Recently the country celebrated Gandhi jayanti. This day hardly meant anything to many of us. Most students and professionals enjoyed their day with friends or watching a recent film. But, don’t you think, it is high time we sit back and think his principles and ideologies and what this man stood for? Don’t you think it is high time for us to practice and not preach him?
It is unfortunate that very few people follow Gandhian philosophy seriously enough. Instead, it has become fashionable to cynically use his martyrdom. Gandhi is being assassinated everyday, from pseudo-trendy college students who foolishly condemn Gandhian principles without understanding a bit of it, to political battles like the controversy surrounding Savarkar’s role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The great mahatma is everywhere, except the hearts of men and women he died for!
While Gandhian principles are a matter of research in universities across the world, we do not have even one world class institution in India doing research in Gandhi’s philosophy. Shapers of the 20th century like Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Aung Sang Sun Kui and Dalai Lama were inspired from Gandhi or felt connected with his world views. On the contrary, in his own country, the country he died for, Gandhi has lost relevance. His own party uses him for petty politics, blaming RSS and BJP for his assassination.
The neglect of Gandhi’s ideas and philosophy is evident from the fact that Institutions built in Gandhi’s memory such as the Gandhi Peace Foundation and Gandhi Pratishthan lack funds terribly. Whereas the institutions named after Nehru such as the Nehru Memorial Library and Research Centre are rolling. This difference can be seen everywhere. It is actually disturbing. Let’s not forget the ‘real’ Gandhi, in the pseudo political and social stupidity going on around!
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