This year, on Martyrs’ Day (30 January 2026), as we remember Mahatma Gandhi, we are also conscious that sustained efforts are underway to weaken Gandhiji’s values and his legacy. The propaganda of communal forces is becoming sharper with each passing day, and the divisions within our society are deepening.
Hindu–Muslim unity was the core mantra of Gandhiji’s life. Contemporary politics has caused immense harm to this mission of the great humanist. We cannot forget that the person who riddled Gandhiji’s chest with three bullets was a staunch supporter of the ideology of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva). This ideology was completely opposed to that of the national movement.
The national movement was infused with the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The communal forces that demanded a Muslim nation weakened after the creation of Pakistan, but Hindu communal forces gradually began to strengthen themselves. Until they joined the movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), these forces were not viewed with respect in society. After becoming part of that movement, they emerged more powerfully on the socio-political landscape.
Because Gandhiji enjoyed a luminous and unblemished image across the world, even the BJP–RSS had to display reverence towards him. But this was merely a façade. Through shakhas and other platforms, they continued to blame Gandhiji for allegedly rendering the Hindu community helpless, promoting Muslims at the cost of Hindu interests, failing to save Bhagat Singh’s life, ignoring the great freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose, and nominating Nehru as his successor and Prime Minister instead of the comparatively more capable Sardar Patel.
Initially through oral propaganda and later via other media, they succeeded in entrenching false notions about Gandhiji in society, while simultaneously glorifying his assassin, Nathuram Godse. Public re-enactments of Gandhiji’s assassination have even been organised. This makes clear the extent of hatred that has been cultivated against him. Plays and films that demean Gandhiji and eulogise Godse are being produced and screened on a large scale.
Most of the disinformation spread against Gandhiji originates from Hindutva forces. They do this to strengthen themselves and to oppose the values of the freedom struggle, which are also reflected in the Indian Constitution. The worldwide Muslim movement launched in 1919 to restore the Caliphate in Turkey offered a good opportunity to link Indian Muslims with the struggle against the colonial government.
Gandhiji seized this opportunity, and to a large extent succeeded in giving the freedom struggle a broader character. Running parallel to this was the Non-Cooperation Movement, the first mass struggle against the British that saw large-scale participation by ordinary people. Earlier, there had already been a widespread mass movement against the partition of Bengal. The Non-Cooperation Movement gathered tremendous momentum, but unfortunately had to be withdrawn due to the Chauri Chaura incident.
The Dandi March, or Salt Satyagraha, began on 12 March 1930, marking the start of the Civil Disobedience Movement. While the Dandi March concluded in April that year, the Civil Disobedience Movement continued until 1934. During this period, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were facing death sentences. A falsehood is spread that Gandhiji could have stopped their execution had he wished to. Interestingly, those who spread this lie did not utter a single word in support of these revolutionaries at the time. Gandhiji wrote twice to Viceroy Lord Irwin, requesting that they not be given the death penalty. He also discussed the issue during his meetings with Irwin.
Irwin considered the appeal, but the British government rejected it because British officers posted in Punjab threatened to resign if the revolutionaries’ death sentences were revoked or stayed. Renowned historian V. N. Datta, based on the correspondence between Gandhi and Irwin and contemporary evidence, reached the same conclusion: “Gandhi was extremely keen to save Bhagat Singh’s life and was therefore appealing to Lord Irwin that Bhagat Singh not be hanged.” According to Datta, to understand Gandhiji’s role we must view “his discussions with the Viceroy in the context of the political climate of the time, public pressure, the Viceroy’s role, the functioning of the British bureaucracy, and the imperial apparatus in India and Britain.”
Another major lie widely propagated is that Gandhiji ignored Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his contributions. The truth is that Netaji left the Congress with dignity and respect due to differences over the methods of anti-British struggle. While most Congress leaders favoured mass movements against the British government, Netaji wanted to seek assistance from the Axis powers (Japan and Germany) to take on Britain. At that time, Hindutva forces were engaged in campaigns to recruit as many Indians as possible into the British army. It was this very British army that fought against Netaji’s Azad Hind Fauj.
Despite their differences, Netaji and Gandhiji held each other in great respect. While Subhas Chandra Bose called Gandhiji the Father of the Nation, Gandhiji referred to Bose as the “Prince among Patriots.” In one meeting, Gandhiji told Subhas Chandra Bose that he was strongly opposed to the path Netaji advocated, but if that path led India to freedom, he would be the first to congratulate him. Netaji named the first battalion of the Azad Hind Fauj after Gandhiji. The Congress formed a committee to defend the prisoners of the Azad Hind Fauj, with prominent members including Bhulabhai Desai, Kailash Nath Katju, and Jawaharlal Nehru. This committee fought the legal battle for the INA prisoners.
As for Gandhiji’s successor and India’s future Prime Minister, Mahatma Gandhi made it clear as early as the early 1940s that his successor would be neither Rajaji nor Patel, but Nehru. Practically speaking, in the 1937 and 1946 elections, it was Nehru who led the Congress. Sardar Patel had said that Nehru had put in unimaginable effort to ensure the Congress’s victory in both elections.
In 1946, after Maulana Azad’s term ended and a new Congress president was to be chosen, Mahatma Gandhi asked Patel to withdraw from the race. As a follower of Gandhiji and a long-time associate of Nehru, Patel had no grievance about this and continued to work with Nehru throughout his life. They did have differences, but these were resolved in personal meetings or cabinet discussions. Patel had said that Nehru was his younger brother and leader.
Gandhiji had his finger on the pulse of the nation. He knew that after him, Nehru was the most popular leader in the country. Gandhiji also knew that Nehru was immensely popular among the youth.
Gandhiji was the greatest leader of twentieth-century India. He understood India very well. Today, communal forces are blaming Nehru for every failure and every shortcoming of our country. Gandhiji, too, is being attacked indirectly.
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