Skip to main content

Gujarat CM aide 'doubts' authenticity of Gandhi article publishedin 'Harijan'

Hitesh Pandya with Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani
A top aide of Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has doubted the authenticity of the article written by Mahatma on Gandhi January 27, 1948, three days before his death. Hitesh Pandya, who was assistant public relations officer (PRO) under Narendra Modi’s chief ministership in Gujarat, and is currently serving as PRO of Rupani, has said, there is “reason to doubt”, since the article appeared on February 1, 1948, two days after Gandhi’s assassination.
Hari Desai
Pandya’s reaction has come in the form of a response to a Facebook post, where well-known Gujarati journalist and Sardar Patel expert, Hari Desai, has released the impression of “Harijan”, which published Gandhi’s article “Congress Position” dated January 27, 1948, and published in “Harijan” on February 1, 1948. The article, in English, says the “Indian National Congress ... cannot be allowed to die”, and that it can “only die with the nation”.
Gandhi says, “The Indian National Congress which is the oldest national political organization and which has after many battles fought her non-violent way to freedom cannot be allowed to die. It can only die with the nation. A living organism ever grows or it dies. The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social and moral freedom.”
Gandhi adds, “These freedoms are harder than the political, if only because they are constructive, less exciting and not spectacular.” Desai, putting the image of “Harijan” on Facebook, has caused flutter across Gujarat’s powerful circles, including the state BJP rulers, known to be close to Prime Minister Modi and his right hand man, Amit Shah, who had been trying to had to say that Gandhi had actually sought the dissolution of the Congress after Independence.
Hitesh Pandya's response
While Desai says that this is the only authentic view available on what Gandhi said about the Congress, Pandya, in his response, says, “Who knows? The article was published in ‘Harijan’ three days (sic!) after the death of Gandhi. What is its authenticity? It is quite possible that that some Nehruvian editor may have written this historical (sic!) article and published it in the name of Gandhi.”
Pandya continues, “Secondly, Gandhi must have in is his mind the dissolution of the Congress, otherwise what was the need for publishing such an article? This apart, ‘India Today’ on October 2, 2017 published an article which should be read by the lovers of history.” Thereafter, he quotes the article, which says that Gandhi “wrote that the Congress ‘has outlived its use’ and advised ‘to disband the existing Congress organization’.”
The ‘India Today’ , however, also said that “this is not the whole picture”, adding, “What Mahatma Gandhi said about the Congress in January 1948 formed the part of a note written by the Father of the Nation on January 27, 1948 – three days before he was assassinated in New Delhi. The note was a draft constitution for the Congress in the post-Independence era.” 
"Harijan" dated February 1, 1948
Pointing out that the note was “meant to be discussed by the All-India Congress Committee and put to vote for passage and adoption”, India Today also says, “But Mahatma Gandhi saw Congress's utility in shaping India's future. He listed out his reasons in the draft constitution for the Congress. He said, ‘India has still to' attain social, moral and economic independence in terms of its seven hundred thousand villages as distinguished from its cities and towns’."
Objecting to what Pandya, Desai asserts, “You should have cared to read the date at the bottom of the article – January 27, 1948. You have been working in a daily and should know pretty well that Sunday Supplement is printed on Thursday with date of Sunday. Gandhi always marked dates when he wrote articles or letters. You can ask the National Archive and the Gandhi Archive to show the manuscript. The tendency to reject such Gandhian literature shows bankruptcy of our generation.”
Meanwhile, Pandya has refused to reply to a query from Counterview, posted on Facebook, on whether what he has said – that Gandhi’s article in “Harijan” may not have been written by Gandhi but some ‘Nehruvian’ editor – is the official position of the Gujarat government.

Comments

Unknown said…
ગાંધીનો વિરોધ કરવામા જ જેમની યુવાની ગઈ હોય તેમને ગાંધી વાંચવાનો સમય ન મળ્યો હોય તે સ્વભાવીક છે, એટલે મુખ્યમંત્રીને ગાંધીમા કે ગાંધીની વાતમા કોઇ સંદેહ હોય તે સ્વભાવિક છે, પરંતુ તેના સમાધન માટે તેમને ગાંધીજીને એક વાર વાંચવા જોઇએ....મને વિશ્વાસ છે કે તેનો સંદેહ નહી રહે,છતાં સંદેહ ઉભો રહે તો ગાંધી - ૧૫૦ ની ઉજવણી ગુજરાતમા ન કરવી જોઇએ

TRENDING

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.