Dear Bapu,
No one can kill you. You are the soul of this nation and the life breath of its people. The one who walked the talk. You are the hermit that walked the length and breadth of this country, in your loin cloth, armed with your stick, shaking the sloth off people.
The world is yet to see another one like you. I have grown up hearing stories of how people rushed to see you wherever you went -- mothers with babes in their arms, farmers leaving their fields half ploughed, shopkeepers downing their shutters. You mesmerized not just India, but the entire world with your principles of truth and non-violence
The principle of Ahimsa has always existed, but you showed us how to put it in practice. World leaders such as Martin Luther King (Jr), Nelson Mandela, Aung San Su Kyi, Charles Walker, Prof. Adolfo de Obieta, Desmond Tutu and Barack Obama were of course inspired by you but it is incredible how countless ordinary people too came under your influence.
An incident comes to mind. A friend who accompanied me to Ethiopia on an assignment was reading your autobiography. During a halt in the course of a field visit, she left the book in the car that we were traveling in. On our return, we found the driver flipping through it. He spoke some English and we were astonished when he told us how much he admired you and how your ideals are still relevant in today’s violent world. He asked if he could borrow the book for his daughter to read. My friend gifted him the book. To this day, foreigners who come to India to honour the universally accepted principles of truth and non-violence visit your samadhi.
However, in India, we are still caught up in debates of whether you really deserve the titles ‘father of the nation’ and ‘Mahatma’. You never sought such titles, they were bestowed on you by eminent personalities, and people have always accepted them. Not that it will bother you if someone snatches away those titles now. ‘What is it that he has achieved? Have we got our independence through non-violence? There have been so many deaths, so much suffering. Isn’t non-violence an excuse for cowardice?’
You are not bound to answer such questions. People will find the answers; yes, we must indeed be grateful to the thousands who sacrificed their lives for independence. Perhaps this freedom was not achieved through non-violence alone. However you struck at the root of the then widely held belief that war is the last recourse.
Should a people, already reeling under poverty and exploitation then, have been plunged further into the horrors of war? Can violence and bravado rid us of the slavery that exists in our minds? Those who argue in favour of violent battles – would they have won us independence or would they have gifted us a totalitarian state?
War (an essentially patriarchal enterprise) places an undue burden on women and children. Surely, they will appreciate the peace offered by Ahimsa? Those who conquer through violent means, indulge in ever more violence. There are many examples of leaders and their people getting embroiled in violence. The multiple kingdoms and princely states that existed at the time of independence came together as one nation only because the rulers of those states accepted your principle of Ahimsa.
Today, people are able to exercise their right to elect their own government and to reap the fruits of democracy. Not that all is perfect in our country, however you will have to agree that people now have the opportunity to lead better lives than if they were living in a feudal state.
When the fire of the two nation theory was lit and the flames of violence spread wildly after the country’s partition, those responsible for the violence blamed you. Was your insistence on giving the newly formed nation its rightful share of Rs.55 crores such a grave crime that you had to be shot dead?
Historians have proved that your murder was a way to silence the voice of peace, for as long as you were alive it would not have been easy to incite communal violence. Reams have been written about how your killer is a patriot, a great son of the nation and how the country has benefitted from his deed. Though your body has been burnt and the ashes scattered, attempts to murder you continue to this day. Circulating fake letters, purportedly written by you, supporting the nefarious plan to divide the nation in the name of Ram; claims that you appeased a particular community and were unjust to the majority community; that you incurred the wrath of the people by agreeing to the partition of the country; spreading salacious stories linking you to the young women who lent you their shoulders. Do these heinous moves trouble you?
It is not as if you did no wrong at all. But those wrongs were never intentional. Your ability to own up to them, learn from them and evolve inspires people even today. Your liberalism prompted you to oppose casteism and support women’s rights.
So many tales have been spun to erase your popularity and wash hands that are smeared with your blood! So many lies! Relentless efforts that have continued from then till this day. They think people will forget your ideals by stamping out the truth and spreading lies. When that has proved impossible, attempts are now being made to claim you as one of theirs. During the rathyathra preceding the destruction of the Babri Masjid, even as your praises were being sung, and your birth anniversary celebrated, rifts were being created between Hindus and Muslims; and your killer was being glorified as a patriot. Can these double standards be hidden from you?
You are probably laughing and also saddened by how every party is using your name to further its own vested interests. Those who share your surname and the name of the movement that you created, pushed aside the politics for which you stood to impose emergency in a bid to gain absolute power. People who followed your path of Satyagraha were sent to jail. In the name of liberalization, principles of swadeshi and swarajya were forgotten. Now when they celebrate you at the centenary of the Belgaum session of the Congress, you must probably wonder if these are true inheritors of your legacy.
Your assassination remains a decisive moment in history. The bullets that pierced you wounded the whole nation. Realising that this grieving people would never forgive your killers, those waiting to lead India towards feudalism had to lie low for a while. I strongly believe that it is this which helped our nation experience democracy. With conflicts on the rise the world over, there is an increasing interest in your principle of non-violence; much to the consternation of those who believe they have killed you.
There is much that the modern world can and will learn from what you put forth as the seven social sins: politics without principle, wealth without work, commerce without morality, knowledge without character, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity and religion without sacrifice.
The principle of Ahimsa has entered the global consciousness transcending borders of race, religion and nations. You have emerged as a timeless prophet; wise ones believe that wherever non violence and humanity exist, there you will live. Ahimsa alone can bring light to today’s India.
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Lathamala has worked in rural development in different parts of India. She writes on development issues. This article was first published in Kannada on website Kannada Planet on 30 January 2025, to mark the 77th anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Smita Ramanathan translated this article from Kannada to English; she works as a consultant with NGOs and assists in documentation
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