The blood of Gandhiji, spilled by Hindu fundamentalist Nathuram Godse on 30 January 1948, has been smeared in the hearts and minds of every honest, secular-minded and peace-loving Indian.
A man born into an Indian upper caste, Gandhiji felt for the downtrodden lower castes and cried for equality. He told the nation that all are God’s children irrespective of colour and creed, man-made caste and community. An intelligent and educated man as he was, he did not stand on ceremonies. Rather, he lived a simple life and called for efforts to bring the least and the lost into the nation’s mainstream. Justice, equality and fellowship he preached and lived by.
Gandhiji is revered as the Father of the nation because he spearheaded India’s freedom movement. His ways were non-violent. That is where his principles clashed with the thoughts of those who advocated and used violence as means to an end.
If Gandhiji were to come now anywhere near the vicinity of India he would be drawn, dragged, daggered and hanged by elements who foist his killer as a national hero. In the recent past, the nation has watched with nerve-rattling horror such elements defaming Gandhiji, shooting at his effigy in public and replacing his principles of peace with principles of violence, murder, lynching and lying. All these have been done under the watchful eyes of our rulers.
The nation is in a sorry state. Concerned citizens ask: whiter India? The answer has to come from every honest Indian. Efforts need to be made to reverse the trend of the majoritarian, fundamentalist and fanatical forces which are taking this nation into a precipice. Silence is no answer. Silence can mean complicity; even connivance. Don’t wait to cry foul till your house is set on fire. Don’t keep mum when your next door neighbour is lynched. Don’t wait till you fear your own victimization.
Act now in the interest of the nation. For peaceful India! For secular India! For a nation where equality and social justice will rub shoulders. Where human fellowship will be in the driving seat!
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” (Gandhiji)
ATCC Bhognadih