Gandhi Jayanti

After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother came to stay with us. One day I asked her if she met Mahatma Gandhi.  “I didn’t see him. But, your grand father used to proudly tell everyone that he met Gandhiji and even touched him”, she said gushing. Her response surprised me. Because, they used to live in a very remote village called Kuppili. I remember having to walk 6 KM to reach that village in my childhood. Thankfully, its very well connected now. The very fact that Gandhiji was able to meet someone in such remote corner of country well before independence is fascinating. Not just that, I’ve never seen my grand father wear anything other than Khadi clothes. He told me that he took a pledge to wear Khadi throughout his life. How could a man convince so many people to take such an oath? How could a man influence so many people to give up their jobs to fight for an abstract idea called freedom? If that can’t convince someone that he’s a great leader, nothing else can

   I used to think that Gandhiji got more credit than he deserved. We have an impressive number of freedom fighters like Nehru, Patel, Bhagat Singh, Gokhale and the list goes on. Why should Gandhi get so much credit? Google tells us that British have colonised 171 countries in the world. It was said that the sun never set in the British Empire. It crushed the 1857 rebellion which was fought by the combined force comprising of Hindus & Muslims, Farmers, Sepoys and artisans, Armies of Awadh, Mughals, Jhansi and so on, ruthlessly. The crown seemed invincible. Imagine yourself living under such a rule. All of a sudden, you hear a story. A person came from south africa and successfully fought against the British with the help of farmers. He also led another successful agitation in Khaira and got the Britishers to waive the taxes on farmers. And what did he fight with? Truth and Non violence. All you need to do to fight against the mighty and unassailable empire is to speak truth, not hurt anyone, wear and use only Swadeshi. How simple is that? It is easy to see why his ideas appealed to so many people. They were honest, simple to follow and they were rooted in Indian tradition. Our epics extolled Harishchandra who spoke nothing but truth. Non violence is central tenet in two major religions born here, the Buddhism and the Jainism. It takes a huge amount of courage to even tread the path of a Bhagat Singh or Khudiram Bose. But, the path laid out by Gandhiji was simple to understand and easy to follow, from the first glance at least. That’s what made him so successful

  There’re so many great leaders across the world. Why should we make big deal about Gandhi? In my opinion, Gandhi stands out even in the pantheon of greats. It is easy to win over the hearts of your friends. Winning over the hearts of enemies is the herculean task. When religious violence ravaged India during the partition, we didn’t have enough resources to control violence on both the borders of our country. The then governor general, Mountbatten took a call to send the troops to border with West Pakistan. Gandhiji was sent to the eastern border. After Gandhi reached Kolkata, an angry mob surrounded his house and demanded to see him. Gandhi’s host was frightened for his safety. But, Gandhiji went out to talk to the protester. After an hour, the entire mob sat down and offered prayers for peace in India. Such was his persuasion power. In South Africa, where he was thrown out of a train, there’s a statue acknowledging his greatness. When I visited London last year, in front of the British Parliament, the law making body of country he fought against, there installed his statue. It might look diminutive like he did, but there’s no doubt in my mind who stands the tallest. 

PS: The incident in Kolkata was narrated by Balaji Viswanathan in one of his Quora answers