22
atop a horse,
32
or celestial signs that were witnessed accompanying his arrivals or
meetings.
33
There was very little in common with this to the meaning of Gandhi
to an elite urban Indian. In a way, it was this profusion of meanings that enabled
Gandhi to create a truly mass movement. He was the first true mass leader the
Indian national movement has seen. Jawaharlal Nehru, somewhat mystified, but
with no little respect, points out his “amazing knack of reaching the heart of the
people”
34
Indian National Congress, till then limited to petitions by the English
educated urban elite took the shape of a pan-national movement that could in no
way be ignored or dismissed by the colonial authorities as it has been till then.
Gandhi did not invent the idea of the Indian nation, but he did populate it.
But when we say Gandhi mobilized the masses, the term mobilization has to be
understood in its widest possible sense. It was not merely enrollment to a
particular cause. Rather, he gave the “People” a voice. And by giving a voice, he
made it possible for what Sieyes would have called the “Nation”, to “speak”
35
.
However, it was not at all the way Sieyes would have conceived that speech act.
The multiplicity of meanings lead to a multiplicity of voices. Examples are
abound when people looted the exploitative local landlord, or violently clashed
with the law enforcement authorities in the name of Gandhi.
36
But Gandhi was
intervening in a discourse of nationalism, the voice that he was searching for was
the voice of a nation speaking out against colonization. He was the leader of an
32
See, Shahid Amin, “Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District, Eastern UP, 1921-22”, Subaltern
Studies III, New Delhi, 1984, at 1-61.
33
Shahid Amin, “Remembering Chauri Chaura: Notes from Historical Fieldwork”, Subaltern
Studies Reader: 1986-1995, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1997, at 203.
34
Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobigraphy, J Nehru Memorial Fund, New Delhi, 1982, at 78.
35
See, Emmanuel Joseph Sièyes, What is the Third Estate?, in Political Writings, Hackett,
Cambridge, 2003, at 92-162.
36
As quoted in Chatterjee, Supra note 25.
Convention