We have forgotten our greatest Indian, Mahatma Gandhi — our calling card to the world, the reason for our moral exceptionalism on the world stage, and the brand ambassador of non-violence who made no exceptions in speaking for the powerless and dispossessed everywhere.
Sure, we will celebrate his birthday in the approved “Sarkari” fashion, with our leaders piously paying tribute, and the usual disgusting social media trend that glorifies Nathuram Godse, his murderer, by a bunch of bigots. But that is a sign of the times we live in: Gandhi is all but out, and his murderer Godse is in.
What would Gandhi make of the India whose freedom he fought for all his life? What would he think of Israel and its never-ending war of retribution.
What would Gandhi say about the bulldozers running amok against the weakest Muslim minority, destroying their homes without due process, cheered on by fellow Indians? As a student of history, I know Gandhi would have been publicly dismayed at the violent state attacks on fellow citizens.
Healing sectarian wounds
He would have rushed to shield the victims, likely using his own body as a barrier to shame the oppressors. Sadly, in “#newIndia,” they would have pushed Gandhi aside shamelessly and arrested him. That is the reality in India today — no point being hypocritical about it. And the media megaphones might have collectively shrieked that “Gandhi was antinational for daring to block bulldozers.”
What would Gandhi think of our governments, all of them post-independence, even those run by his beloved Jawaharlal? No doubt, he would see that they were not run to benefit our fellow citizens by so-called public servants but by a seamless cohort that transitioned from the colonial British Raj.
Manipur, which has now been on fire for exactly one year, four months, three weeks, and five days, caught up in a civil war without end and without any visit or acknowledgement from our central government, would have seen Gandhi rush in the initial days to calm the violence and heal sectarian wounds.
Paying “homage”
Currently, we suffer from collective amnesia about the man Nelson Mandela, who fought and dismantled apartheid in South Africa using Gandhian methods of non-violence, called his inspiration. We pay lip service to Gandhi, press him into service at international forums, and go pay “homage” to his statues dotted across the world, yet we embrace violence against Indians with enthusiasm.
We actually think Gandhi and his ways are outdated and outmoded, unable to work today. It is difficult for small minds to contemplate a great idea — the moral capital that non-violence confers upon you. The weak have moral capital; only they can deploy it.
India has embraced “strong leaders” with enthusiasm, though their strength may be optics, smoke, and mirrors. Remember how we treated Dr. Manmohan Singh, a scholar, only because he spoke softly?
The man hailed by President Barack Obama as a “guru” (teacher) among world leaders provoked only derision among the chattering classes in India, who prefer arrogance and chest-thumping.
Beginning of the end?
Is Benjamin Netanyahu, who has locked Israel in a permanent war with the entire neighbourhood, whose army thinks nothing of using rape as a weapon of war and killing babies in hospitals, strong or weak? Is Israel’s moral and political capital strong today, or is this actually the beginning of the end?
If you have read history, you would know that the British Empire seemed the mightiest before it just toppled over, and a guttering candle flickers the brightest.
The impotence of the UN shows how important moral capital is. As India abstains from voting against Israel, I can say with certainty that Gandhi would have stood steadfast with the Palestinians, without false equivalence. Gandhi, like most oppressed people, had moral clarity and would have seen Bibi’s Israel for what it has become.
Gandhi had no doubts about Western civilisation, sarcastically remarking when asked: “It’s a good idea.”
The truth is that Gandhi was the greatest Indian who ever lived, and today more than ever, India and the world need leadership of the order only Gandhi could provide.
The world misses you, Mahatma.
