The Hindu Business Line : Had Gandhiji lived a normal span of life...

Yet another anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom has come and gone, leaving no trace other than the fading garlands on his statues and hot air from the exhortations of offensively un-Gandhian VIPs asking everyone else to follow his path. Innumerable speakers would have quoted from countless public platforms Albert Einstein's "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood" and Jawaharlal's Nehru's "The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years later, that light will still be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts".

Back number

Would it have been good for Gandhiji himself had he lived a normal span of life, leave alone the 125 years he wished for? Nehru, of course, was positive that "there was so much more for him to do".

In his moving radio talk soon after Gandhiji's assassination, he said, "We could never think that he was unnecessary or that he had done his task. But now, particularly, when we are faced with so many difficulties, his not being with us is a blow most terrible to bear."

But Gandhiji himself had a premonition that he was being seen as a back number and his advice was unwelcome. He had said during the last years of negotiation with the British and the Muslim League, "Vivisection of the country will take place over my dead body"! No one paid heed, and Partition became a reality.

He wanted the gubernatorial and Viceregal mansions to be used as hospitals, but there was no one to listen. He felt that the Indian National Congress had outlived its utility and should be converted into a social service organisation. It is continuing to this day, lusting for power and pelf in the manner of traditional political parties.

When, at one of the meetings with him, Nehru gushed, "Bapuji, the country is on the move", the old man stumped him by asking "Yes, but in what direction?"

He had already begun referring in his prayer meetings to the onset of corruption, ostentatious lifestyle of Congress-persons and squabbles among them over the sharing of loaves and fishes of office.

There was, then, the falling out of two of his closest disciples, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel, which must have left him in a deeply wounded state of mind.

All his life, Gandhiji tirelessly propagated adherence to truth and non-violence and worked for communal harmony. In all these respects, the person hailed as the Father of the Nation, had he lived, would have found himself marginalised, if not disowned.

Even the campaign he relentlessly waged against untouchability had been sought to be downplayed, and his description of the downtrodden as Harijans (Children of God) had been discarded in favour of the politically correct appellation "dalits".

Gandhiji exported!

No wonder, taking note of all this, as also of the role Gandhiji's teachings played abroad in the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King and in the valiant struggle against the apartheid of Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama once quipped, "India has magnanimously exported Mahatma Gandhi to other countries, without keeping him for itself!"

Certainly, in a smaller setting, I saw Gandhiji had fled from Gandhigram itself, while on a mission there to reinvigorate the Rural University.

Well, rueful ruminations apart, it must be acknowledged that the lives of great men never go to waste. They "all remind us we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time".

B. S. RAGHAVAN

More Stories on : Politics | Economy | Offhand

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Tata steals a march

Using fiscal deficit to trigger investment

Had Gandhiji lived a normal span of life...

A dilemma resolved, for now

An attempt to rein in ballooning inflation

Balanced scorecard makes better grade

CFO and CEO

Rating upgrade