Relevance of Gandhiji Today
-Wrote on 1st october 2010
Desh ke liye jisne vilaas ko thukraya tha,
Tyag videshi dhaage, khud ki khaadi bnaya
tha,
Pehenke kath ki chappal jisne satyagrah ka
raag sunaya tha,
Wo Mahatma Gandhi kehlaya tha.
Albert Einstein said,” Generations to come will
scarcely believe that the one as Gandhi walked the Earth in flesh and blood.”
The skeleton in thin lion cloth with a stick
in hand who walked miles on this motherland is none other than the Father of
our Nation- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi
had the wisdom of Socrates, humility of St. Francis, mass appeal of Lenin,
saintliness of Gautam Buddha. He was a sincere seeker of the truth and a
spiritual explorer, experimenting all his life to discover truth and applying
it to the practical problems confronting man.
Gandhiji’s
contributions to society, polity and economy are immense. He was a symbol of
peace. His relevance is being felt today in all walks of life, especially in
this violent and degenerated social order. The basic philosophy of Gandhiji was
truth and non-violence and he used these weapons against the callous Britishers
during freedom struggle. In his autobiography ‘My Autobiography with Truth’,
Mahatma Gandhi writes- ‘I have nothing to teach the world. Truth and
non-violence are as old as hills. I have just experimented with the two.’
He was
really concerned about poorest of the poor. His philosophy was that means are
equally important as goals. Shiv Khera has written- Different people don’t do
different things, they do things differently. And what made Gandhiji different
was his pragmatism. He was a man of his words and did what he said. To him, an
ounce of practice was worth more than tons of preaching. And this is what our
generation requires-practicability.
Rabindranath Tagore very aptly conferred on him the title of ‘Mahatma’
meaning ‘Great Soul’ as Gandhiji was the embodiment of goodness. And his
goodliness today is represented by every currency note with a smiling picture
of Gandhiji. He emphasized on decentralization of polity and advocated for ‘village
republics’ to serve the needs of local problems locally. Local people know
their problems better and can solve them with local resources and local
approach. His this concept of ‘Panchayati Raj’ is still very prevalent and is
the very essence of our democracy.
Simple living and
High thinking were his mantra. He was against untouchability and all forms of
oppression. He also wanted to improve the status of women as he said ‘Woman is
the incarnation of Ahimsa.’ To him, men can never equal women in selfless
service and sacrifice with which nature has endowed her. It is because of his
contribution that we have been able to eradicate social evils like sati, dowry
and female infanticide to such a great extent.
Today, when the people are
fighting over land in Ayodhya, Gandhiji believed in Hindu-Muslim unity. He had
firm faith in God in every phase of his life and believed in communal harmony.
Gandhiji actually had four sons, but in today’s world Nelson Mandela, Martin
Luther King, Aung Suu Kyi and 14th Dalai Lama are also considered
his children. Gandhiji was the leader of leaders during freedom struggle. The
need of the hour is to organize ourselves on the same lines as was done before,
but today we have to wage a war against untouchability, injustice and
oppression. As long as these problems exist, Gandhiji’s relevance will be
there.
There is no other personality on whom so
many movies have been made. Some of them are Gandhi-My father, Lage Raho Munna
Bhai, Maine Gandhi ko nhi Maara, Making of the Mahatma and of course the
Oscar-winner Gandhi starring Ben Kingsley of 1982.
Mahatma
Gandhi was declared ‘Man of the Year’ in 1930 by TIMES. He was declared
runner-up to Albert Einstein as ‘Person of the Century’ by Forbes in 1999. On
15 June 2007, UN declared October 2 as the ‘International Day of Non-Violence’.
USA has declared a district in Texas and a postage stamp in Gandhiji’s name to
honour him. It is an insult for Nobel Prize that it was not bestowed upon him
even after being nominated for it 5 times between 1937 and 1948.
The generation of today needs to realize his contribution to the freedom
and development of the country. Besides, we must consider the spirit and soul
of his propositions. He has given the world a new way of life. It must be
Nathuram Godse who killed Gandhiji but it is us who have killed his philosophy.
But is
Gandhiji’s world utopian and far from impossible? The answer is ‘No’. Dr. Kalam’s
vision of 2020 is nearly the same. I would like to borrow his words for the
conclusion of this article-Dream is not something you do while you are asleep,
it is something that keeps you awake and does not allow you to sleep.
So, be the change you wish to see in the
world as each one of you can make a difference. My appeal to the youth to think
over it and walk for it.
JAI HIND.
