To be very honest, for a long time I favored Bhagat Singh’s approach over the non-voilence weapon Mahatma Gandhi deployed. On patriotic occasions like Independence Day or Republic Day, I got to see a lot of people raising their opinion about the old leaders and the freedom struggle of our country. But within a day, the conversations would evaporate as though they never existed. While walking down a street on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I came across a small bookstore. Though I don’t get into a shop unless I have to buy something, a photography coffee table book kept in display caught my attention and I entered the shop to enquire about it. It turned out to be pretty expensive and it wasn’t feasible for me to spend that much money on it. As an alternative, I started cruising around the book racks and got tempted to buy at least 5 out of every 8 books I saw. In the corner of the store I saw a section containing books only on Mahatma Gandhi. I started going through them and decided to buy one which had a good content and was reasonably priced. It costed me merely 45 Rs under a promotional offer.
In the days to follow, I read the book and started verifying some information from the internet. I wouldn’t say it happened drastically, but my perception towards Mahatma Gandhi changed through a series of incidents. I saw few documentaries with special mention of the effect Gandhi’s ideals had on various I have seen people around who find it more intellectual to talk about Che Guevara rather than Mahatma Gandhi. We have always been inspired by the west. A wonderful film made by an Indian director on Mumbai slums in the early years of Hindi cinema dint win as much applause as did a recent one directed by a foreign director. Anyways, that is all together a different topic for discussion.
Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated in India on October 2nd. As the day approached, the few most common things I could hear from people around me in regards to this day were: “It is a long weekend (Everyone was happy about this one)”, “It is a dry day (A trivial consideration for many people’s personal operations)”, “We hate Gandhi (we shall touch this point in soon)”, “Gandhi helped us win our freedom (Quite true to an extent)”.
In one of the status messages on a social networking website, one of my pals commented on how she felt Gandhi was given more importance than he actually deserved as compared to other freedom fighters like Sardar Patel and Bhagat Singh and hence she hated him irrespective of how others felt about it. I had observed that most of the people who came up with such extremist statements on freedom struggle thought they had lived through it all. But I seriously pity to see that this is the best way they utilize their right to freedom of speech in a democratic country and not a penny less, not a penny more. They were not even there to live through the struggle and yet have the audacity to comment as though they were directly affected by it.
Let’s analyze what these people were thinking before they came up such conclusions:
Why did Gandhi quit a 15k paying job (which was extremely high in those days) in South Africa for everything and come back to a country which was a slave to the British Empire? I guess he had a selfish motive behind it, he wanted to lead the freedom movement and had an extremely brilliant marketing strategy to hypnotize the entire nation to follow the freedom struggle movement under his leadership or maybe he was aiming at getting his image on the currency note of the free country.
Why did Gandhi not save Bhagat Singh from the death sentence even though they claim he could? Maybe Gandhi was fearful that if Bhagat Singh would have been alive, it would jeopardize his iconic image and would make Bhagat Singh the forefront leader of the freedom struggle or maybe Gandhi has brainwashed Bhagat Singh and forced him to stay back in the hall after throwing a bomb.
Gandhi was responsible for the partition!!! This is something no one can truly answer. As no one can substantiate that with or without the partition, people of the united or separated country would have lived happily ever after. I think they should consider the current state of Pakistan and the religious attacks in India. Is Gandhi responsible for it or it is the politicians today? Or is it us?
Gandhi doesn’t deserve such a status as compared to Sardar Patel and Bhagat Singh!!! Who gave him this status? We or he asked for it? The man took a bullet for all the good things he did for the nation and yet we hold him responsible for being more popular than other freedom fighters. It is us and the world that recognized his efforts and gave him this status.
Every individual has a perception of their own and being a democratic country they have the right to air their voice on any issue or topic. But they need to understand, that getting an entire nation like India under one leadership was not an easy task. Even though the struggle for independence was being run at different levels across the country, citizens got a sense of direction and unity under his name. I am sure that some decisions that Gandhi took must have been wrong, but he was just like another human being who became extra ordinary by his leadership and courage. It wouldn’t have been easy for his conscious to accept the consequences of his wrong decisions considering the fact that he was the same man in South Africa who sacrificed a good life to give the people of his motherland freedom. In today’s scenario, where most of us live a life we chose over our passions for the lack of courage to give up the comfort, try to think from the perspective of a man who did this for the hundreds of citizens who were just related to him by merely boundaries and nothing more.
Mahatma Gandhi inspired millions of people world over to take the path of non-violence and civil disobedience. Five world leaders who got Noble Peace prize viz. Martin Luther King Jr. (USA), Dalai Lama (Tibet), Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), Nelson Mandela (S. Africa) and Adolfo Perez (Argentina) have acknowledged the fact that they were influenced by the philosophy of Gandhi. Yet, the man who inspired these Nobel Peace Prize winners, never got a Noble Prize!
Why don’t these people contemplate on our achievements after 50 years of independence? How have we contributed or taken the freedom to the next level? By being in ranks of fast developing countries, even when more than 75% of the country struggles for daily meals? By cribbing about the system and not having the courage to do anything on the individual level? By having the highest number of qualified technology resources in the world and yet being unable to develop a global technology product under our name? By still being confused if August 15th is the Republic Day or Independence Day? By blaming Gandhi for partition and overlooking what the politicians did to Ayodhya, Gujarat, Kashmir, East Indian states and what Raj Thackrey is doing to Maharashtra?
By making personal contribution to the country or by just scrutinizing the people who had the courage to do it?











