Is Mahatma Gandhi relevant today?
It is a question oft-repeated by the followers of those who killed Gandhi. On 30 January,1948 he was brutally killed, under public gaze, during a prayer service, by assassin Naturam Godse who was aided and abetted by a Hindu fundamentalist group.
Because Gandhi stood for truth and ahimsa. Because he stood for the unity of India where he wanted all Indians to live in fellowship and harmony under one umbrella.
Today Nathuram’s followers are on a rampage. They kill Gandhi again and again by shooting at his image, pulling down his statues, and running a smearing campaign against him. They revel in political patronage!
The killer of Gandhi is being honoured as a national hero. He is being hailed as a hero who killed ‘the naked Fakir’ for a right cause!
When the poor, the downtrodden, and the centuries old outcastes (the Dalits) hail Gandhi and venerate him as their saviour, there are fanatical forces who shout from rooftops:Down with Gandhi.
Whatever be the attempts of the evil elements, Gandhi will live on in human hearts, in the hearts of those who believe in the indispensable principles of truth, ahimsa, social justice, economic parity, and the rise of the least and the lost!
‘Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake’.(Tagore)
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
