IS GANDHI RELEVANT TODAY?

By Dr. Leo Rebello

As a student, I was much impressed by the short biographical textbook we hadwhile in the tenth grade on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. It was so well written that it left an indelible mark on my mind about the courage and honesty of Mahatma Gandhi. Later I had the opportunity to work with many stalwarts of the Gandhi era. I also know Arun Gandhi (Mahatma's grandson, now residing in the United States), Rajmohan Gandhi (Mahatma's grandson residing in India) and Ela Gandhi - Mahatma's granddaughter residing in South Africawho personally took me in 2000 to the Phoenix settlements, Gandhi's spiritual retreat in South Africa).

Therefore, some years ago, when an Indian journalist said, "Gandhi was a bastard bania" on Star TV, I reprimanded him as many others did. His "derogatory comments" became a hot topic. The anchor that interviewed him lost her lucrative job and the journalist had to apologize to avoid legal proceedings.

Then I came across a celebrated book The 100 - a ranking of most influential persons in history by Michael Hart. Gandhi was nowhere on the list of 100,in which Muhammed appeared first, Isaac Newton second, Jesus Christ third, Buddha fourth and Niels Bohr (the father of the theory of atomic structure) was the last entry. I was shocked by the rankings. But the reasons given by the author for including Gandhi in a supplementary chapter titled Honorable Mentions and Interesting Misses seemed sound to me. I am reproducing below the first three of five paragraphs appearing on page 526 of the said book.

"Mohandas K. Gandhi was the outstanding leader of the movement for an independent India, and for that reason alone several people have suggested that he be included in the main section of this book. It should be remembered, though, that Indian independence from England was bound to comesooner or later; in fact, given the strength of the historical forces tending towards decolonization, we can today see that Indian independence would surely have been achieved within a few years of 1947 even had Gandhi never lived.

"It is true that Gandhi's technique of non violent civil disobedience was ultimately successful in persuading the British to leave India. It has been suggested, however, that India might have gained independence sooner if theIndians had adopted more forceful methods instead. Since it is hard to decide whether on the whole Gandhi speeded up or delayed Indian independence, we might reasonably conclude that the net effect of his actions was (at least in that respect) rather small. It might also bepointed out that Gandhi was not the founder of the movement for Indian independence (the Indian National Congress had been founded as early as 1885), nor was he the main political leader at the time independence was finally achieved.

"Still, it might be maintained that Gandhi's principal importance lies inhis advocacy of non-violence. (His ideas, of course, were not entirely original: Gandhi specifically said that they were derived in part from his readings of Thoreau, Tolstoy, and the New Testament, as well as from various Hindu writings.) There is little doubt that Gandhi's policies, if universally adopted, would transform the world. Unfortunately, they have notbeen generally accepted, even in India".

I am not much of a student of history because I consider history to be largely a one-sided account and something of a 'holy huddle'. So, the more I read about Gandhi's contribution to the freedom struggle of India, that more the halo of 'Mahatma' (great soul) lost its glow. The final blow came whenthe authors of this book asked me to write a foreword.

Writing a foreword to a formidable treatise like this one, whose subject is an icon for millions, is not an easy task. I have gone through this manuscript with a fine comb and I say that it is an excellent analyticalwork. For two reasons: (a) the authors are quoting directly from 'authentic sources', like from Gandhi's book 'An Autobiography: My Experiments with Truth' and (b) the questions that they are asking have never been askedbefore.

Rev. Joseph Doke (the first biographer of Gandhi) asks Gandhi if he was prepared to be a martyr. Gandhi asks Doke if he would like him to write part of the biography. Then Gandhi promotes this biography with precision, in London, India and throughout the empire, while suppressing its release in South Africa where he lived for 21 years. Why? Through questions like these Col. G.B. Singh and Dr. Timothy Watson put Gandhi in the witness box, which makes this book different.

G.B.Singh has been conducting research on Gandhi, for over two decades andalso studying Hinduism and Indian politics. He is a career military officer in the American army and claims to have been influenced by the modern skeptical movements. His first book titled Gandhi Behind the Mask of Divinity is already out (Prometheus Books, 2004). Gandhi Under Cross-Examination is a sequel which probes the subject more deeply. In this second book, Watson joins Singh in an intensive 're-search' conducted without prejudice. Watson is a Canadian educationist, peacenik and human rights activist.

The authors claim that Gandhi worked for the empire. The evidence is contained in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi's own words, they aver. Gandhi made repeated appeals to the high caste Indian population of South Africa to join in the war effort to stem the Zulu uprising in Natalin South Africa. He even led a campaign to form a volunteer ambulance corps made up of Indians, which he led as a commissioned officer with the rank of sergeant major. He also acted as a wartime correspondent through his own newspaper, Indian Opinion. Why would Gandhi have done this? Why would he actas a recruitment officer in the Boar War, the campaign against the Zulus, and the First World War on behalf of the British Empire? Questions such as these have never been asked and need to be addressed to set the record straight.

In addition, the authors prove that Gandhi has not presented the truth before the world. Considerable evidence analyzed by them shows that the racial train and coach incidents (traveling from Durban to Pretoria) in South Africa, as also other instances are not true. Gandhi has fabricated, embellished and even lied to further his own political agenda. Obviously, his conscience was pricking him for lying. He knew he was playing with the truth. Hence, he very aptly titled his biography as My Experiments with the Truth.

The writer of a foreword indirectly reviews the book and can consequently make or mar the book. Since this onerous task has been assigned to me, I intend to be just and fair both to the subject as also to the authors. As a professional writer with 33 books and having worked closely with several Gandhians and influenced by many Gandhian precepts, I understand that the reputation of an icon of the modern era hangs in the balance. But let it be noted that neither the writer of the foreword nor the authors of this book are out to demolish the reputation of a great man.

The book helps the readers to understand that M.K. Gandhi was an astute businessman, a cunning politician and a deeply religious man. To that extent this book makes you a scholar rather than a pedantic follower. No doubt it is a provocative book. But it also offers a new perspective on history and helps to deprogram our minds from establishment indoctrination.

As water tables recede and the dangers of the Green revolution become evident in India; as capitalism destroys economies and multi-national corporations fleece the poor of the world; as the Arctic ice melts with the rising heat and megalopolises like Mexico and Mumbai sink; as population control diseases like AIDS and lethal drugs like anti-retrovirals play havoc with the DNA structure of the future generation; as bombs explode in the Korean peninsula due to the madness of Evil Empires like the USA and the UK destroying half the world's population; as the papacy collapses and we move closer to a bizarre impersonal world, a new paradigm of development will emerge, a new kind of spiritualism will surface and a new human being will rise, if we all speak the truth, do not cooperate with the evil and work for non-violence : the three cardinal teachings of Gandhi. After reading this book the readers will be in a better position to decide whether Gandhi is relevant today or not.