Remembering Mahatma Gandhi, the crusader for justice

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As we celebrate 156 years of his birth, the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi seems not just the saga of a political leader or the chronicle of India’s freedom struggle but a larger moral journey - a crusade for justice.

Gandhi’s values, his methods, and the freedom movement he inspired were all shaped by one central idea: the pursuit of justice, not just for Indians against colonial rule, but for all of humanity against oppression of all types.

The idea of justice was unquestionably at the core of the Mahatma’s life. For him, Swaraj (self-rule) was incomplete without Sarvodaya (welfare of all). His struggle was not merely for a transfer of power from British to Indian hands but to create a just, dignified existence for every human being.

Linking justice to non-violence, truth and morality

Gandhi’s journey began in South Africa where he first encountered racial humiliation. Being thrown out of a train despite holding a first-class ticket taught him that justice was not an abstract construct - it was about equality and fairness in everyday life. His response was not revenge but Satyagraha or truth-force. This was Gandhi’s greatest contribution: the belief that true justice could be won only through non-violence.

Gandhi’s struggle against apartheid was fundamentally a fight for justice and human dignity to assert that all people were equal, regardless of race or colour. This formative experience shaped his understanding of justice as an indivisible concept, intrinsically linked to truth and morality. When he returned to India, he applied this same principles to the multiple injustices he witnessed, from the oppression of indigo farmers in Champaran to the exploitation of mill workers in Ahmedabad.

Aim was not freedom but reimagining the bond between rulers and ruled

Gandhi’s greatest innovation was to link justice with Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha. For him, violence only bred vicious cycles of retribution. His insistence on non-violence was not passivity but a radical act of moral courage. By mobilizing masses to resist unjust laws without hatred or bloodshed, Gandhi redefined what justice meant in political action, it was not merely about replacing rulers but about transforming the relationship between rulers and the ruled.

The Salt Satyagraha of 1930 remains emblematic of his vision. On the surface, it was a protest against British monopoly on salt, but basically it was a demand for justice to assert that no power could deny people the right to life’s essentials. The stirring Salt March turned a simple household item into a symbol of colonial injustice. By leading a mass movement to defy the salt tax, Gandhi challenged the British Empire's moral authority to tax basics of life and framed the freedom struggle as a fight for the economic rights of India’s poorest. As he walked 240 miles to the sea and made salt with his own hands, Gandhi showed that justice was not handed down by the state, it had to be claimed by people.

Taking on internal bigotry

Beyond political independence, Gandhi’s crusade was focused on social justice, perhaps his most revolutionary contribution. He recognized that political freedom would be hollow if India remained shackled by its own internal bigotries and believed true Swaraj could never be realized unless it ensured justice for the weakest.

His campaign against untouchability, which he called a “blot upon Hinduism”, was an assault on the caste system which institutionalized injustice and oppressed millions for centuries. By calling Dalits as ‘Harijans’(children of God) and pushing for their inclusion in temples, schools, and public life, he made equality central to the idea of a free India.

Similarly, Gandhi always advocated women’s empowerment. He encouraged their participation in the freedom struggle, not as symbols but as equals. By making Charkha and Khadi as key symbols of resistance, he linked economic justice with dignity for women and the poor.

Likewise, his efforts to foster Hindu-Muslim unity were rooted in a deep conviction that a just nation could not be built on foundations of communal discord. He saw religious strife as a grave injustice that weakened India’s soul, fought valiantly against it, and eventually sacrificed his life for this cause.

Another crucial dimension of Gandhi’s life-mission was economic and ecological justice. He warned against blind industrialization and exploitation of resources, insisting that “the earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not for man’s greed.” His vision of Gram Swaraj (village self-rule) was not backward-looking romanticism, but a bid to build a society rooted in self-reliance in sync with nature. His concept of trusteeship envisioned an economic system free of exploitation where wealth served the community, not powerful individuals.

Freedom struggle was a larger moral crusade

Ultimately, India’s freedom struggle under Gandhi was not a narrow nationalist project but a moral crusade for justice. Every major movement he launched - Non-Cooperation (1920), Civil Disobedience (1930), Quit India (1942) - was less about humiliating the British and more about asserting the dignity and agency of ordinary Indians. Gandhi’s genius lay in making justice accessible to millions of peasants, workers, and women who had never before seen themselves as political actors. By fasting, spinning and marching with people, he transformed politics from an elite phenomenon into a mass movement for justice and equity.

Significantly, for Gandhi, the means were as important as the end. His demand for Purna Swaraj (complete independence) through an unwavering commitment to Ahimsa was a moral argument in itself, positing that a just end could not be achieved through unjust means. He demonstrated that a struggle for justice could be waged with moral force rather than physical violence, inspiring liberation movements across the world.

An effort in vain? Not really

Yet, Gandhi’s crusade was incomplete. His efforts could not erase caste hierarchies nor prevent the tragedy of Partition. But these limitations do not diminish the essence of his journey; rather, they underline the enormity of making justice an integral, palpable reality in a diverse, unequal society. As such, the ethos of his struggle endures - that justice has to be the ultimate goal of individual and national endeavour.

What Gandhi sought was not just freedom from the British Raj but freedom from fear, from want, from injustice. His vision was for an ethical India, a ‘Ram Rajya’ based on equality and righteousness, where every citizen could live with dignity.

It was vastly different from the ‘Ram Rajya’ touted in recent years that promotes majoritarian mindsets, thrives on scaring minorities but ignores the core values symbolised by the ‘Maryada Purushottam’.

As we observe his birth anniversary in a world still scarred by conflict and inequality, Gandhi’s life raises a hauntingly urgent query: can there be freedom without justice?