25
For the movement though, the search ended. After the Second World War,
independence became just a matter of time. From a theoretical point of view, this
had two implications. First, now that the “People” have been successful in
asserting themselves as an entity, they were taking the form familiar to modern
republicanism everywhere – as a unified sovereign entity. Clearly, this would be a
far cry from Gandhi’s idea of a radically dispersed sovereignty. Second, now that
the colonization was over, and the Indians were so called masters of their own
destiny, should the political discourse still be one that was framed essentially in
opposition to the colonial discourse, or should one find a new language to express
the nationalist aspirations. As Gandhi grew increasingly upset at the prospect of
Congress inheriting the mantle of the centralized, bureaucratic, new Indian state,
Jawaharlal Nehru responded to him in a letter that illustrates both these issues.
Nehru wrote:
“Then again we have to put down certain objectives like a sufficiency of
food, clothing, housing, education, sanitation etc. which should be the
minimum requirements for the country and for everyone. It is with these
objectives in view that we must find out specifically how to attain them
speedily.”
41
[Emphasis added]
India had certain problems – mostly economic problems –that had to be solved.
For Nehru, they could not be solved through an “inconsistent” search and
experimentation, but solved “speedily” by a modern state with all the techniques
of governance at their disposal. There was a need for efficient allocations, of
41
Jawaharlal Nehru, Letter to Gandhi, October 9, 1945, A Bunch of Old Letters, London, 1958, at
507.
Convention