Eric Hobsbawm famously stated that history is as important to sectarian nationalism as poppy is to an opium addict. The right wing is surging with great speed, and its ideologues are keeping pace, constructing a history that suits their political agenda of exclusion and glorification of their past. Medieval Indian history has been a prime target, with the period portrayed as an era of Islamic imperialism, Muslim kings depicted in a negative light, and hate fostered against contemporary Muslims. Even ancient Indian history, considered a golden period by these groups, has been manipulated to show the Aryans, their ancestors, as the indigenous people of the land. Regarding the freedom movement, their initial focus was Nehru, the colossus who articulated and practiced secularism in India. He understood the challenges of practicing secularism in a society gripped by religiosity and recognized the threat of majoritarian (Hindu) communalism, equating it to fascism. He also believed minority communalism was, at worst, separatist.
Gandhi, Nehru's mentor, though murdered by someone trained by the RSS and working for the Hindu Mahasabha, could not be easily demonized due to his global stature and the deep respect he commanded in India.
Now, with the communal right wing feeling emboldened, its ideologues are beginning to overemphasize Gandhi's shortcomings and undermine his contributions to freedom. On January 30, 2025, as the nation paid tribute to the Father of the Nation, many online portals relayed videos propagating the idea that Gandhi's efforts were just one of many in India's struggle for freedom. Podcasts and social media channels propagated the notion that Gandhi's efforts had only a marginal effect on the British leaving India.
In recent years, the glorification of Godse, Gandhi's assassin, has been painfully visible in the form of Twitter storms with hashtags like "Mahatma Godse Amar Rahen" (Long Live Godse). Figures like Poonam Prasun Pandey have enacted the shooting of Gandhi's effigy, complete with dripping blood. The national mourning on January 30th, marked by a two-minute silence at 11 AM, has been muted. This year, the Maharashtra state circular on the two-minute silence didn't even mention Gandhi's name.
As we observed Gandhi's martyrdom day this January 30th, these disturbing trends came to mind. Gandhi was given the honorific "Mahatma" by none other than Guru Rabindranath Tagore. The claim that Gandhi and the Congress ignored Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is also propagated. In reality, Bose and the Congress had strategic differences, but their core agenda—freedom from British rule—remained the same. It was Netaji who addressed Gandhi as "Father of the Nation" and named a battalion of the Azad Hind Fauz (Free India Army) the Gandhi Battalion. It was Gandhi and the Congress who fought the cases of the Azad Hind Fauz prisoners, forming a committee of top lawyers like Bhulabhai Desai, Kailashnath Katju, and Jawaharlal Nehru.
The propaganda that Gandhi did nothing to save Bhagat Singh from hanging is also being instilled into the public consciousness. They ignore the fact that Gandhi wrote to Lord Irwin requesting a commutation of Bhagat Singh's sentence. Irwin expressed his inability to grant this request, as all British officers in Punjab had threatened to resign if it were accepted. Interestingly, Bhagat Singh requested his father, Kishan Singh, to support the "General" of the freedom movement (Gandhi), which his father did by working for the Congress.
The attempt to undermine Gandhi takes the form of nitpicking his three major movements. The Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920, the first real attempt to involve ordinary people in the struggle against the British, is deemed ineffective because it was withdrawn after the Chauri Chaura incident, where a crowd burned a police station, killing several policemen. Gandhi's support for the Khilafat Movement is also criticized as demoralizing, as it involved supporting the restoration of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. However, this move brought large numbers of Muslims into the anti-British struggle. The Mappila (Moplah) rebellion is portrayed as an aggressive move by Muslims against Hindus. In reality, it was a rebellion of poor Muslim farmers against landlords (mostly Hindus), with the British protecting the landlords' interests.
The Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 is criticized for only leading to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. This pact, however, was a major step forward in the Indian freedom struggle. The Salt March is criticized for not leading to the abolition of the salt tax. The truth is that people could produce salt legally after this; its illegality was lifted.
Regarding the 1942 "Do or Die" and "Quit India" movements, while it's true that the movement took a violent turn after Gandhi and other major Congress leaders were arrested, it created immense awareness about the need for freedom. It was the culmination of a long process of raising mass consciousness that began after the 1920 Non-Cooperation Movement.
There's no denying that revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauz, and the revolt of the naval ratings were valuable additions to the growing consciousness among the people longing for freedom and solidifying the bonds of Indian-ness. Gandhi's contribution is monumental because it created fraternity and a sense of Indian-ness among the people. As Surendranath Banerjee aptly described it, it was "India: a nation in the making."
These were two intertwined aspects of the freedom movement: the struggle against the British and the building of a nation, India, through this struggle. Gandhi understood that bringing people together was central to achieving freedom. The current flourishing attempt by right-wing communalists completely ignores the process of people, masses waking up, and constituting India as a nation. This was Gandhi's greatest endeavor, and for this, he is truly the "Father of the Nation."
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