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With recent large-scale communal disturbances in India, some older Gandhians voice of the opinion that the time has come to reactivate the Shanti Sena, Mahatma Gandhi`s Peace Army, that did impressive work in promoting communal harmony between the late 1950s and mid-1970s.
The idea of a Shanti Sena was considered to be of fundamental importance by Gandhi, however, he had little success in setting up a peace army in his lifetime. The formation of a Shanti Sena took the foresight and efforts of Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan, and the organizing ability of Narayan Desai. The history of the Sena that they brought into life and directed is not only an inspiring one, it is also important given the rise in communal violence in India and the recent growth of international peace teams that look to the Sena for motivation and guidance. Sena members were involved in conflict resolution at the grass-roots level and undertook peace missions during riots, convinced dacoits to turn themselves in to authorities, carried out relief work following wars, experimented with nonviolent defence, conducted nonviolence training camps and contributed to unarmed peacekeeping work in the international sphere.
Relying on interviews with key participants and archival material, this book contributes greatly to the study of this unique experiment in practical nonviolence. It marks the first detailed chronicle of in such detail the activities and history of the Shanti Sena during its most active years, and discusses the prospects for its reinvigoration.
ISBN: 8788125036838
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Pages : 300
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