While the Americans have taken it upon themselves to keep Thomas Jefferson alive through his legacy, we as Indians have displayed an appalling disdain towards the legacy that Mahatma Gandhi bequeathed upon us
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, one of our most distinguished Governors and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, uttered the following words to historian Ramachandra Guha in the backdrop of the Ayodhya movement, when the country was witnessing increasing communal tensions: “Gandhi’s fate will be like that of Buddha. We will reject him. But Asia will embrace him!” Mr Guha recently revealed this in a talk that he delivered three days ago in Kolkata.
Mr Gandhi does have a point. People of my generation, who were better acquainted with Mahatma Gandhi’s moral authority and the manner in which he exercised it, now tend to watch the deviation from the principles he espoused with a deep sense of dismay. It would not be inappropriate to suggest that the apostasy from Gandhism in contemporary India is well-nigh comprehensive!
For the current young generation, narration of the Mahatma’s extraordinary powers which enabled him to get the best minds of the country to give up their vocation and join him for the greater cause, his lifelong battles against the centuries old stratified social injustices, his constant efforts to self examine his actions and to unhesitatingly atone whenever necessary, his ability to utilise his moral authority through fasting to halt the Hindu/Muslim carnage only evoke wonder and amazement.
Hence, it is striking to note that all the four acknowledged Gandhians who won the Nobel Peace Prize were non-Indians. Mahatma Gandhi himself never won the award but the Nobel Committee has publicly acknowledged that it erred. Many believe that the Nobel needed Gandhi more than Gandhi needed the Nobel.
My memory also goes back to my school days when my Hindi text in Class VII had a poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan, titled, Meri Bhavishyavani Sachchi Ho Jayegi, in which the poem expressed hope that in future someone in India would take it upon himself/herself to expound Gandhi’s greatness the way Tulsidas did for lord Ram.
The Mahatma never ever subscribed to ostracisation of any human being, no matter how strongly he disagreed with them. He had the unique capacity to observe something very redeeming and lovable in every human being he came in contact with. I presume it was the latter quality Mr Guha had in mind when he stated, “Not to mince words about it, both Dr Singh and Mrs Gandhi are really nakli (fake) Gandhians compared to Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi epitomises morality and courage. Dr Singh really in many ways is lacking in courage.”
He added, “Ms Suu Kyi never uses her family background to dominate. On the other hand, Mrs Gandhi owes everything to her family background”.
The other Gandhians identified by Mr Guha happen to be Tibetan leader Dalai lama and Chinese peace activist liu Xiaobo. To this list I would personally add Nelson Mandela, who demonstrated the total absence of rancour against those who imprisoned him for 28 years. Mr Guha’s concluding remarks were: “In recent years, Chinese are rediscovering Gandhi. At the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, some of the activists wore caps that had two names inscribed on them: Gorbachev and Gandhi. Even now, Chinese dissidents are profoundly influenced by Gandhi. If Quinn was the first Gandhian, Xiaobo is the latest. Gandhi speaks to Asia of today in various ways — to countries under authoritarian rules, religious intolerance and environmental degradation. Yet, it is in India that we are forgetting Gandhi!”
What is incomprehensible is the degree of journalistic apathy this remarkable address by one of our most respected intellectuals was greeted with. The Times of India did cover it partially, as did The Statesman, but I did not find any reference to the event in any of the other newspapers.
The entire political class is guilty of the hypocrisy of the worst kind in invoking Gandhi’s name but completely overlooking his ideals. His own State witnessed one of the worst communal riots of independent India. The truth is that the present lot of politicians without any exception would find themselves extremely uncomfortable espousing any consistent ideal let alone a Gandhian ideal.
They tend to remind me of British statesman David lloyd-George who had once remarked: “I am a man of very strong principles but my first and foremost principle is expediency.” While lloyd-George had said that in jest, it would appear that the Indian politicians have taken this dictum seriously to heart.
The only other political figure to have left as enduring a legacy as Mahatma Gandhi in the last 250 years was, in my view, Thomas Jefferson. He once said, “I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty.”
How many of our present- day politicians in India would subscribe to that ideal, is anyone’s guess. The sad inference that can be deduced here is that while the Americans have taken it upon themselves to keep Jefferson alive through his legacy, we as Indians have displayed an appalling disdain towards the legacy that the Mahatma bequeathed upon us.