prasad1
Active member
Like all independence struggles, ours was also a complex one. There were many struggles going on, all at the same time and each one had its own history, its own political relevance. It was Gandhi who managed to cumulate them into a successful winning strategy to outwit the British at a point of time when their options were few. Yes, the Partition was a bad deal. We all know that. The riots were bloody and ugly. And the scars still remain. But the fact that Gandhi eloquently spearheaded our march to freedom can only be denied by the churlish and the pigheaded.
There were many amazing people who played their role in the freedom struggle. That goes without question. But if there’s one man, one face we can truly identify with it, it was Gandhi. Even his assassins knew that. That’s why they picked on him. They saw him as the man responsible for letting down the Hindus.
Today, when the Goa Government conveniently forgets to list Gandhi Jayanti among its national holidays and temples to Nathuram Godse spring up in different parts of the country and The Hindu reports that the Hindu Mahasabha has commissioned 500 statues of Gandhi’s assassin to put up in different places of worship, Justice Katju’s hit job fits in very neatly with that of the current dispensation (and their fringe allies) even though their arguments may appear to be exactly the opposite. Both hurt communal amity that is at the heart of Indian society though it may no longer be at the heart of our politics.
All I want to see, as a citizen of free India, is that Gandhi’s reputation survives the current bunch of parvenus who claim to represent you and me in politics.
To malign Gandhi’s achievements would be to falsify facts. And only fools and fascists would do that.
The assassins return - TOI Blogs
There were many amazing people who played their role in the freedom struggle. That goes without question. But if there’s one man, one face we can truly identify with it, it was Gandhi. Even his assassins knew that. That’s why they picked on him. They saw him as the man responsible for letting down the Hindus.
Today, when the Goa Government conveniently forgets to list Gandhi Jayanti among its national holidays and temples to Nathuram Godse spring up in different parts of the country and The Hindu reports that the Hindu Mahasabha has commissioned 500 statues of Gandhi’s assassin to put up in different places of worship, Justice Katju’s hit job fits in very neatly with that of the current dispensation (and their fringe allies) even though their arguments may appear to be exactly the opposite. Both hurt communal amity that is at the heart of Indian society though it may no longer be at the heart of our politics.
All I want to see, as a citizen of free India, is that Gandhi’s reputation survives the current bunch of parvenus who claim to represent you and me in politics.
To malign Gandhi’s achievements would be to falsify facts. And only fools and fascists would do that.
The assassins return - TOI Blogs
