18 May 2019

On Gandhi & Godse

Gandhiji has been attacked by extremists from so many directions - the RSS, the Communists, the Liberals, the Ambedkarites, the Feminists.
Divided and fighting like dogs amongst one another, in their hatred for Gandhiji however, they are as one. Extremism is a venom which is poisoning society, and one is deeply concerned today.
Both Kamal Hassan and Pragya Thakur can say or announce who they admire, and who they detest. For me, that is not the issue. But they do this from exclusive extremist positions. You don't have to hold a gun to be an extremist, it is a state of mind. To me, Kamal Hassan and Pragya Thakur are both extremists. As are the finger-pointing passionates from other areas. Hatred is not the prerogative of extremists of the so-called Right. The extremists of the Left, the Dalits, the Feminists, are also their companions.

Some are direct in their abuse of Gandhiji (Pragya Thakur), some are sophisticated (Arundhati Roy), but that is hardly the issue. Just think about this: the left-liberals always say to the right: don't define patriotism according to your own whims - we may be severe critics and also patriots. And yet, when someone in the right says 'Godse is a desh-bhakht', that makes the liberal side livid: how dare you say Godse is a patriot, meaning they are defining patriotism according to their own whim, which is what they objected to all along.
To me, Godse is an extremist, a murderer. He thought he was a patriot and killed for it, and was also killed for it (through hanging). Today's soldier in uniform also does the same, he kills thinking he is a patriot, and he may get killed for it.
I am concerned today that we are isolating ourselves in our petty compartments, hurling abuses, and unable to be with or face the other in a humane way. Selective reading/ forwarding of whatsapp msgs is also an indication of this predicament. We are today caught in the grip of a technological society which begets division and fragmentation; it prompts us, even lures us, to go extreme - we read what we want to, not what we ought to. All of us, willy-nilly, are getting trapped in its clutches.
But amidst all this, I cannot but look again, with curiosity, at Gandhiji. His extremist detractors have indulged in mock, slander and abuse. But what irritates them the most is why millions of common men and women, the simple ordinary Indian from diverse states, languages, castes & religions, should be looking up to this man. Without understanding this, and in desperation, they first abuse and then 'apologise'.
And that is the power of Gandhi. It is not the brutal power of of state and domination; it is the soft power that results from living honestly, ethically, spiritually. It is the power of his quest for realisation of truth.
Surely, we can learn something from that, even if he was imperfect.

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