The concept of Ramrajya occupies a significant role in political philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi ((1869-1948). The term ‘Ramrajya’ was first mentioned by Valmiki in his epic work 'Ramayana'. Since then, the term ‘Ram Rajya’ appeared in many traditional religious scriptures. Gandhiji took the cues of the ‘Ram Rajya’ concept from the ‘Ramayana’ and constructed it by assimilating with his own thoughts and the political reality of colonial India. In the writings of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, first use of ‘Ram Rajya’ was noted in 1925 to promote a vision on an egalitarian society thoroughly secular in character. 'Ram Rajya' is a society based on good governance, better healthcare, social justice, financial prosperity and equality. In Gandhian sense, ‘Ram Rajya’ represents good governance and sovereignty of the common people based on pure moral authority. According to Gandhi, ‘Ram Rajya’ is a classless, exploitation-free, egalitarian society; everyone's equal rights will be recognized there and even the weakest person in the society will get justice very easily. ‘Ram Rajya’ will be established on the principles of truth and non-violence. In such a classless, exploitation free society there would be no state. In this reign, the sovereignty of the moral authorities of the people will be established which can be compared with Rousseau's concept of sovereignty. The term 'Governance' was used in World Bank report in 1989 to describe the overall underdevelopment of sub-Saharan region as an example of bad governance and at the same time it highlighted the criteria of a good governance. This paper aims to (1) find out the relevance of Gandhi’s ‘Ram Rajya’ in the context of ‘Good Governance’, (2) discuss how far Gandhi’s concept of ‘Ram Rajya’ is viable in the present-day world as a basis of statecraft. It has often been alleged that Gandhi promoted Hindutva through his concept of ‘Ram Rajya’. The study adopts an analytical research method and is primarily based on secondary sources such as official documents, scholarly articles, and policy papers. Though Gandhi derived the concept of Ram Rajya from Hindu scriptures and Hindu epics like Ramayana, but still then Gandhi was out and out secular. Here Ram and his rajya or rajtva can’t be equated with Hindutva or Hinduism or a Hindu state. That is totally against the Gandhi’s idea of secularism.
Moumita Debnath (Sun,) studied this question.