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Remembering Bapu Let Us Practice, Not Preach Gandhi  Madhu Purnima Kishwar

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Remembering Bapu Let Us Practice, Not Preach Gandhi  Madhu Purnima Kishwar Remembering Bapu Let Us Practice, Not Preach Gandhi Madhu Purnima Kishwar esteem. And people with low self- total marginalisation by his own Party esteem easily become petty tyrants as India came near Independence. and extortionists. After he had served their purpose, It is unfortunate that very few most Congressmen who took over the people take Gandhi’s philosophy reins of power seemed to have found seriously enough to make it a guide his services, his philosophy, and his very single year since MANUSHI was founded in 1978 we have for action in their own lives. Instead, it ideas altogether redundant and has become fashionable to cynically dispensable. Had he lived longer, he Ekept the MANUSHI office open and functioning on Gandhi’s birthday, use his martyrdom as a sword to fight would have probably been prevented October 2, as a tribute to the memory political battles with one’s opponents, from playing a meaningful role in the of Bapu – the greatest karmayogi of as is happening in the controversy nation’s affairs — just as he was our epoch. Among other valuable surrounding Veer Savarkar’s role in the pushed aside on the issue of Partition. lessons, Bapu also taught us that it is assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The conduct of the Congress Party our dharmic duty to disobey bad laws. I honestly don’t care whether had so begun to depress Bapu that he I believe the Government insults Savarkar was implicated by recommended it be disbanded as a Bapu’s memory by enforcing a association rather than active Party and give way to new political compulsory holiday on his birthday collaboration with Godse who formations. He appealed to all those on in all offices and even private assassinated Gandhi. In fact, those who genuinely believed in the business establishments. who killed Gandhi did India a favour Congress ideology to go out and If the Government must indulge in by saving him from the ignominy of involve themselves in the task of rural tokenism on Gandhi Jayanti, it would reconstruction and work for gram be more appropriate if it encouraged Those who killed Gandhi swaraj. Unfortunately, all the causes government employees to spend that did India a favour by dear to his heart, including his emphasis on probity in public life one day cleaning up their messy saving him from the offices and toilets with their own hands suffered neglect after Independence. ignominy of total and observe a maun vrat (silence fast) Consequently, the image of politicians on October 2. If those in power learnt marginalisation by his took a nosedive in post-Independence to pay tribute to Gandhi’s life by simple own Party as India came India. For example, in the heydays of gestures like inculcating respect for near Independence. After the freedom movement, Indian films physical cleanliness and encouraging he had served their would depict a khadi wearing person their employees to keep their tables, purpose, most with a Gandhi cap on his head as a symbol of the spirit of freedom, a belief their office rooms, corridors and toilets Congressmen ... seemed clean and orderly, it might trigger off a in swadeshi, a commitment to to have found his major transformation in their mind-set. selflessly serving the poor and the A person who spends long hours services, his philosophy, deprived. However, in today’s everyday of his working life amidst the and his ideas altogether Bollywood films, a person sporting squalor, disorder and filth that have redundant and these symbols is commonly used as a become the hallmarks of our sarkari dispensable. symbol of hypocrisy, greed and offices is bound to have very low self- corruption. No.144 5 It is because his own Party stopped quotations in speeches delivered in taking him seriously that most young Godse with one bullet international fora to try to convince people in India grow up thinking of confirmed Gandhi’s the rest of the world that the Indian Gandhi as a pious crank with very little status as an epochal government occupies high moral relevance for the modern world. Even ground. world hero. By contrast, though many of the most important However, with all their flaws, world leaders and statesmen and the character Congressmen still have some women who have played a creative assassination of Gandhi legitimate claim to the legacy of moral role in shaping world history – by the Left encouraged Gandhi. Some in the Party, like the late be it Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, an atmosphere of Rajiv Gandhi and his helpmate Mani Aung Sang Sun Kui or the Dalai Lama arrogance and disdain Shankar Aiyar, at least salvaged a small – draw their inspiration from Gandhi towards Gandhi by part of Gandhi’s vision of gram swaraj or feel connected with his world view, to push for a measure of devolution of in our own country Gandhi is either the educated elites powers to Panchayats. But it is indeed worshipped in caricatured form or used of India. sad to see the selective use of Gandhi as a meaningless icon. His name is by the Communists despite the fact often dragged in to fight partisan against the Congress government’s that they were no less contemptuous battles unrelated to his values and policies in post-Independence India. of Gandhi in his lifetime than the example. The Pakistani ruling establishment worthies of the RSS. They called him The neglect of Gandhi’s ideas and could get away with jailing their an agent of the bourgeoisie, a running philosophy is also evident from the Frontier Gandhi ,Abdul Ghaffar Khan, dog of imperialism, a class enemy of fact that we do not have even one for most of his life. However, the poor and toiling masses. They world class institution in India doing Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi could accused Gandhi of unleashing the research in Gandhi’s philosophy. not have been subdued by such forces of obscurantism in Indian Institutions built in Gandhi’s memory means. Therefore, his assassination politics by mixing religion with politics. such as the Gandhi Peace Foundation was a timely favour for the Congress Their character assassination of and Gandhi Pratishthan are suffering Party. By making him a martyr, Godse Gandhi has proved more deadly than callous neglect and indifference. helped the Congress set him aside, put the actual assassination by Godse who Compare the research facilities they him up on a meaningless pedestal, pay with that one bullet confirmed Gandhi’s collectively offer with institutions token tributes to his memory once or status as an epochal world hero. By named after Jawahar Lal Nehru such twice a year and occasionally use his contrast, the character assassination as the Nehru Memorial Library and of Gandhi by the Left encouraged an Research Centre and you realize how atmosphere of arrogance and disdain little Gandhi matters for today’s towards Gandhi by the educated elites Congressmen. Let the Congress Party of India. Even today for most leftists do a rough and ready survey to find Gandhi is relevant only for the out how many young Congressmen – purpose of taking pot shots at the corporators, district chiefs, even the Sangh Parivar. If they take basic new generation of ministers – have elements of Gandhi’s vision seriously, ever seen, leave alone read a book on their ideological core mandating or by Gandhi and whether they believe permanent class war can not be his ideas have anything to offer them sustained . in their own battle for survival within Those who romanticise violence the Congress Party. against “class enemies” as a A Timely Favour revolutionary act and have a tradition Instead of lashing out at the RSS of celebrating bomb-throwing leaders and Hindu Mahasabha for the murder and cadres as national heroes, do not of Gandhi, the Congress Party owes have the moral right to condemn the them a debt of gratitude because had cult of violence preached by the self Gandhi stayed alive, he is likely to styled revolutionaries of the Hindutva have led satyagraha after satyagraha brigade. If one is not as unconditional No.144 6 as Gandhi in accepting non-violence actions and thoughts. This subjugate fellow citizens. Power as an article of faith in politics, one includes avoiding exaggeration, should be perceived as a limited has no moral rights to condemn others refraining from overstating our and sacred trust rather than a for using violence, simply because case. Most important of all, we means for self-aggrandisement. their notion of wrong doers is different. must refrain from demonising our 5) Weigh each issue on merit and This is not at all to say Gandhi was opponents. come up with creative solutions to above criticism. He made many 2) Ensure that the gap between our problems rather than judge each blunders – some Herculean ones – as practice and our precept is as issue through the prism of for example, his launching of the narrow as possible. If we lead by deadening ideologies, which Khilafat movement without example, rather than sermons, become a substitute for creative understanding its implications either people will more readily forgive us ideas and promote servility of for India or for Turkey, his mishandling our mistakes, especially if we have thought and emotion. The dead of Jinnah, and his refusal to accept the the humility and honesty to openly hand of ossified ideologies only Motilal Nehru-Jinnah formulation on admit them rather than adopt an creates stalemates and civil strife, dominion status as an interim offensive strategy to cover up for which prevent India from moving arrangement which might well have our errors. along the path of progress and averted the Partition.
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