The Death and Afterlife of Mahatma Gandhi
Author :Makarand Paranjape
Pub: Penguin, Rs595
The Father of the Nation was murdered by someone from his own religion. Why and how did this happenIJ Makarand Paranjape tells ANANYABORGOHAIN how he has applied the idea of repression to the nation, why we find it so hard to talk about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the way out of its aftermath
Novelist, poet, critic, and professor, Makarand Paranjape studies the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the question about how why the father of the nation was killed still haunts the national psyche. In an interaction, he says that he tries to provide an answer as to why we don’t come to terms with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi:
What triggers an idea in youIJ
I began as a poet and a critic. It was so hard to learn how to write a short story or a novel, but I enjoyed the effort. I haven’t written an auto/biography or a play as yet, but I have attempted a travelogue, Journeys to Sacred India, which is partly autobiographical. Writing is still a mystery; you wait all day for words. Some days they don’t come. In one of my poems I say that in ancient societies the rainmaker, which was my metaphor for the poet, had a special place in society; today, he is ignored. But the keepers of the word still perform a sacred task. What triggers an ideaIJ I would put it another way — the idea chooses you.
What drew you towards writing on Mahatma GandhiIJ
I’ve been moved and fascinated by Bapu’s life and work for several decades. This is not a new interest. In 1993, I published a book called Decolonization and Development: Hind Svaraj Revisioned. It was about how to bring aboutsvaraj in India.
How well equipped are we with research materials on the assassinationIJ What did you choose the assassination as your subjectIJ
I planned to do another kind of book on the persistence of the Mahatma, but his death overtook that project. The whole book became about the meaning of his murder. My book is less of an attempt to uncover new evidence or material than to interpret what happened in a new and enabling way. I never felt overwhelmed by the material; in fact, it was as if it was speaking directly to me, asking to be re-told. Yes, I did have to work very hard on some theoretical portions, especially those involving European theory, but I compensate for that by the second half of the book, which is narrative, almost lyrical, meditation on the last 133 days of Mahatma’s life.
Well-documented works on the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi are available. What do you think should be done to mobilise the majority of the youths towards themIJ
I think powerful figures like Gandhi or Vivekananda find new way and new media to move and inspire us. Bapu showed us how to be fearless, how to be free. He fought against the mightiest empire in human history. Truth and non-injury to others were his watchwords. How amazing is that! That such a person walked among us and led millions of Indians out of colonialism and slavery are nothing short of miraculous.
You have also studied the psychology of Nathuram Godse, with references to Sigmund Freud as well. However, Freud’s theories have also been debunked in psychology to a large extent.
No, I have not been that concerned with the psychology of Godse; I am deeply concerned, instead, with how his action impacted the psyche of the nation, especially of the Hindus of India. Gandhi, not Godse, interests me. To me, Gandhi was the greatest Hindu of our times, worthy of study and respect, not Nathuram. As to Freud, we need not take everything Freud said to heart, but some of his theories are still relevant to the understanding human behaviour and motivations. What I have done is to apply the idea of repression to the nation, how or why we find it so hard to come to terms with the assassination of Gandhi.
The Mahatma’s self-sacrifice is, as you mention, a potent act of love jihad. In retrospect, to what extent have we managed to sustain his principlesIJ
Of course we have not managed to sustain Bapu’s brand of love jihad. He considered non-injury, ahimsa to be a potent tool; it was the action of love in the political and public sphere. Gandhi’s methods failed to move Jinnah and those who wanted Pakistan. They failed to prevent the atrocities of Partition. In the last days of his life he acknowledged that most Indians had neither understood nor accepted non-violence. They had merely used it as an expedient tool to get the British out. When the latter left, it was Indians who resorted to the worst forms of violence against each other.
What problems does Nathuram Godse — a Brahmin from Pune, who used the Bhagavad Gita to justify the killing — pose in Indian political historyIJ
Godse’s cult is based on lies and distortions. He himself was sadly mistaken both in his goal and in the methods to achieve it. He and his fellow assassins chose a soft target, an old, frail, unarmed man, who was relatively easy to murder. How can that be nobleIJ How can it be justified by any scriptural text or injunctionIJ I think those who are sympathetic to the Hindutva ideology should give up supporting Godse once and for all. Instead, they should try to understand, even “digest,” Gandhi.
You also mention that Gandhi’s opinion of an ideal woman was problematic, and so were his other notions of socio-cultural proprieties — alcohol, non-vegetarianism, physical intimacy. How do you locate Gandhi in the modern Indian contextIJ
Gandhi is someone we love to hate and hate to love. But he’s there, in 100 volumes, larger than life: Neither his life nor his views can be ignored. He invites us to engage with him, to disagree with him if needed, not to follow him or his ideas unquestioningly. But let me tell you that I am yet to find a single one of his positions to be utterly unreasonable or without foundation. He thought through everything he believed in and invited us to do the same in our lives. Gandhi was a great critic of modernity. He thought that modern life multiplied desires without offering the means to satisfy them. Isn’t this supremely relevant to usIJ See how we live, deeply dissatisfied, but surrounded by the possibility of endless pleasure-seeking.
Does the country still continue to kill the MahatmaIJ
Well, some people assassinate Gandhi over and over again, blaming him for the Partition or the weakness of the Hindus, or keeping women or Dalits backward. However, this blame game has very little substance. The first thing we learn from Gandhi is to stop blaming others and to take responsibility for ourselves. He didn’t even wish to blame the British for our plight. He said, ‘You gave away your freedom so cheaply — now how can you blame those who took itIJ’
Gandhi continues to speak to us today, though not in ways that we tend to understand. For instance, Gandhi tells us to keep our inner and outer lives clean, to live as moral agents who take their responsibility towards others seriously. He teaches us to treat everyone equally, with dignity and love. He invites us to study our own civilisation and to live by its high principles rather than imitating the West. He enjoins upon us the importance of religious harmony. He urges us to fight caste discrimination and social hierarchies. He wants us to treat all women with respect. He also asks us to take care of the environment by consuming less and leading a simple but high-quality life. He asks if the purpose of life is to multiply material comforts or to win the highest freedom for the spirit. How can this cease to be relevant to usIJ
Do you have any preferred target readers for the bookIJ
One of the reviewers of my book said that every Indian should read it.
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