From: bcsabha.kal...@gmail.com To: http://www.navhindtimes.in/keeping-the-spirit-of-gandhi-alive/
BY PRABHAKAR TIMBLEJanuary 30, 1948. Gandhiji left his room in Birla House for the prayer meeting. 5.12 pm. A young man offered “pranam.” Three shots were fired from point-blank range piercing the frail body. India lost the Father of the Nation to the bullets of a Hindu fanatic.The men in ‘khaki ganvesh’ continue even today to glorify the killing. They are coached to spit venom alleging the Pro-Pakistan stance of the Mahatma. They make the Mahatma a spectacle of public ridicule by describing the world apostle of peace as the Father of Pakistan. He is accused of sheltering the Muslims and for being responsible for India’s partition. For the fundamentalist and fanatic Hindu, providing shelter to Indian Muslim is a crime against nation, little short of treason and the butchery through sponsored communal riots is atonement of sins committed by Gandhi. The fundamentalists and votaries of Hindu Rashtra gleefully paint Gandhiji as anti-Hindu. The killer is adored as the saviour of ‘Bharatmata.’ Two days before the insane assassination, Gandhiji had said, “If I’m to die by the bullet of a mad man, I must do so smiling. God must be in my heart and on my lips. And if anything happens, you are not to shed a single tear.” Rightly so, he collapsed without an iota of hatred or anger on his face and with ‘Hey Ram’ on his lips.Refuses to dieGandhi’s relevance for a just and peaceful world multiplies in geometric proportion as religious fundamentalism and madness in the name of Prophet, Christ and the thirty-three crore Gods of Hindu religion progresses at arithmetic rate. Barack Obama unequivocally echoed, “If Gandhi was not born; I would not have been President of United States of America.” This shows the power of Gandhian thought and the sway it holds in this land of democracy and opportunity. Kailash Satyarthi, on getting the news of the Nobel Prize for Peace, visited Rajghat to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi signalling his school of inspiration. Nelson Mandela acknowledges that Gandhi’s writings kept him alive in prison. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist of female education and the youngest ever Nobel Prize laureate draws strength from Gandhiji not to hate the Talib who shot her. It is clear that Gandhiji’s life and teachings are requisitioned to father political leaders, social activists and mass movements for human causes all over the world. Gandhi is formally taught in over 300 universities and there are over a lakh of published titles on his life, teachings and work. Without hesitation, Gandhi can be portrayed as the ‘Jesus’ of peace, ‘Koran’ of ahimsa, ‘Gita’ of truth and the magician of ‘satyagraha.’Of late, we are watching the festival of intolerance and communalism with the new government of ‘hope and aspirations’ playing the game of participant on some occasions and a mute spectator on most junctures. Much to the chagrin and annoyance of the fanatic forces, the Mahatma refuses to die and hence the multi-pronged attack to kill. The latest strategy at home is to take ownership of the Mahatma and consign him to garbage and cleanliness. It is also a grave inconsistency that the President of USA takes credit for being a product of Gandhian philosophy and gives the topmost priority to arms, warfare and nuclear power during his Republic Day visit to India, as if there are no other areas of cooperation for human development. Even otherwise, little can be expected from a country like USA which boasts as the world policeman of human rights and democracy and claiming legitimate rights to invade any part ofthe world.Nation in dangerIndia would stay unsafe as a nation in our attempts to kill whatever Gandhi stood for and sacrificed his life. The demand for deification of Nathuram Godse by establishing houses of worship cannot come unless the Hindutva brigade is engaged in preparing the soil at the grass-roots. Performance sessions based on the story revealed by the killer himself receive standing ovations from the crowd hungry for the blood of other communities. Though, there should be no restriction on freedom of expression, the concern is to the negative values held by the literate and educated Hindus.As we enter the 68th Martyrs Day, the political leaders will once again pay homage at the Gandhi Samadhi and simultaneously the Hindu fanatics in politics and society will continue to damage the idea of India. The communal elements in the Muslim clergy and politics will fall prey to the propaganda and add fuel to communalism.As if some kind of premonition, Gandhi had said, “If someone were to shoot me in the belief that he was getting rid of a rascal, he would kill not the real Gandhi, but one that appeared to him a rascal.” The current organised war of the Hindu fundamentalists and the loyalists of ‘sangh parivar’ frontal organisations including the political party outfit are to kill the real Gandhi. Nathuram Godse murdered Mohandas more by impulse. The present killing is worst as it is planned, pre-meditated and carried out with ‘missionary’ zeal. The Mahatma is no more to heal the wounds in case of outbreak of violence. There is no one else in sight of even less than equal stature to nurse the nation back to health.If nation has to survive, Mahatma Gandhi cannot remain friendless. We may question his path, not the intentions. We can show inadequate belief in his methods. But, if we kill the Mahatma for the second time, the nation is at risk.