| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Gandhi was opposed more to the English rule than rule by the Englishmen, and the nationalists sought to expel the Englishmen retaining the modern rule introduced by them. What was the drawback of the English rule? According to Gandhi their drawback was to bring modern civilization to India. Both the nationalists and the Mahatma sought to end British rule in India - the nationalists because it was foreign, and the Mahatma because it was modern. "It is not due to any particular fault of the English people," Gandhi asserted, "but the condition is due to modern civilization." "It is civilization only in name. Under it the nations of Europe are becoming degraded and ruined day by day," he added. And Gandhi was convinced that "if India copies England … she will be ruined." He thought that modern civilization "is eating into the vitals of the English nation," and therefore instead of blaming the English we should sympathize with them in their present distress caused by modern civilization. He was however confident that the English people would soon "cast off the evil" of modern civilization which, in his opinion, was not an "incurable disease."
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