Mahatma: A misrepresented Idol.

"India’s last war of independence has begun… Father of our nation,In this holy war of India’s liberation, we ask for your blessings and good wishes" -Bose on Mahatma.

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Gandhi, a man who led millions into the freedom struggle without resorting to violence, is often a figure of controversy. A man who is bashed based on disgusting conspiracy theories. The present generation are misguided by the depiction of Gandhi's struggle as a mere 'drive out the British' campaign in the History books.

Gandhi is being hated for all the wrong reasons like,

- If it weren't for Gandhi, India would have gotten independence long back.

- Gandhi had enough influence to prevent the execution of Bhagat Singh, but chose to remain silent.

- Gandhi sidelined Bose in fear that he might overshadow him.

- Gandhi's unnecessary silence is responsible for the post partition mayhem.

And the most important one.

- I hate Gandhi because it's "cool", as many hate Gandhi.

Is Ahimsa (Non-Violence) an effective form of protest or is it cowardice?

Before we jump into the conclusions, let us look at various revolutions around the world. Remember, all these revolutions had a genuine and noble cause.

Khalistan Movement:

The partition and independence of India were not joyful events for the Sikhs with regards to their traditional lands being lost to Pakistan. Most of the Sikhs were kicked out of their lands in areas that went to Pakistan after independence. The Eastern Punjab is dominated by non Punjabi speaking people.

Reasons enough to start a revolution.

A revolution broke out, took a violent turn and was brutally suppressed by the Government and the word Khalistan was never heard ever since.

LTTE Movement:

The Sri Lankan government passed a law to rectify the low numbers of Sinhalese students being accepted into the universities in the Tamilian dominated regions of SriLanka. This led to the discrimination of Tamilians in all the fields. In addition Sri Lankan government committed many atrocities against the Tamilians.

Reasons enough to start a revolution.

A revolution broke out. These Tamil insurgents adopted a violent approach, declared a separate state, a separate administration only to be suppressed by the government.

Somali Pirates:

The Somalian government passed a bill to effectively use the foreign Investments for the improvement of agriculture and fishing industry along the coastal regions of Somalia. In order to promote them the government allowed foreign fishing companies and made partnerships with the Iranian and Iraqi governments, but the civil war collapsed the central government. This served the foreign companies as an opportunity to exploit the marine stocks.

Reasons enough to start a revolution.

Instead of a revolt the Somali's had a different idea, with the Somali navy disbanded they began looting and started piracy activities and the rest is history.

What went wrong with these revolutions is, when history of violence overshadows ideas of freedom the latter can either be sacrificed in it's name or remain undeveloped. All these revolutions lost their true purpose in the course of time.

Now, what makes Ahimsa a unique and effective form of protest.

-Indian government annexed Andhra and Telangana with out thinking of the likes of either regions.

The British colonized India, plundered the wealth and mocked the Indian culture.

-This sparked revolutions across the state.

This triggered an immediate outbreak of revolutions in the country.

-Students started the revolution(1950's) and chose a violent path to protest which gave the government a reason to suppress the revolution. This revolt resulted in 350 deaths.

Extremists started the revolution(early 1900's) adopted violence which initially worked but was eventually suppressed by the military might of the British. Thousands were killed (Jallianwala Bagh) and hundreds were imprisoned.

-Decades later, TRS and JAC closely observed the reasons for the failure of the revolts and realized that it was due to lack of awareness, fear of imprisonment as they previously resorted to violence and a strong leadership in the state. The death of Rajasekhar Reddy weakened the Power of the government which presented as an opportunity to start the revolution. Gandhi returned to India, traveled across the country and observed the reasons for the failure and realized that fear for life silenced the revolution. The World Wars greatly weakened the grip of British over its colonies which paved a way to restart the revolution.

-TRS and JAC began a peaceful protest from Osmania University to spread awareness, starting with Million march and followed by Pen Down and Sakala Janula Samme which gathered the masses.

Gandhi led congress began the revolt starting with Champaran Satyagraha followed by Civil Disobedience movement and Non Cooperation Movement. When the revolt took a violent turn he stopped the revolt to avoid violent repercussions from the British.

-The government couldn't stop them as it was mass movement and a peaceful revolution.

The British couldn't stop the revolt as it would spoil the reputation internationally as they were advocating democracy in European countries(Poland).

-The Government had to consider the demands of the revolt which led to the bifurcation.

The British were left with no other choice than to grant the independence.

Gandhi had influence but chose not to prevent the execution of Bhagat Singh.

This is a stupid myth which refuses to be gone. Gandhi pleaded the Viceroy several times to reconsider the sentence on Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukh Dev.

Below is the letter personally written by Gandhi to the Viceroy pleading to reconsider the Judgement.

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M. K. Gandhi 1 DARYAGANJ, DELHI, March 23, 1931

The Viceroy, Govt. of India. DEAR FRIEND, It seems cruel to inflict this letter on you, but the interest of peace demands a final appeal. Though you were frank enough to tell me that there was little hope of your commuting the sentence of death on Bhagat Singh and two others, you said you would consider my submission of Saturday. Dr. Sapru met me yesterday and said that you were troubled over the matter and taxing your brain as to the proper course to adopt. If there is any room left for reconsideration, I invite you attention to the following. Popular opinion rightly or wrongly demands commutation. When there is no principle at stake, it is often a duty to respect it. In the present case the chances are that, if commutation is granted, internal peace is most likely to be promoted. In the event of execution, peace is undoubtedly in danger. Seeing that I am able to inform you that the revolutionary party has assured me that, in the event of these lives being spared, that party will stay its hands, suspension of sentence pending cessation of revolutionary murders becomes in my opinion a peremptory duty. Political murders have been condoned before now. It is worth while saving these lives, if thereby many other innocent lives are likely to be saved and maybe even revolutionary crime almost stamped out. Since you seem to value my influence such as it is in favour of peace, do not please unnecessarily make my position, difficult as it is, almost too difficult for future work. Execution is an irretrievable act. If you think there is the slightest chance of error of judgement, I would urge you to suspend for further review an act that is beyond recall. If my presence is necessary, I can come. Though I may not speak1 I may hear and write what I want to say. “Charity never failes.”

I am, Your sincere friend, M. K. Gandhi

From a Photostat : C.W. 9343. Courtesy: India Office Library

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Was the Mahatma a bit uneasy about this? Yes, you can clearly see from the language. He was quite embarrassed to even make this request. To understand this one must know about the revolutionary act of Bhagat Singh.

When Simon arrived India there were widespread protests against Simon commission for its lack of diversity in its member body. Many leaders protested. In one such protest led by Lala Lajpat Rai the police attempted to control the protest. The superintendent of police, James A. Scott, ordered the police to lathi charge (use batons against) the protesters and personally assaulted Rai, who was injured. He succumbed to his wounds a few days later. This outraged Bhagat Singh. He wanted to avenge Rai's death. Singh conspired with revolutionaries like Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, and Chandrashekhar Azad to kill Scott. However, in a case of mistaken identity, the plotters shot John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police.

They killed a completely different person and to that it was the time when the time the British started listening to the Indian leader's pleas. Gandhi felt that this particular act of violence undid what he had been trying for years. But, even then he chose to personally write a letter to the British officials to reconsider the sentence. His commitment can be questioned but not his efforts.

This letter was misinterpreted in many ways, which eventually led to this disgusting Myth that Gandhi had influence on the British but chose to remain silent.

Gandhi sidelined Bose in fear of being overshadowed.

(A rather long explanation, if not interested skip to the Summary)

Subash Chandra Bose, a Cambridge graduate who cracked the Imperial Civil Service examination(Then equivalent of IAS), inspired by Gandhi and Chitaranjan Das resigned the job and joined the Congress. Bose was one of those inspired souls who came to answer Gandhi's call. He rose through ranks and became the President of Youth Congress wing in 1927 with the support of Gandhi and Nehru and he was one of the general secretaries of the Congress.

The first crack in the relationship between Bose and Gandhi appeared when Gandhi and Ambedkar were invited to the second Round Table Conference which Ambedkar turned into a minority rights issue instead of representing a larger goal, freedom. Bose was disappointed and depressed as Gandhi failed to address the issue of freedom struggle.

The depressed Bose left the country and traveled Europe. He was greatly influenced and inspired by Garibaldi's victories over French Autocracy which made him feel that Gandhi's approach towards independence was not an appropriate one. When he returned to India he had deep respect for Gandhi, but criticized his ways.

The ideology of Bose was influenced by aspects of Fascism as a government body, but without any elements of racism or Hindu supremacy. Gandhi was openly against his radical principles now, advocating a more cautious approach.

All this took a worse turn in the elections for President of the Congress. Gandhi nominated Pattabhi Sitaramayya and suggested Bose to withdraw in a concern that if Bose wins he would lead the Congress and revolt with a violent approach which will result in a fate similar to Bhagat Singh.

Bose won the elections. Gandhi took a personal stand and declared that the loss of Pattabhi was his loss. This deeply saddened Bose. He offered his resignation and left the party.

Both Gandhi and Bose however had nothing but respect for each other even after this turn of events. Bose was taking advantage of the weakness of Britain at this time and launching a armed struggle, whereas Gandhi was of the opinion that whether England wins or loses, they will be weakened by the war and grant India freedom anyway thus preventing the loss of life.

They both loved the nation and each other. Just that they differed on an idea.

Post partition mayhem:

When India was partitioned there was a lot of pain and confusion. Millions were uprooted and many were killed. It was one of the biggest tragedies in Indian history. Confused and the angry, many mistakenly blamed Gandhi for the massacre. Many on the Hindu Right thought that Gandhi was soft towards Muslims. His vision for peace and stability were misunderstood.

The congress prepared for the worst in Bengal and Gandhi was sent to control and contain the chaos but the biggest issues were in the Eastern states of Gujarat and Punjab. The Hindu extremists were unhappy and angry as Gandhi didn't come to their rescue in the East. Ironically if Gandhi weren't assassinated he would have traveled to the East(Punjab) to control the violence there.

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It requires extraordinary knowledge to understand Gandhian ideas and just because we don't understand these, doesn't mean he was incorrect.

He doesn't deserve all the glory but at the same time he doesn't deserve all the blame. In any way one can strongly say that Gandhi's role in Indian Independence is unforgettable.