Stop erasing Gandhi

Often, we do not value what we have — till someone offers a price to take it away from us. For example, for most Indians, Mahatma Gandhi’s chappals, a letter written by him, and pair of spectacles he used, were hazy relics with a vague value. But when those items were listed for sale at international auction houses, the price became clear and the affluent India became curious. In such situations, the government and liquor barons lavished nearly Rs10crores to buy back our ‘legacy’. But should we not take pride in protecting and nurturing what we have of the Mahatma?

And would it not become of us to spend those precious crores on keeping Gandhi alive by carrying out the mission of the institutes he had established? Gandhiji has left us the Navjivan Trust, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Sabarmati Ashram, Majoor Mahajan and Jyoti Sanghs.

Is the message of his life not embedded more deeply in the institutes he established than in his worldly possessions? Then why are these institutions, founded to spread ‘Gandhi’s message’, rotting? Why has the flagship course on Gandhian studies been turned into a correspondence course at his own Vidyapeeth? Why is the Navjivan Press facing a shut down? Why is the Sabarmati Ashram struggling to identify the next crop of leadership and its sacredness challenged by local squabbles?

We are assessing in this special edition on Bapu’s 140th birth anniversary how we, as the children of whom we call the Father of the Nation, have fared in giving him respect and abiding by his gentle but life-changing lessons. We have critically analysed the condition and relevance of the institutes he established, in what we thought was true Gandhian spirit. This is not a charge-sheet against those who are doing whatever they can for Gandhi’s legacy nor an arrogant criticism. Unfortunately, dear reader, we have to deliver the bad news. In fact, we have been abject failures, if we compare ourselves to other nations and societies, in keeping alive the memories of national heroes.

The question is why are we systematically Erasing Gandhi? While we keep discovering again and again that Gandhi is more relevant than he ever was in history, institute after institute dedicated to him is falling. Will the state celebrating Golden jubilee of statehood continue neglecting its most distinguished son? Or we are waiting for Gandhi to be re-packaged and exported to us by the Americans who have taken a major fancy for him? Or are we waiting to erase him from our conscience before turning him into a temple god? Please stop erasing Gandhi.