Who is Gandhi????
AN OPEN LETTER TO GANDHIJI ON HIS 60th DEATH ANNIVERSARY
Dear Bapu,
I really wonder how I am writing a letter to you. Of course, I amsure, were you bodily alive, you certainly would have replied to thisletter in your typical untidy handwriting. Is there an email in theheaven? I am planning to send one addressed to mkgandhi@pureheart.org.
I don't believe that you would not have used email. Sure, you wouldhave been aggrieved by the fact that an email does not reveal thecharacteristic handwriting and hence one's personality uncovered fromit; you would have rejected the option of an email to a face-to-facemeeting. But you would not have rejected the countless possibilitiesof a dialogue just to oppose technology. You did not reject the post,nor the telephone, did you?The actual problem lies with me. A civil relation between two personsis a prerequisite for communication through a letter. But, sincechildhood, I had nothing but limitless anger and hatred for you. Had Iwritten a letter then, I would have simply abused you (of course, Iwould have been smart enough not to sign it). I don't know how over aperiod of time this relation got transformed from my side. In fact, Iam writing this letter precisely to understand it.
Bapuji, I remember, I must have been in the sixth or seventh standard.I was a regular swayamsewak of the R.S.S. My aim in life was to be itswhole time worker. In that impressionable age, hatred for Gandhi andfor Muslims got imprinted on my mind. Nowadays, I wonder whether mostMaharashtrian Brahmins carry within themselves a gene for Gandhi-Muslim hatred. (I should better check out with some NRI working withthe "Genome" project.) But it would most probably be a virus, ratherthan a gene; how else can one explain its rapid proliferation to thelikes of Narendra Modi and Vinay Katiyar?In the "Shakha", we boys learnt many things while playing games. Onewas to run a round a widening circle in one breath, chanting"Hinduncha Hindustan" - Hindustan for the Hindus - (automatically weused to hum "Pakistan for the Katelas"). Cool evenings and moonlightpicnics were invariably linked with the "Bauddhiks" when we listenedto the horrific tales of partition, of atrocities committed on Hindus,of the rebellion of the Moplas (yet another bloody tale of Hindumassacre). Our blood literally boiled, letting out fumes of hatred.That was the time I was introduced to Savarkar and I started asking,"How can freedom be won without a war?" In the sixties, your officialheirs were the devious Congressmen and the Sarvodaya workers trappedin the rituals like spinning. I was thoroughly convinced (of coursewithout any study) that the freedom was won mainly through thesacrifices of armed revolutionaries, while Gandhi and congress ranaway with all the credit. The biographies of Savarkar, Bhagat Singhand Netaji Bose were so thrilling. (I genuinely believed that all ofthem were de facto Danda -carrying Swayamsevaks, or at least veryclose relatives of the R.S.S. Parivar!) As against this, yourbiography was very insipid. (It was only after Attenborough's "Gandhi"that I realized the beauty and bravery in non-violence, but that wasquite late.) I read "Shatruchya Shibirat" (Inside the enemy camp-Savarkar's autobiographical account of his trip to England) andconcurred with Savarkar that in order to be brave and strong like theEnglish men, we too should start eating meat. (That was the time whenat home we were forbidden even to utter "E for Egg".) And you, what acontrast! Repenting the fact that you ever tried "imitating an Englishgentleman". So feeble and weepy! Your language was too simple. When Iread your lesson in our English textbook, I didn't need to refer tothe dictionary even once. Your "opposition to science", "obsessionwith spinning and prohibition"--- Gandhians meant spinning wheel, loincloth, sheep's milk -- No wonder their caricatures tickled the funnybone of ALL Maharashtrians (That's what we thought at that time- "WE"means ALL). My stubbornness grew with age. Most of "us" had noproperty- farms or mansions. But we were brought up on tales of how wehad lost everything in the 1948 anti-Brahmin riots. This feeling ofbeing wronged, targeted was passed on to our generation. However, theelderly generation around us held you in high esteem; nobodycriticized you openly. But hiding the banned books of Nathuram andGopal Godse, passing them on to others and discussing about them inhushed tones were common- it was thrilling, and deeply satisfying-almost like performing a religious ritual.
Later I spent a year at Pune and six years at Nagpur for my college education. That was the time I was really growing- physically as wellas intellectually. I was a voracious reader. In the inspiringseventies, change was in the very air I breathed. I was reading notonly the RSS literature, but also about Che Guevera and Fidel Castro.My Dalit friends drew me to the fountainhead of dalit literature.Thus, paradoxically, in the very strongholds of RSS, I not onlyoutgrew it, but also became its staunch opponent. Later, I traveled along road- JP movement, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini (JP's youthorganization), feminism, people's science movement and graduated tobecome a "progressive". But this process hardly altered my opinionabout you. There were flashes of disturbing exceptions- there was JP,candidly describing his voyage from Marxism, socialism and finallyreaching your path. He asked, "But, where is the "incentive togoodness" in any ideology? What inspires a person to transcend selfishmotives and do any thing good for others, for society?"
Acharya DadaDharmadhikari, the leading commentator on "Total revolution" asked apertinent question- " It's natural and just for members of anyoppressed group - dalits, women, toilers to struggle for theirliberation by rebelling against the system that oppresses them; it isabsolutely essential too, but is it sufficient to bring about afundamental change in the society? Who will struggle for theliberation of the entire humankind? In a complex society wherein eachone is a part of the oppressive structure, how can we develop"revolutionary consciousness", transcending mere class/casteconsciousness?" These questions did disturb me, but only temporarily.
I was young, haunted by the spirit of "progressivism", afraid of beingbranded a "Savodayi". Bapu, for us, you were an "outcaste". For some,you were actually their "Enemy Number One" (For progressive peoplelike us, the numbering and sequencing of our enemy list has alwaysbeen a problem; basically, weak in Maths, you see.) These numbers keptchanging- some times it was you, at times, the Congress, quite oftenthe dissidents (from Socialists to Maoists, their number was evergrowing.) It is funny, but we never felt the need to consider RSS asour "Enemy Number One" and really fight it.
Now, after 1992, some ofthese very militant secularists are vying to be RSS's "Bibi NumberOne". Forget it, Bapuji; these new references are beyond you.We were talking of our relationship. Let us be clear. Your use of theterm "Harijan", your efforts for eradicating "untouchability", yourappeal to the high caste Hindus to take over "dirty jobs" like"scavenging" in a spirit of atonement - - For several Dalits, all thisstinks of high caste egotism. Congress's opposition to Dr. Ambedkarand its manipulation of Dalits in the parliamentary politics are alsobeing blamed on you. As usual, you are the favorite culprit for allthe evils of this country. You are the Father of the Nation, a nationthat, in fact, does not exist. Hence, no one is offended when you areattacked, because, you have no children. For the Marxists, you havealways been a stooge of the National Capitalists. They won't forgiveyou because you stood between them and the revolution they intended tobring about. Many feminists don't even mention you - you were a man,an Indian, a traditionalist, who advocated "Brahmacharya", rather thancontraception. Your ideal of "RamRajya" is obviously unacceptable tothe heirs of Shambuka, Seeta, Marx and Lenin. Nothing wrong with that,except the fact that this opposition blurred the fact that your Ramwas diametrically opposite to the "Jai Shree Ram" of the Sangh Parivarand would never do injustice to anyone. You were an old hat, Bapuji,while all of us were "modern"; that was the only thing we agreed upon.We were votaries of modernism. We were convinced that all the problemsof our times could be solved through planned development spread ofmodern education, progressive legislation and constitutionalprovisions like reservations and adoption of secularism by all.
We would have jolly well spent our lives, fighting each other,cursing you, and spinning the yarn of "intellectual" discussions.But, then, as a bolt from the blue, the Soviet Union was splintered,the socialist dream soured, and the Babri Masjid was destroyed, and wesuddenly woke up from our slumber. I won't say that all of us werebrought to our senses at the same time. How can we call ourselves asprogressive if we become aware of all our "historical blunders" at thesame time? But then we woke up to the fact that we all had becomeredundant. "The caravan had driven past us and we were left staring atthe cloud of dust it raised!" it had not only bypassed us, it trampledover us, reducing us to caricatures. The "viral infection" or "dormantgenes" of some of us got activated and they left us to seek a spacefor themselves in the "Rath yatra". Some others got disenchanted withthe fallacies of this mortal world and they migrated to their"respective Himalayas" in search of the "eternal truth and innerpeace". The remaining lot is still busy fighting with one another, yetthinking seriously of what went wrong. Bapuji, I am ashamed to admit,but many of us are slowly inching towards you.It's not an easy process, we must admit. Where is your vote bank,Bapu? Hindu fanatics killed you for being "pro-Muslim", but Muslimsare hardly aware of what you have done (for them, for this nation andfor upholding humanism). You considered eradication of untouchabilityto be as important as the freedom struggle, but for the Dalits, youare the kingpin of Brahiminical power structure (more dangerous thanthe RSS). Your agenda of revival of village industries broughtproductive castes of weavers, potters, oil smiths (the OBCS in today'sjargon) into the mainstream of production processes. You wereinstrumental in bringing about the change in leadership from the uppercastes to the Bahujans during freedom struggle and paved the way forthe democratization of the Indian polity; but the votaries of "Mandal"are blissfully unaware of this contribution. The congress party andthe so-called Gandhians buried you in statues and made you into apygmy, to suit their size.
Today, you have no one to carry forward your heritage with pride. The whole business of being the father of anungrateful nation has been totally loss making. What sort of Bania areyou? Well, you aren't that unpopular either. Many of your favoriteconcepts, freed from the ideological clutches and after a "suitablemake over" have now become "class symbols"(just as "Lower Parel"became "Upper Worli"). Khadi is now seen more on the bodies of modelswalking down the ramp, rather than on the activists. Nature cure hasbecome a rage for the elite crowd queuing for sauna baths and weightreduction programmes. The rich, while shopping in food malls, alwaysprefer organic food. We all will start drinking sheep's milk, once itsnourishing value is established by American scientists!But, in all this maddening chaos, you have become much more relevant.The overfilled and bursting mega cities, drained-out villages, thegrowing number of farmers' suicides and the cynical middle classtreating it as yet another "score", the lavish malls built on thetombs of the textile mills, school children exhausted by the burden ofschool bags, Narmada, Singur, Nandigram, Kalingnagar, Khairlanji;people, media, judiciary, bureaucracy, political leaders and workers-everyone incapable of rising above their narrow caste/class/othervested interests; our horizons fragmented by narrow domestic walls----Bapu, we need your all-embracing, integral vision encompassing thewholeness of life. Your skill of discovering the hidden strengths ofthousands of activists, strengthening their wings, widening theirhorizons and of weaving them together--we need them today. We don'twant your glasses, Bapu. We are already like the blind men probing theshape of an elephant. After wearing your glasses, we shall end up withegoistic confirmation of our individual discoveries of parts being thewhole. Moreover, in the past six decades, we have traveled so much ofa distance in a direction reverse of your "Hind Swaraj" that it wouldadd to our confusion. Today's problems need today's solutions. Hence,we ask not for your glasses, but your clear, loving, whole vision. Weneed your support to break through the fallacies of development vs.environment, constructive work vs. struggle, synthesis vs. analysis,creation vs. distribution of wealth; to be unforgiving to our ownselves, and accommodating for others; to explore wider mass support(beyond funding agencies).
Not just a handful of (former and presentday) activists dreaming for a more humane world, but all of us feelingsuffocated in this unipolar world seek you. Why do all the bright andinspiring victories in the struggle for equity and humanity gettransformed into ultimate defeats- India, China, USSR, Vietnam, SouthAfrica- all those saddened by this realization seek solace in you. Theyoung American peacenik that threw herself before the invading Israelitanks in Palestine chanted your name before embracing death. You havesurvived the bullets of Nathuram Godse and the innumerable deathsinflicted by your followers. You live, not only in books, museums andstatues, but in our minds as well. You are getting younger day by day,year by year. Hence, let me say "Long Live Bapuji!"
......................................................................................................
(Translated by the author, the original article appeared in the Marathi daily "Loksatta" on Oct. 2,2007. )
Dear Bapu,
I really wonder how I am writing a letter to you. Of course, I amsure, were you bodily alive, you certainly would have replied to thisletter in your typical untidy handwriting. Is there an email in theheaven? I am planning to send one addressed to mkgandhi@pureheart.org.
I don't believe that you would not have used email. Sure, you wouldhave been aggrieved by the fact that an email does not reveal thecharacteristic handwriting and hence one's personality uncovered fromit; you would have rejected the option of an email to a face-to-facemeeting. But you would not have rejected the countless possibilitiesof a dialogue just to oppose technology. You did not reject the post,nor the telephone, did you?The actual problem lies with me. A civil relation between two personsis a prerequisite for communication through a letter. But, sincechildhood, I had nothing but limitless anger and hatred for you. Had Iwritten a letter then, I would have simply abused you (of course, Iwould have been smart enough not to sign it). I don't know how over aperiod of time this relation got transformed from my side. In fact, Iam writing this letter precisely to understand it.
Bapuji, I remember, I must have been in the sixth or seventh standard.I was a regular swayamsewak of the R.S.S. My aim in life was to be itswhole time worker. In that impressionable age, hatred for Gandhi andfor Muslims got imprinted on my mind. Nowadays, I wonder whether mostMaharashtrian Brahmins carry within themselves a gene for Gandhi-Muslim hatred. (I should better check out with some NRI working withthe "Genome" project.) But it would most probably be a virus, ratherthan a gene; how else can one explain its rapid proliferation to thelikes of Narendra Modi and Vinay Katiyar?In the "Shakha", we boys learnt many things while playing games. Onewas to run a round a widening circle in one breath, chanting"Hinduncha Hindustan" - Hindustan for the Hindus - (automatically weused to hum "Pakistan for the Katelas"). Cool evenings and moonlightpicnics were invariably linked with the "Bauddhiks" when we listenedto the horrific tales of partition, of atrocities committed on Hindus,of the rebellion of the Moplas (yet another bloody tale of Hindumassacre). Our blood literally boiled, letting out fumes of hatred.That was the time I was introduced to Savarkar and I started asking,"How can freedom be won without a war?" In the sixties, your officialheirs were the devious Congressmen and the Sarvodaya workers trappedin the rituals like spinning. I was thoroughly convinced (of coursewithout any study) that the freedom was won mainly through thesacrifices of armed revolutionaries, while Gandhi and congress ranaway with all the credit. The biographies of Savarkar, Bhagat Singhand Netaji Bose were so thrilling. (I genuinely believed that all ofthem were de facto Danda -carrying Swayamsevaks, or at least veryclose relatives of the R.S.S. Parivar!) As against this, yourbiography was very insipid. (It was only after Attenborough's "Gandhi"that I realized the beauty and bravery in non-violence, but that wasquite late.) I read "Shatruchya Shibirat" (Inside the enemy camp-Savarkar's autobiographical account of his trip to England) andconcurred with Savarkar that in order to be brave and strong like theEnglish men, we too should start eating meat. (That was the time whenat home we were forbidden even to utter "E for Egg".) And you, what acontrast! Repenting the fact that you ever tried "imitating an Englishgentleman". So feeble and weepy! Your language was too simple. When Iread your lesson in our English textbook, I didn't need to refer tothe dictionary even once. Your "opposition to science", "obsessionwith spinning and prohibition"--- Gandhians meant spinning wheel, loincloth, sheep's milk -- No wonder their caricatures tickled the funnybone of ALL Maharashtrians (That's what we thought at that time- "WE"means ALL). My stubbornness grew with age. Most of "us" had noproperty- farms or mansions. But we were brought up on tales of how wehad lost everything in the 1948 anti-Brahmin riots. This feeling ofbeing wronged, targeted was passed on to our generation. However, theelderly generation around us held you in high esteem; nobodycriticized you openly. But hiding the banned books of Nathuram andGopal Godse, passing them on to others and discussing about them inhushed tones were common- it was thrilling, and deeply satisfying-almost like performing a religious ritual.
Later I spent a year at Pune and six years at Nagpur for my college education. That was the time I was really growing- physically as wellas intellectually. I was a voracious reader. In the inspiringseventies, change was in the very air I breathed. I was reading notonly the RSS literature, but also about Che Guevera and Fidel Castro.My Dalit friends drew me to the fountainhead of dalit literature.Thus, paradoxically, in the very strongholds of RSS, I not onlyoutgrew it, but also became its staunch opponent. Later, I traveled along road- JP movement, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini (JP's youthorganization), feminism, people's science movement and graduated tobecome a "progressive". But this process hardly altered my opinionabout you. There were flashes of disturbing exceptions- there was JP,candidly describing his voyage from Marxism, socialism and finallyreaching your path. He asked, "But, where is the "incentive togoodness" in any ideology? What inspires a person to transcend selfishmotives and do any thing good for others, for society?"
Acharya DadaDharmadhikari, the leading commentator on "Total revolution" asked apertinent question- " It's natural and just for members of anyoppressed group - dalits, women, toilers to struggle for theirliberation by rebelling against the system that oppresses them; it isabsolutely essential too, but is it sufficient to bring about afundamental change in the society? Who will struggle for theliberation of the entire humankind? In a complex society wherein eachone is a part of the oppressive structure, how can we develop"revolutionary consciousness", transcending mere class/casteconsciousness?" These questions did disturb me, but only temporarily.
I was young, haunted by the spirit of "progressivism", afraid of beingbranded a "Savodayi". Bapu, for us, you were an "outcaste". For some,you were actually their "Enemy Number One" (For progressive peoplelike us, the numbering and sequencing of our enemy list has alwaysbeen a problem; basically, weak in Maths, you see.) These numbers keptchanging- some times it was you, at times, the Congress, quite oftenthe dissidents (from Socialists to Maoists, their number was evergrowing.) It is funny, but we never felt the need to consider RSS asour "Enemy Number One" and really fight it.
Now, after 1992, some ofthese very militant secularists are vying to be RSS's "Bibi NumberOne". Forget it, Bapuji; these new references are beyond you.We were talking of our relationship. Let us be clear. Your use of theterm "Harijan", your efforts for eradicating "untouchability", yourappeal to the high caste Hindus to take over "dirty jobs" like"scavenging" in a spirit of atonement - - For several Dalits, all thisstinks of high caste egotism. Congress's opposition to Dr. Ambedkarand its manipulation of Dalits in the parliamentary politics are alsobeing blamed on you. As usual, you are the favorite culprit for allthe evils of this country. You are the Father of the Nation, a nationthat, in fact, does not exist. Hence, no one is offended when you areattacked, because, you have no children. For the Marxists, you havealways been a stooge of the National Capitalists. They won't forgiveyou because you stood between them and the revolution they intended tobring about. Many feminists don't even mention you - you were a man,an Indian, a traditionalist, who advocated "Brahmacharya", rather thancontraception. Your ideal of "RamRajya" is obviously unacceptable tothe heirs of Shambuka, Seeta, Marx and Lenin. Nothing wrong with that,except the fact that this opposition blurred the fact that your Ramwas diametrically opposite to the "Jai Shree Ram" of the Sangh Parivarand would never do injustice to anyone. You were an old hat, Bapuji,while all of us were "modern"; that was the only thing we agreed upon.We were votaries of modernism. We were convinced that all the problemsof our times could be solved through planned development spread ofmodern education, progressive legislation and constitutionalprovisions like reservations and adoption of secularism by all.
We would have jolly well spent our lives, fighting each other,cursing you, and spinning the yarn of "intellectual" discussions.But, then, as a bolt from the blue, the Soviet Union was splintered,the socialist dream soured, and the Babri Masjid was destroyed, and wesuddenly woke up from our slumber. I won't say that all of us werebrought to our senses at the same time. How can we call ourselves asprogressive if we become aware of all our "historical blunders" at thesame time? But then we woke up to the fact that we all had becomeredundant. "The caravan had driven past us and we were left staring atthe cloud of dust it raised!" it had not only bypassed us, it trampledover us, reducing us to caricatures. The "viral infection" or "dormantgenes" of some of us got activated and they left us to seek a spacefor themselves in the "Rath yatra". Some others got disenchanted withthe fallacies of this mortal world and they migrated to their"respective Himalayas" in search of the "eternal truth and innerpeace". The remaining lot is still busy fighting with one another, yetthinking seriously of what went wrong. Bapuji, I am ashamed to admit,but many of us are slowly inching towards you.It's not an easy process, we must admit. Where is your vote bank,Bapu? Hindu fanatics killed you for being "pro-Muslim", but Muslimsare hardly aware of what you have done (for them, for this nation andfor upholding humanism). You considered eradication of untouchabilityto be as important as the freedom struggle, but for the Dalits, youare the kingpin of Brahiminical power structure (more dangerous thanthe RSS). Your agenda of revival of village industries broughtproductive castes of weavers, potters, oil smiths (the OBCS in today'sjargon) into the mainstream of production processes. You wereinstrumental in bringing about the change in leadership from the uppercastes to the Bahujans during freedom struggle and paved the way forthe democratization of the Indian polity; but the votaries of "Mandal"are blissfully unaware of this contribution. The congress party andthe so-called Gandhians buried you in statues and made you into apygmy, to suit their size.
Today, you have no one to carry forward your heritage with pride. The whole business of being the father of anungrateful nation has been totally loss making. What sort of Bania areyou? Well, you aren't that unpopular either. Many of your favoriteconcepts, freed from the ideological clutches and after a "suitablemake over" have now become "class symbols"(just as "Lower Parel"became "Upper Worli"). Khadi is now seen more on the bodies of modelswalking down the ramp, rather than on the activists. Nature cure hasbecome a rage for the elite crowd queuing for sauna baths and weightreduction programmes. The rich, while shopping in food malls, alwaysprefer organic food. We all will start drinking sheep's milk, once itsnourishing value is established by American scientists!But, in all this maddening chaos, you have become much more relevant.The overfilled and bursting mega cities, drained-out villages, thegrowing number of farmers' suicides and the cynical middle classtreating it as yet another "score", the lavish malls built on thetombs of the textile mills, school children exhausted by the burden ofschool bags, Narmada, Singur, Nandigram, Kalingnagar, Khairlanji;people, media, judiciary, bureaucracy, political leaders and workers-everyone incapable of rising above their narrow caste/class/othervested interests; our horizons fragmented by narrow domestic walls----Bapu, we need your all-embracing, integral vision encompassing thewholeness of life. Your skill of discovering the hidden strengths ofthousands of activists, strengthening their wings, widening theirhorizons and of weaving them together--we need them today. We don'twant your glasses, Bapu. We are already like the blind men probing theshape of an elephant. After wearing your glasses, we shall end up withegoistic confirmation of our individual discoveries of parts being thewhole. Moreover, in the past six decades, we have traveled so much ofa distance in a direction reverse of your "Hind Swaraj" that it wouldadd to our confusion. Today's problems need today's solutions. Hence,we ask not for your glasses, but your clear, loving, whole vision. Weneed your support to break through the fallacies of development vs.environment, constructive work vs. struggle, synthesis vs. analysis,creation vs. distribution of wealth; to be unforgiving to our ownselves, and accommodating for others; to explore wider mass support(beyond funding agencies).
Not just a handful of (former and presentday) activists dreaming for a more humane world, but all of us feelingsuffocated in this unipolar world seek you. Why do all the bright andinspiring victories in the struggle for equity and humanity gettransformed into ultimate defeats- India, China, USSR, Vietnam, SouthAfrica- all those saddened by this realization seek solace in you. Theyoung American peacenik that threw herself before the invading Israelitanks in Palestine chanted your name before embracing death. You havesurvived the bullets of Nathuram Godse and the innumerable deathsinflicted by your followers. You live, not only in books, museums andstatues, but in our minds as well. You are getting younger day by day,year by year. Hence, let me say "Long Live Bapuji!"
......................................................................................................
(Translated by the author, the original article appeared in the Marathi daily "Loksatta" on Oct. 2,2007. )
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