Dr. Xavier P Mao and Dr. Subhash C Arya
The present era is the era of logical reasoning, emphasis on rationalism and critical thinking. Contemporary generation looks every aspect of belief microscopically before acceptance or rejection. In recent time, the father of nation has drawn the attention of many Indians not only who are followers of Gandhi but also who dislike him on different grounds. In this article, efforts are made to develop the understanding about Gandhi from dalits and tribes point of view. Gandhi’s contribution in freedom struggle and acceptance of his non-violence theory by people considered him a great Indian son and later on, he was declared as the father of India. However, while examining critically his social, personal and political life, Gandhiji is losing the charm, prestige, faith, and position of the father of nation gradually. In fact, recently RBI has expressed its thought of replacing Gandhi’s picture by another important Indian personality on Indian currency. Gandhi’s attitude towards Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Bhagat Singh, Md. Jinnah and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was bereft of quality of a great man.
The current revelation from the national newspaper in India about the titled of “Father of the nation” was never officially conferred to Mahatma Gandhi has stirred minds of many people to examine critically the different aspect of Gandhi’s personality. Gandhi’s idea on man and civilization, on village economy, political view such as Ramarajya which have strong appeal to the common Hindu people, his mass movement against the British rule in the freedom struggle has made him very popular in India. The then media had also highlighted widely his simple life and high thinking that led him to be icon of India. However, was Mr. M K Gandhi truly great as the title Mahatma was given by Rabindranath Tagore and in turn he gave the title Gurudev to Rabindranath Tagore? In addition, there is no doubt that Gandhi was greatly projected widely by the media and common person. Recently, 10 years old girl has put Government of India in an embarrassing and indefensible position by asking the authenticity about title of the Father of nation to Mr. M K Gandhi. Further, Dr. B. R. Amebdkar’s interview with the BBC London radio, categorically stated that he would never address Mr. M K. Gandhi as Mahatma (great). It is also evidenced by history, that supporters of Sardar Bhagat Singh had shown black flags to Gandhi during Karachi Congress session on March 25, 1931. Gandhi’s meanness has also been clearly exposed when Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was elected as the President of Indian National Congress in year 1939 by defeating Gandhi’s candidate i.e. Pattabhi Sitaramayya. In Netaji’s victory made him wept so bitterly by saying “Pattabhi Sitaramayya’s defeat is my defeat”. The recent published book title “Gandhi: naked mission” by Jad Adam has also raised many questions about so called the greatness of Gandhi. These important questions have inspired us to review seriously and critically the life and deeds of Mr. M K. Gandhi. In this review paper, attempt is made to examine and discover as to why the popularity and image of Gandhi is declining gradually. Gandhi’s real perception and opinion about the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes status ought to be according to Hindu Verna system have been extracted from different reliable sources for example in his own periodical the Harijan. The reasons for dislike Gandhi by Dalits and Tribes have been explained in subsequent section. Further, we have also discussed as to why Gandhi was not conferred both Nobel peace prize and Bharat Ratna awards. Gandhi as phony non-violence activist and his racist attitude towards the Black African are also explained in this paper. In this way, the paper highlighted the justified reasons for the downfall of Mr. M K Gandhi.
Gandhi’s View on Hindu Caste system
The honour killing which is the result of inter-caste marriage is widely prevailing in India even today. Recent supreme court judgment on12th December, 2009, states that , “..“..caste is such a concept that grips a person even before his birth and does not leave him even after his death..the vicious grip of the caste, community, religion, though totally unjustified, is a stark reality.” The curse of caste system was beautifully explained by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in the following words: “The caste system based on birth and unnatural gradation of inequality would make Brahmins intellectually corrupt, Kshatriya coward, Vaisha greedy and Shudra slave”. But in this connection, Mr. M. K. Gandhi stated in his journal Harijan on March 6, 1947, that , “I believe in Varnashrama (caste system), which is the law of life. The law of Verna (colour and /or caste?) is nothing but the law of conservation of energy. Why should my son not be scavenger if I am one?” Some more references on belief and support of caste system is demonstrated by his statements given in various published articles such as , “I call myself a Sanatana man, one who firmly believes in the caste system”. (Dharma Manthan, p 4).
These quotes from Gandhi’s own mouth clearly show that he was strong believer of caste system with its serious negative implications. In fact, Gandhi did his barrister law in UK and thereafter he practiced law in South Africa for about 21 years, which was incongruity between his thought and action because as per Hindu Verna-system she should have followed his ancestor’s business being born in business class family. Later on he was not at all consistent in his profession as he partly joined politics and partly behaving like a saint/Brahmin type. Lastly the very caste system which was watered, nourished and preserved by Mr. Gandhi was responsible for his assassination by a Brahmin Nathuram Godse as his popularity and fame surpassed the established supremacy of Brahmins in the then India including Pandit J. N. Nehru. Gandhi’s contemporary important leaders were all paying respect to him and following his advice in their day today activities, however, those strong believers in caste system could not tolerate the outstanding leadership of Gandhi surpassing even the Brahmins. Nadhuram Godse was merely representative of such thoughts and feelings and became honor killer to reestablish the supremacy of Brahmins over other castes.
Why Dalits and Tribes do not like Mr. M K Gandhi
The term “Harijan” given to the untouchables/Dalits by Gandhi was strongly objected by the Dalits/untouchables including the great scholar Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on the following ground: by Hindu tradition, Harijans are the offspring of the Devadasi (temple prostitutes) and the temple priest. The identity of the father was not known so they were called children of God. This clearly shows that the term Harijan is highly derogatory and abusive in nature. Consequently, the untouchables strongly protested against Gandhi’s label for them without their consent. Present Central Government notification about the ban in not using the word Harijan for Scheduled Caste people in official documents also endorses the implication of this derogatory word. Similarly, the term Girijan to tribe was also strongly objected by tribes as it has negative connotation of their identity. The negative connotation is that by virtue of living on the Hills and forest means, they are uncivilized, immoral, however; in reality, they are/were unpaid teachers to the caste Hindu society as well articulated by Prof. Kancha Ilaiah in his famous book entitled “Post Hindu India”. Tribes were knowing various food nutritious values, medicinal plants, ecosystem etc. They are simple happy go lucky society without the modern vices and perverted behavior. On the contrary, the term Girijan has given distorted views about tribe’s strong sense of morality and indigenous knowledge. In view of these negative labels given to dalits and tribes, Gandhi could not become icon for them.
Secondly, when in 1932, the then British Government had recognized the Muslims, Sikhs, Christian, Anglo-Indian and Untouchables as Minorities of India. Accordingly, the minority communities were given communal award for their protection and upliftment. However, Gandhi strongly opposed the communal award given to untouchable but not to other minorities on the ground that the Hindu hierarchal society will be disintegrated. If this communal award to the untouchable were utilized, their centuries of oppression and exploitation would have been minimized if not completely stopped. Moreover, their position might be uplifted on par with caste Hindu hence probably exploitative hierarchal Hindu society would have disintegrated. Therefore, what sort of disintegration Mr. Gandhi was talking about when the Hindu society is already divided into more than thousands of castes. This attitude of Mr. Gandhi clearly reflects the duplicity of his stand as he did not oppose to the communal award to other better off than untouchable like Muslims, Sikhs, Christian and Anglo-Indians. By resorting fast unto death in dress of saint, Gandhi made Dr. Ambedkar a kind of villain in the eyes of the common Indian public. In reality, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was the sole representative of untouchables and this was recognized even by British and not Gandhi as he claimed. It has been also substantiated partly when Gandhi returned from Second roundtable conference; he was greeted with black flag by untouchable at the Mumbai port. In this way, Gandhi tried to belittle and denigrate Dr. Ambedkar, which has earned dislike among the Dalits.
In Dandi March, Gandhi has broken the salt law on the ground that it was immoral and exploitative law of British Government, on the other hand, he did not support Dr. Ambedkar’s historical movement against the prohibition of drinking water from the public well for the untouchables on the same moral principle. In fact, the denial of drinking water from the public well to the untouchable was worse than the British salt law because Indians were getting the salt at higher price whereas the untouchables were completely prohibited from drinking water from the public well even when birds and animals could drink.
From 1930-1936, Dr. Ambedkar had led Kalaram Temple movement vigorously but the objectives could not be achieved. Because of the failure to change the rigid attitude of caste Hindu towards the untouchables he was compelled to declare publicly at Yeola Conversion Conference in year 1935 that, “I am born a Hindu. I could not help it, but I solemnly assure you that I will not die a Hindu'. He said: 'Hindu civilization is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity”. After, such big episode the untouchable in large numbers were detaching themselves from Hinduism then Gandhi started smartly temple entry campaign for the untouchables in anticipation of not losing the services of the unpaid lowest of the low of the Hindus i.e. the untouchable. These are the few reasons why the untouchables/ dalits seriously doubt the genuine intension of M. K. Gandhi for their betterment and upliftment.
Irony of Gandhi
Gandhi’s name was nominated for a nobel peace prize five times – in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948, he was not found suitable for that prestigious award on the ground that his racism against the Africans and his support for war in his life time such as during the Anglo-Boer war, Bambatha Rebellion in 1906 in which many Zulu tribal impis and chiefs were killed. In 1937, Norwegian Professor Jacob Worm-Müller said that, “It is significant that [Gandhi’s] well-known struggle in South Africa was on behalf of the Indians only, and not of the blacks whose living conditions were even worse.” According to Gandhi’s view, the Black Africans main job was hunting, and their aim in life was to collect some number of cattle to purchase a wife and rest of the time, they spend in indolence, nakedness, lethargy and sluggishness. Gandhi’s open support and admiration for Adolf Hitler is evidenced by his statement in the following words: “We have no doubt about your bravery or devotion to your fatherland, nor do we believe that you are the monster described by your opponents”. While Gandhi was against the British rule in India he supported the British rule in South Africa which is nothing but a clear hypocrisy. Recently, in 109th Congress of USA condemned Gandhi’s racism remarks. In view of the negative and phony non-violence, international image of Gandhi had made him unsuitable for Nobel Peace prize despite five times nomination. Further, in his own country India, he was not given the highest civilian Bharat Ratna award, which raises doubt in the mind of younger generation for his genuine contribution to Indian society.
On July 12, 2012 there was a serious attention drawn to public by one of national news paper, The Indian Express about the title of the father of the nation, which was never officially conferred to Gandhi. On 21st May, 2012, Mr. Abhishek Kadyan has filed an RTI regarding the title of Gandhi as the father of the nation. In reply to this RTI, Shyamala Mohan, Director and Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), has stated, “Although Mahatma Gandhi is popularly known as 'Father of the Nation', no such title was ever formally conferred upon him by the government". In this connection even before Mr. Abhishek Kadyan, Ms. Aishwarya Parasher, (a girl student of class VI) Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, had filed an RTI seeking a copy of the evidence of the order through which Mahatma Gandhi was declared as ‘ Father of the Nation’. After traversing some Ministerial offices such as PMO, MHRD, finally The National Archives of India (NAI) has replied that as per the search among the public records in the NAI there is no specific document on the declaration of Gandhi as the “Father of the Nation”. This shows how false propaganda has been blindly converted into apparent truth.
In a similar vein, Gandhi’s portrait was never there on Indian currency before 1987. But from 1987, Gandhi’s portrait was embedded on the Rs. 500 note by replacing Ashoka Piller water mark. In addition, from 1997 onwards, on the entire Indian rupee notes were completely replaced by Gandhi’s portrait over Ashoka Piller. In a democratic country there should have been a public discussion or debate over such replacement, however, there is no such official evidence as to how Ashoka’s Piller has been replaced by Gandhi’s portrait. Recently, in the light of such emergent serious controversy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has asked the public opinion about the replacement of Gandhi’s portrait by other outstanding Indian personality where Dr. B. R. Ambedkar has figured prominently. Mahatma Gandhi himself admitted that he slept naked with his grand nieces in the name of Brahmancharya experiment. However, there are other women aged between 18 to 25 years with whom Gandhi slept was recorded by Dr. L. R. Bali’s book entitled “RANGILA GANDHI” and “KYA GANDHI MAHTMA THEY. The biographer of Mr. M K Gandhi, Jad Adam has concluded Gandhi as sex mad in his recent published book titled, “Gandhi: Naked Ambition”.
In conclusion, we have found that the real Gandhi is not as great as he is projected by the media and his followers. The qualities of a great human being universally accepted are not matching with Gandhi’s attitudes and values towards man and society including his personal life. Even though in his own time, Dr. Ambedkar evaluated and compared Gandhi’s personality with the then great persons such as Ranade, and Md. Jinnha in his published book titled, “Gandhi Ranade and Jinnha”. Therefore, we have enough documentary evidences to show that Gandhi’s fall is expected with the passage of time.
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