Denigrating Gandhi, absurd revisionism

While the nation observed January 30 as Martyrs’ Day to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated on that date in 1948, it was also celebrated as a victory day by some sections and groups in the country. The day had an opposite meaning and significance for them, and Gandhiji’s role and contributions were sought to be denigrated. A ‘Dharma Sansad’ held in Prayagraj declared that Gandhi should not be called the ‘Father of the Nation’ and Subhas Chandra Bose, and not Jawaharlal Nehru, should be considered the first Prime Minister of independent India. The meeting also wanted the country to be declared a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. Another meeting in Gwalior of the Hindu Mahasabha renamed the day as Godse-Apte Smriti Divas, to honour Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse and his co-accused, Narayan Apte. There were other similar events that vilified Gandhiji and celebrated his killing and openly feted his killers. Temples have been built to worship Godse.

This revision of Gandhiji’s life, rewriting of the country’s history and reordering of the leaders of the past has been happening since 2014. They have become more strident now. What is of greater concern is that there is little resistance to these ideas from the top echelons of the government, the leadership of the ruling party, and its wider Parivar. The derogation and vilification of Gandhiji happened on the same day that the government and its leaders made a show of their reverence of Gandhiji’s life and ideals. None of them, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has condemned the detractors and called them out. A month ago, another religious gathering in Haridwar had called for a genocide of the minorities in the country. The Prime Minister and his party have not condemned even that.

All this amounts to complicity in the campaign by those in power at various levels in government and in politics. It cannot be dismissed as comments and actions of fringe elements. The fringe has moved to the core, and the core has always contained some of the fringe. Witness the government’s Principal Economic Adviser arguing that Subhas Bose be regarded as the first Prime Minister of independent India, notwithstanding the obvious fallacies in this rewriting of history. It must be noted that it was Bose himself who called Gandhiji ‘Bapu, the Father of the Nation’. Everybody need not agree with it, especially those whose ideological forefathers were neither with Gandhi nor with Bose in the freedom struggle. The threat from bigotry and intolerance is growing by the day as the political and institutional environment and safeguards against them have grown weaker. The unity and integrity of India, even the sanity of Indians, is under threat now.