Gandhi’s idea of Gram Swaraj would have averted migrants’ crisis: CJ Oka

Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Abhay S Oka on Friday called upon economists to revisit the thought process of Mahatma Gandhi on strengthening village industries.

Recalling the migrants’ crisis during the lockdown, Justice Oka said the workers would not have suffered had the country implemented Gram Swaraj.

He was speaking at a webinar on ‘Relevance of Gandhi in 2020’, organised jointly by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, the High Court Legal Services Committee and Water Institute, Bangalore University.

“I am not an expert in the field of economy, but in the present-day context when we saw (the) serious issue of migrant labourers, I personally feel that time has come for us to revisit the thought process adopted by Mahatmaji, when he said that we must give utmost importance to setting up of village industries. If we had implemented the thought process of Mahatmaji, perhaps the migrant (labourers) would not have to suffer. This is an area I personally feel that those who are working in the field of economics must revisit the thought process of Mahatmaji,” he said.

Justice Oka said that tolerance was the most relevant among all the subjects Gandhi preached and practised. “He not only propagated the theory of tolerance but preached and practised it. Today, we see that people cannot tolerate criticism. People do not have the patience to hear criticism. The message we all have to remember is that tolerance is the best answer to criticism.”

‘Keep ego aside’

Explaining how Gandhi tolerated and complimented Winston Churchill even after the latter called him a ‘half-naked fakir’, Justice Oka said keeping aside the ego was important to practising tolerance.

“We all work under enormous pressure, especially today when the entire world is affected by Covid-19. After reading Mahatma, I suddenly realise that tolerance is one of the qualities all the judicial officers, all the judges must possess. Maybe, due to pressure of work that though we understand the importance of tolerance, we are not able to practice it,” Justice Oka said.