You might have come across so many in your friend’s circle
(May be you are one among those) who always talk ill on Mahatma Gandhi and
express their displeasure that he is solemnly responsible for all the ignominy
that is happening in India. So much so that today’s youth don’t even think
twice before sharing some stupid fabricated posts on facebook that Gandhi was a
rapist and other such nonsense. This is not an attempt to correct your views.
I’m not taking that big risk. This is my prompt or rather equivocal attempt to
at least make you realize that you’re wrong at the very fundamental level of
your irrational thinking.
Gandhi and partition:
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| Jinnah and Mountbatten |
The major reason why today’s youth have developed a
voluntary hatred for the mahatma is because of the partition. If you think,
partition happened only because of Gandhi, you’re off beam. Gandhi never
endorsed partition. Please be informed that he died because of Hindu Muslim
disharmony. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the real partition endorser and Lord(?)
Mountbatten backed it. Power greed Jinnah along with the Muslim League induced
the fear of Hindu domination in Muslims’ mind and came up with a two nation
theory. Lord Mountbatten backed it and Indian political leaders accepted the
plan.
Gandhi in fact was against it. Very much against it! He was
not solely responsible for partition.
Gandhi could have saved Bhagat Singh:
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| Tribune headlines after Bhagat Singh was executed |
Yet another myth why our youth hate Gandhi is inspired by
the bollywood biopic's take that Gandhi did not make an attempt to save Bhagat
Singh, Sukh Dev and Raj guru. But think it over. Which biopic in bollywood has
completely justified the actuality without mutating the truth? They've featured
Bhagat Singh in a duet, Milkha Singh romance Australian coach’s daughter.
The movie which show that Gandhi-Irwin pact was blindly
signed by Gandhi is total bullshit. It is true that there were differences in Bhagat
and Gandhi’s principles. But Gandhi said you can fight oppression without the
gun, you can mobilize people without violence. He insisted rebels like Subhash
Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh to take peace path and not piece path.
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| Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose in 1938 congress meeting |
Gandhi did whatever he possibly could to save the trio. Lord
Irwin, who carried the final authority regarding Christian sentiments of British officials for the Murder
of Saunders.
the executions, promised that
he would consider Gandhi’s submission. Irwin at one time almost submitted to
Gandhi's negotiation. But all the British officers of Punjab threatened to
resign and Irwin had to succumb to the prospect of a judicial error and the
appeal of the
Unfortunately, Raj Kumar Santoshi forgot to include this
part in his screenplay
Gandhi favored Nehru and not Patel
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| Gandhi and Sardar Patel |
It’s not that Gandhi was not aware of this dishonesty done
to Sardar Patel by favoring Nehru. But Gandhi for obvious reasons never anticipated
that supporting Nehru would prove this costly for India. He had fully realized that what he was trying
to bring about was wrong and totally unfair. In fact, he tried to make Nehru understand
that Congress was in favor of Patel.. He conveyed to Nehru that no Congress
member has nominated his name excluding a few members. But Nehru was impertinent
and made it clear that he will not play subordinate to anybody.
A thwarted Gandhi succumbed to Nehru's pig-
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| Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel together |
headedness and
asked Sardar Patel to take back seat. Sardar Patel had great respect for Gandhi
and he took out his submission without saying a word. Perhaps, Gandhi wanted
both Nehru and Patel to provide leadership to the country. He used his veto power
in favor of Nehru because he feared Nehru could cause problems in the way of
India’s independence if he was not given the chance to become Prime Minister.
Gandhi feared that this would even delay India’s independence and that would
cost dear to the nation.
Gandhi on social networking
As I said earlier, almost everyone who post ill on Gandhi on
social networks don’t even know Gandhi’s full name. People and groups who share
posts that Gandhi was gay, Gandhi had sex with his women ashram inmates and
other such rubbish don’t even know a bit about India’s freedom struggle. They
don’t keep an independent view of political, spiritual and cultural aspects of
life. Most of us ignore such posts, but stupidity is also infectious. You can’t
stop more youth from believing that whatever is on the internet is true.
I’m not at loggerheads that what Gandhi did was right or
wrong. But we all know that it was in the best interest of the nation. We all
know that he was never against the betterment of India and Indians. Don’t we? Most
of us Indians will never respect him, that’s fine. But what is really depressing
is that we are carelessly spreading rumors about a great man of our own nation
who is respected for his deeds, for his preaching and his leadership skills (300
million people listening to one voice is something that we can’t even imagine
in today’s world) everywhere in the world.
If not for his deeds, at least we should respect him for his
strength of mind, for his integrity, and above all for his purest love for a force
called “India”
