Lord Meghnad Desai questions Gandhi’s non-violence philosophy

Think of Mahatma Gandhi and what emerges in the mind for a majority of the people is the ideal of non-violence. But, challenging and raising questions about this central ideology of the Father of the Nation, Lord Meghnad Desai on Friday said that how could a man who supported violence in the Bhagvad Gita and praised Hitler, be non-violent?    

Lord Meghnad Desai was in Ahmedabad to deliver a lecture on ‘Gandhiji’s Views on Violence’ at the 12th Prof Ramlal Parikh Memorial Lecture organised by the Indian Society for Community Education at the AMA.

He said that books on Gandhi state that he himself was waging a constant battle against himself to be non-violent. “But Gandhiji has supported Bhagvad Gita where Krishna explains to Arjuna that killing is better than not killing, when Arjun said he did not want to kill anyone but the king’s men. Arjun was re-educated that killing is not bad,” Desai said.

He also said that Gandhiji’s attitude towards Hitler is beyond belief. “What he said about Hitler is that he was intelligent, resourceful, brave, unclouded and one who did not drink (alcohol) and was a vegetarian. How come food and drink habits be mistaken as virtues for someone like Hitler who killed so many people. I’m puzzled that somebody who practiced non-violence could admire violence?” he asked. He also said that non-violence practice could also be tactics to organise followers and a self defence mechanism.