Gandhi's concept of peace was linked to his dual philosophy of non-violence or social justice.
Non-violence for Gandhi was a way of life which was based on truth and love for all creatures. It was opposed to violence or Himsa, which sprang from hatred, and caused death and destruction.
According to him, non-violence was a universal human value and it ought to be cultivated by the man at all levels starting from the personal to the social, national and international levels. This is essential if people and nations wish to avoid conflicts.
Also, Gandhi thought peace to be a moral value. As a moral solution to resolve conflicts he recommended the strategy of Satyagraha, which is an inexpensive and peaceful technique and can be executed by a single person or a larger group. As opposed to war, Satyagrah fights against injustice by making moral appeals to the opponents and tries to get his positive response. By showing respect to the opponent a Satyagrahi tries to convert the heart of the opponent by making him aware of that he is doing something wrong.
His method is based on love and persuasion as opposed to the violence and death involved in a war. Gandhi's views on peace were also closely connected with justice. He said that lack of equal opportunity leads to conflicts. Many well-known peace researchers such as Johan Galtung, Bjorn Hettne and Arne Naess have based their theories of violence and developmental models on Gandhi's concept of social justice and peace.
To acknowledge Gandhi's contribution to peace, the United Nations in its 61st General Assembly declared October 2, the birthday of Gandhi, as the international Non-violence Day. The draft resolution was widely accepted in the Assembly which clearly shows that Gandhi is universally accepted as an apostle of peace.
The use of the medium of films to propagate Gandhian way of conflict management and attainment of peace is seen in the second film of the Munnabhai series. In this, the protagonist, Munnabhai, falls in love with the voice of a radio jockey and poses as a professor of history in order to meet her. She asks him to give a lecture on Mahatma Gandhi, and as a result of which he learns about Gandhi and his ways to solve his problems, which are basically the problems of people in modern times. The film caught the popular imagination and brought back the message of truth and non-violence to the Indian people.
