

Nine, Gandhi's final piece of advice to us would be to pray. At the end of each day, sit quietly, reflect, and submit yourself to god, to life, to nature, to truth, to history. You have done all you could have. Now do not continue to carry the burden on your back. Realise the limits of your efforts in this infinite cosmos. Submit and say: "Thy will be done". "Inshallah". "Hey Ram". We should not be waiting for Gandhi. We should be acting on what he would have done.


Dr Abhay Bang was awarded the Padma Shri for his work in public health. He has been running SEARCH, a non-profit in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra since 1985

The views expressed are personal


Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Hindustan Times, and is published by special syndication arrangement.


 

Coronavirus chronicle / Top News / South Asia

Mahatma Gandhi / COVID-19 / Coronavirus

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    Most listed state companies incur loss in 9 months
  • File photo of BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman. Photo: Collected
    '​We want election within December': Tarique
  • Screengrab from a video of the incident on 18 May at the New Market area.
    Man publicly hacked in New Market area

MOST VIEWED

  • Illustration: Ashrafun Naher Ananna/TBS
    World’s top universities outside United States 2025
  • Infograph: TBS
    US-Bangladesh FTA talks begin, RMG may see major boost
  • Nusraat Faria Mazhar. Photo: Noor A Alam/TBS
    Actress Nusraat Faria detained at Dhaka airport over attempted murder case
  • Infographic: TBS
    Nationwide elevated highways in the works to boost mobility, minimise land use
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Fourth-grader sent to juvenile centre for allegedly raping second-grader in Satkhira
  • Lotto inaugurates new factory to nearly triple production capacity
    Lotto inaugurates new factory to nearly triple production capacity

Related News

  • Health workers, employed during pandemic, call for job security after four years of service
  • Covid-19 disrupted progress on Measles, Rubella elimination: WHO
  • World better positioned against mpox than for Covid: Vaccine alliance
  • US FDA approves updated Covid shots ahead of fall and winter
  • Biden tests positive for Covid, will self-isolate in Delaware

Features

Photo: TBS

How Shahbagh became the focal point of protests — and public suffering

6h | Panorama
PHOTO: Collected

Helmet Hunt: Top 5 half-face helmets that meet international safety standards

1d | Wheels
Photo: Collected

Simple accessories to extend the life of your luggage

1d | Brands
With a growing population, the main areas of Rajshahi city are now often clogged with traffic. Photo: Mahmud Jami

Once a ‘green city’, Rajshahi now struggling to breathe

2d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

The instructions given by the Financial Advisor to the BSEC Chairman

The instructions given by the Financial Advisor to the BSEC Chairman

1h | TBS Today
Ishraq Mayoral Bid: Obstacles Mount Amid Political Tensions

Ishraq Mayoral Bid: Obstacles Mount Amid Political Tensions

2h | Podcast
India's 'factory dream' at risk in China-US deal

India's 'factory dream' at risk in China-US deal

2h | Others
What Was Manu Mia’s Crime After Digging 3,000 Graves?

What Was Manu Mia’s Crime After Digging 3,000 Graves?

3h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net