Mahatma Gandhi- The Father of the Nation.
The nation that we call India, lets stick to this only because calling it Bharat does not really help our cause. Some random thoughts began brewing in my mind as I took a hundred rupee note out of my pocket and handed it to the worker who knows me well and has been working in this ice-cream shop for some time. No, I don't even know his name, but a "Bhaiya" is more than sufficient to get my order placed quickly.
For some reasons, Gandhiji's photo has decreased in both its affluence and influence and has been limited to currency notes only. In primary classes there are essays that students have to mug and replicate in their exam copies. A nice holiday on 2nd October is always welcomed. A couple on minutes of silence on 30th January, well that gives a nice break from all the commotion around, doesn't it. A framed picture on the walls in government offices, with an inch-thick layer of dust. Yes he is still the father of our nation but the peon does not bother to wipe the dust now. The people do not remember him on days other than these two of course. Yet their was a time when this now forgotten man walked on the face of the earth, right where the British were on the peak of their atrocities and lead an entire country to freedom without even raising a stick. But then, Bharat turned into India, we came civilized and modern, Gandhism turned into Gandhigiri and all the noble deeds of this man ended up in our pockets, with his bespectacled face in our wallets.
However one would contradict with me in some regards, what with Anna Hazare and his revolution. His method, his fasting and the lathicharge on protesters in Delhi. For a moment, even for a bleak one, it felt as though the times had reversed- a nation going head-on against the incumbent government without any act of violence. But it did not last for the Jan Lokpal Bill is still under "consideration". The very root of the problem that it intended to cut off- corruption, has grown in its domain day by day. The movement which began as protest has turned into a political party, deprived of support and muscle. But what was it that really made the difference back then, during the struggle for independence, because the principals are more or less the same- but why are they ineffective in the present context?
I think we can narrow it down to a couple of simple facts. Firstly it was the man himself- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, for his charisma and intensity is yet unmatched. Perhaps it was far more convenient to forget the man, rather than following his principles he stood for. The social values and beliefs he stood for were and always will be easier to admire than to follow. While he was alive, he was impossible to ignore- the British tried to at their demise. And once when he was gone, he was impossible to imitate- which is quite apparent in the present scenario. Apart from this, the other thing which drove his engine forward was his pursuit of Truth. Truth with a capital T. For he believed in the the fact that if you are correct, and the Truth is on your side nothing can hold you back. Truth cannot be attained by unjust or violent means. For he said, "Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth." Such was his deep-lying belief in this philosophy. Its hard to break resistance of able bodied men, but for a man whose spirit is as indomitable as his, it was next to impossible.
Secondly, and maybe this one holds the edge, it was the people who made Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi into Mahatma Gandhi- and not just in name. He was their leader, their saint walking in front of their eyes.They followed him and he lead them towards truth, towards light, towards freedom. Had they absconded his pursuit in the middle of this epic struggle, things could have shaped up very differently indeed. Those people did not sit back in their homes, waiting for things to happen. They did not flock to the cyberspace to extend their support via innumerable "shares" and "comments" on virtual "walls". They stepped out and wrote "Inqualab Zindabaad" with their blood on the walls of jails inside which they were beaten down to pulp. They did not walk away when the police drew lathis on a a couple of girls in Punjab. They did not walk away with indifference when a group of young men protested on the main square of the city. They stood there, abiding his command not raising their hands even once. They joined shoulders forgetting their petty differences- yes those very differences which have become the basis of communal politics.
They stood their by his side
I wonder how Gandhiji would have reacted when he would have seen what has happened to his beloved country. Maybe he would have asked for a bullet, and said "Hey Ram" (though this time in a very different sense) and put it inside his head. Probably saving another Nathuram Godse from the trouble, for he is our father, and he took this blame too upon himself.
Summer is here, I feel like an ice-cream now. The old man in my wallet needs some air too.
Bye.
Nishant Chaturvedi
Electrical
3rd Year
Electrical
3rd Year
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