Abstract
This chapter analyzes the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, which was led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, through the lens of Gandhian pluralist spirituality. This spirituality is anchored in the objective of truth realization through nonviolent social service. The chapter investigates the relationship of the five ethical essentials in the Hindu–Jain tradition to their application in Gandhi’s attempt to realize Ruskin and Tolstoy’s socialist ideals in real-life settings. It also explores the concept of laicization inherent in the truth-realization ideal as an antidote to the problem of corruption in India. The Aam Aadmi Party implemented this concept to make Delhi corruption-free. Finally, the chapter observes that this pluralistic secular spirituality is not antithetical to the concept of secular spirituality in the Bible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
However, Seabrook (1993, 111) has stated that “there was no beating; just the public shame” (i.e., of being tied to the poles). Nonetheless, some form of chastisement or “thrashing” does appear to have occurred.
References
Aam Aadmi Party (2012) Our vision statement. Internet Archive Wayback Machine, November 28. https://web.archive.org/web/20121128043104/http://aamaadmiparty.org/Our_Vision.aspx. Accessed 30 March 2021
Aam Aadmi Party (2022) Why we are different. https://aamaadmiparty.org/about/why-we-are-different/. Accessed 30 March 2021
AAP’s anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Bill passed in Delhi Assembly (2015) NDTV, December 4. https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/delhi-assembly-passes-jan-lokpal-bill-1251160. Accessed 22 April 2021
Bedi A (2020) Why 19 bills passed years ago by AAP-led Delhi assembly remain hanging. Print, January 8. https://theprint.in/india/governance/why-19-bills-passed-years-ago-by-aap-led-delhi-assembly-remain-hanging/345764/. Accessed 22 April 2021
Beniwal V, Kumaresan S (2019) In 2019 general elections, no bar on candidates charged with murder or rape. Economic Times, May 14. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/in-2019-general-elections-no-bar-on-candidates-charged-with-murder-or-rape/articleshow/69318220.cms?from=mdr, Accessed 22 April 2021
Blecua R (2014) Will Modi transform India? The new government in New Delhi. World Affairs J Int Issues 18(2):10–19. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48505434
Chakrabarty B (2017) Localizing governance in India. Routledge, London
Chowdhury A (2019) Anti-corruption movement: a story of the making of the Aam Admi Party and the interplay of political representation in India. Polit Gov 7(3):189–198. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v7i3.2155
Dasgupta RR (2013) Rather than becoming a Bhishma, Rahul Gandhi has to think differently Economic Times, March 9. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/rather-than-becoming-a-bhishma-rahul-gandhi-has-to-think-differently/articleshow/18874161.cms?from=mdr. Accessed 20 April 2021
Delhi govt bringing laws to stop illicit donations in private schools: Kejriwal tells president (2015) Firstpost, September 25. https://www.firstpost.com/politics/delhi-govt-bringing-laws-to-stop-illicit-donations-in-private-schools-kejriwal-tells-president-2445986.html. Accessed 22 April 2021
Delhi Janlokpal Bill 2015, 16. http://delhiassembly.nic.in/Legislation/Bill_No-16of2015.pdf. Accessed 20 April 2021
Doctor AH (1992) The man in Gandhian philosophy. Indian J Polit Sci 53(2):152–167. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41855605
Doctors write to PM Modi to stop VIP culture during pandemic (2021) Medical Dialogues, April 15. https://medicaldialogues.in/news/health/doctors/doctors-write-to-pm-modi-to-stop-vip-culture-during-pandemic-76610. Accessed 20 April 2021
Economic Times (2014a) Arvind Kejriwal asked for bungalows he had refused. February 5. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/arvind-kejriwal-asked-for-bungalows-he-had-refused/articleshow/29878134.cms. Accessed 22 April 2021
Economic Times (2014b) Spy cameras’ sales go up in Delhi, courtesy Arvind Kejriwal. January 10. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/spy-cameras-sales-go-up-in-delhi-courtesy-arvind-kejriwal/articleshow/28650811.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst. Accessed 22 April 2021
Ergas Z (1980) Why did the Ujamaa Village policy fail?—towards a global analysis. J Mod Afr Stud 18(3):387–410
Gandhi MK (1925) An autobiography or the story of my experiments with truth, trans. Mahadev Desai. Navajeevan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, India
Gandhi MK (1962) Village Swaraj, comp. H.M. Vyas. Navajeevan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, India
Gandhi MK (1994) What is Hinduism. Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi
Ghosh S (2013) God will protect me, says Arvind Kejriwal as he refuses security NDTV, December 23. https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/god-will-protect-me-says-arvind-kejriwal-as-he-refuses-security-545460. Accessed 22 April 2021
Gonsalves P (2009) Half naked Fakir. Gandhi Marg 31 (1). https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/half-naked-fakir.html
Hindu (2019a) AAP government lists top 10 achievements of five years. 2019. December 25. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/aap-government-lists-top-10-achievements-of-five-years/article30392089.ece. Accessed 22 April 2021
Hindu (2019b) End VIP culture in government hospitals: Delhi CM Kejriwal. September 11. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/end-vip-culture-in-government-hospitals-delhi-cm-kejriwal/article29392973.ece. Accessed 22 April 2021
Kejriwal A (2012) Swaraj. HarperCollins, India
Lambsdorff JG (1999) Corruption in empirical research—A review. 9th International Anti-Corruption Conference, Durban, South Africa, 10–15 December. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220011287_Corruption_in_Empirical_Research_A_Review. Accessed 22 April 2021
LocalCircles (2020) Citizens of Delhi rate 5-year performance of Delhi Government via LocalCircles. https://www.localcircles.com/a/press/page/delhi-election-results-2020. Accessed 20 April 2021
Marbaniang D (2013) Roots of corruption: a Christian philosophical examination. Paper presented at the CMS Consultation, UBS, Pune, January
Marquette H (2012) “Finding god” or “moral disengagement” in the fight against corruption in developing countries? Evidence from India and Nigeria. Public Adm Dev 32(1):11–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1605
Milgram S (1963) Behavioral study of obedience. J Abnorm Soc Psychol 67(4):371–378. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525
Myint U (2000) Corruption: Causes, consequences and cures. Asia-Pac Dev J 7(2):33–58
Pushkarna N (2015) Where spycams are a fad: Delhi grows into republic of sting. Hindustan Times, March 15. https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/where-spycams-are-a-fad-delhi-grows-into-republic-of-sting/story-gbz2CJX3rK1Xjt7Sk3BH5H.html. Accessed 22 April 2021
Ruskin J (1912) Unto this last and other essays on political economy. London: Ward Lock. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/36541/36541-h/36541-h.htm
Seabrook J (1993) Victims of development: resistance and alternatives. Verso, London
Sharma R, Shrivastava A (2012) Jan Lokpal bill: combating against corruption. Int J Soc Sci Interdiscip Res 1(6)
Sikander Z (2019) Why Modi gets away with Maybach specs, Rs 10 lakh suit but Rahul with Burberry jacket can’t Print, December 30. https://theprint.in/opinion/why-modi-gets-away-with-maybach-specs-rs-10-lakh-suit-but-rahul-with-burberry-jacket-cant/342428/. Accessed 20 April 2021
Sivanand M (2011) Anna Hazare: How an army truck driver became Gandhian activist, India Today, April 8. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/anna-hazare-a-profile-131817-2011-04-08. Accessed 20 April 2021
Sondhi S (2000) Combatting corruption in India. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339586139_Combatting_Corruption_in_India. Accessed 22 April 2021
Statesman (2019) Police corruption in Delhi increases drastically: survey. December 2. https://www.thestatesman.com/india/police-corruption-delhi-increases-drastically-survey-1502829141.html. Accessed 22 April 2021
Times of India (2014) Narendra Modi feels only politicians without family ties can fight corruption. February 18. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/narendra-modi-feels-only-politicians-without-family-ties-can-fight-corruption/articleshow/30575735.cms. Accessed 20 April 2021
Wyatt A (2015) Arvind Kejriwal’s leadership of the Aam Aadmi Party. Contemp South Asia 23(2):167. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2015.1025038
Zimbardo PG (2007) The Lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn evil. Random House, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Marbaniang, D. (2023). Gandhian Pluralist Spirituality and the Anticorruption Mission of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. In: KWAN, S.SM., CHOW, WY. (eds) Asian Spiritualities and Social Transformation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2641-1_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2641-1_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-2640-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-2641-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)