WITHER MAHATMA ?

It is difficult to not write a few paragraphs on a day such as this, the 76th Punyatithi of a tall icon. Seemingly, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been pilloried not only for not overcoming all the tribulations of his times, but for leaving unsolved the problems of the present as well...

MKG, along with a chosen few, has been the butt of criticism and ridicule over the past decade. Many seethe with anger at his importance in the Indian scheme of things of yesteryears. It is vexing to find the political class, both using and abusing his legacy to their respective advantages...

MKG, just like any other human, wasn't flawless. A sizeable section of today's population taking offence to something he might have said or done - or did not - perhaps falling short of hate, is a norm and fad these days. However, I feel that such dissections with a magnifying glass in hand, and with a prism of the present, aren't the ways of the evolved and matured...

Whether it is the holier than thou righteous one, or the trumpet-blowing detractor, or the rational learned having a different set of opinions, one gets the impression that the worst thing that could ever have happened to India was MKG...

There is no evidence to suggest that whatever MKG did wasn't in the nation's interest. He might have been found wanting, but his intentions weren't non-patriotic ever. Had the strength of his character been supplemented by an aptitude for ammunition as well, history would have been quite different...

No amount of ridicule can reverse the position MKG holds in the global scenario. The frail man in a loin cloth with a stick in hand may not have been wrong; he was incomplete, like many of us; but again, more accomplished than most of us...

Without exaggeration, none of us would probably be able to do even an iota of what MKG did. He wasn’t perfect; but then who is? Do we all meet our own standards? If all our predecessors were supposed to be perfect in every sense of the term, what are we now here for?...

Hate him or like him, MKG has his niche carved in the history of the world, his persona conspicuously found amongst other great souls like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, so on and so forth...

It is also important to realize that legacies can be twisted and interpreted differently, depending on where one prefers to be seated. However great one may be, or aspire to become, it is prudence to remember that everyone is a product of their times...

History, like life, is a continuum without a rewind. As always, every event would have three sides - ours, theirs and the truth. It is to be revisited for understanding and learning, not for criticism or undoing or revenge, and least of all character assassination...

🙏🙏🌹💐   🇮🇳