Gandhi in times of Anna-giri
The recent Anna andolan saw a return to Gandhian values but was it just a flash in the pan? On the birth anniversary of the Mahatma, scholars debate the relevance of Bapu’s teachings in the contemporary context

S. D. Sharma

In each epoch, there is always a man who personifies the peculiar spirit of the age, and whose ideals continue to influence humanity for centuries to come. Rightfully revered as the Man of the Millennium,Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the 20th-century pasha of patriotism, who exerted a profound influence over the history of India as well as the world.

On his birth anniversary on October 2, scholars share their views on the relevance of the Mahatma's ideology of non-violence, his teachings and ideals in the contemporary socio-cultural and political milieu.

Recipient of the Gandhi-Vinoba Peace Award-2008, various national and international honours, the chairman, Department of Gandhian Studies, Punjab University, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma, expresses optimism about the increasing readership for Gandhian literature and the greater research work on him by scholars in India and abroad. Dr Sharma says, "Gandhi is back and has already entered schools, colleges, universities etc."

The UGC, too, is promoting Gandhian Studies through its special epoch-making scheme."

He holds the overwhelming participation in Anna Hazare's movement for the Jan Lokpal as an eye-opener. However, Gandhi’s ideas with respect to economics, decentralisation, his Oceanic circle, gram swaraj and village reconstruction have not been read and researched in depth, and need a thorough study and analysis, he points.

But eminent social scientist and Full Bright Fellowship scholar Dr Harish Puri, former chairperson, Ambedkar Chair, GNDU-Amritsar, observes that other than research scholars, who undertake in-depth study of about 110 original works by Gandhiji, only a few others read books by local authors on the great leader, that, too, with just passing interest. In fact, many people from this region, who subscribe to the martial and aggressive concept of freedom struggle, somehow do not look upon Gandhiji as a nationalist in the way they do Bhagat Singh. But the people from the poor strata continue to idolise Bapu even today. Legends like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela studied, imbibed and practised Gandhi's philosophy to emerge as astounding winners in their pursuit for freedom, adds Puri.

However, over 20 volumes of biographies on the leader are published every year, besides the Gandhi thought lying at the heart of hit movies like Munna Bhai`85 and many more. The latest book on Gandhi is by American couple author Sussanne and Llyod Rudolph, says Puri. Elaborating on Gandhi's teaching of non-violence, Puri feels that in projecting the Mahatma as an impossible idealist we have missed the wider meaning and deeper import of non-violence i.e. his struggle with the limitations of human nature. Violence is not merely a question of physical violence - the fake encounter, the police lathi charge on protesting farmers, torture of the accused in jails, blood-letting in riots or beating of the wife or children at home.

A more pervasive and insidious form of violence is manifested in the routine behaviour of the rich and powerful in humiliating the weak, the poor, the lower castes, persons from another community; in denying other human beings dignity and status.

Citing the latest incident of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi apparently refusing to accept a cap from a Muslim leader who came to honour him at his fast, Puri describes it as an act of deliberat 'humiliation', an act of 'violence' in Gandhi's terms.

It is that aspect of human nature, the precursor to larger physical violence and wars, which Gandhi wanted to deal with. Can any society live or prosper without a large degree of ahimsa' in our social life.

Gandhi's struggle was against this limitation of human nature where the secret of non-violence, to him, was self-restraint and compassion, claims Puri.

The programming head, Doordarshan Chandigarh, Dr K. K. Rattu, D Litt. IBS, author of over 60 books and the writer of the Madhya Pradesh Government's highest award-winning book on the Mahatma, feels that the leader is back in our youth's psyche as the Gandhian philosophy and vision is more relevant these days.

Mahatma maligned

On the recent controversy over Pulitzer-winning author Joseph Lelyveld's book, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India, depicting Bapu as a homosexual, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma, chairman, Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, strongly condemns the publicity-oriented move aimed at 'tarnishing' the image of the Father of the Nation. "Now, Gandhi, who had many critics and detractors even during his lifetime, is not alive to rubbish such projections.

Sometime back, Ved Mehta (a blind-writer), too, had also raised some controversial points in his book, Gandhi and his Apostles. Lelyveld had described Gandhi as a 'clever, well-intentioned, courageous and sometimes domineering politician'.

However, the author seems to be more concerned with his stay in South Africa and that, too, in the company of his friend Hermann Kallenbach, an East Prussian Jewish architect, also a body builder. Lelyveld's assertion: "Interpretation goes two ways here — we can indulge in speculation, or look more closely at what the two men actually say about their mutual efforts to repress sexual urges in this period." This could have been a part of the strategy to make the book in question a "bestseller," smacking of a trend to get cheap popularity and certainly money also. A noted exponent of Gandhian thought, Shamir Virk from Surrey, discloses that the literary fraternity in Canada, especially from the Indian subcontinent, lament Lelyveld's faulty and imbalanced view-point, which is just one-sided, The friendly relationship between Gandhi and Kallenbach starts from mutual attraction to simple living, aimed at social uplift and leading to a pledge for a pious and non-sexual life and nothing more, concludes Shamir. Dr Harish Puri, former chairperson, Ambedkar Chair, GNDU-Amritsar, has uncovered explosive facts on the issue. Shares Puri, "Actually, the controversy originated from a review of the book in the Wall Street Journal by an apparently prejudiced British journalist. Soon, a British tabloid came out with a headline of Gandhi's "male lover". Author Lelyveld had to clarify that his description of Gandhi's "relationship" with one of his closest friends Hermann Kellenbach had been quoted out of context. India's incensed newspapers and non-reading political leaders hurried to condemn the author. It was not necessary to read the book. Modi's government rushed to score in its hypocritical veneration of Gandhi and, of course, a muscular nationalism, by banning the book. In the game, the author's intelligent insights into the extraordinary life and achievements of that "great soul" virtually got ignored. The programming head, Doordarshan Chandigarh, Dr K. K. Rattu, maintains, "As a scholar of Gandhian studies, I find nothing controversial in Joseph's book and wonder at the wisdom of ignorant people and leaders in airing such biased views and arrogant comments." — SD





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