Mocking Mahatma
I was watching the Door Darshan live telecast of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s address to the UN General Assembly on the eve of World Non-Violence day, commemorating the birth day of Mahatma Gandhi. The speech was short, rather a few minutes of presentation. Despite being on the other side of the political beliefs and ideologies of the party which she belongs to, my silent prayers were for a smooth, flawless presentation and each time she stumbled upon any word out of nervousness, my heart was with her, I saw her failure as mine as she represented the whole of India who gave birth to the luminary personality of Mahatma whom the whole humanity salutes and the land where his ideas were put into practice and succeeded to a great extend though not realized as absolute. She has done a fine home work, and did a fair job, thankfully!
UN General Assembly adorned to have eminent personalities in the history, the cradle of a few renowned orations ever rendered by Indians; a long tradition of voicing our views from that royal dais, right from the record breaking address of first defense minister Sri. V K Krishna Menon through the mesmerizing Hindi vocalization of the former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. None of them simply spit at the mass in front or to the larger, eager audience across the globe the secretarial text in front on the podium, they were the voice and vision instead, of millions of Indians and the values which we stand for. How far have we come?
Here, on the birth day of one of the greatest leaders India ever contributed to the whole of humanity, world’s largest organization honoured the day with General Assembly session attended by delegates from all parts of the world. With all my due respect to Mrs. Gandhi, let me say, India definitely should have put a better face who could convey the message of non-violence and Ahimsa to a global audience in a better, stronger way on such an auspicious day.
Gandhi lived till the mid of 20th century. It’s just 60 years since we gained freedom. At least a tiny minority of those freedom fighters who burned their youth for the cause of nation must still be alive. We are quite a young nation but within a century after securing freedom, Gandhi and his legacy have become so fashionable among Indians that it can be used for purported purposes. Those who can no way relate themselves to him inherit the name and exploit securely. When the Kashmiri journalist Feroz Ghandi (remember, not Gandhi) married the first Indian Prime Minister’s gorgeous daughter the public image of the late leader was adopted by a whole family. We saw in her the rigour, charisma and burning will power of India’s strongest and most arrogant Prime Minister; the surname Gandhi got acceptance and became anonymous with the Nehru family. It descended through the next generations to reach her sons to revolve around a myth which interpreted itself into election victories and family dominations in the Indian political scenario. When Indira’s over hyped, good looking son, Rajiv inherited power it reached another level and the juggernaut still rolls and the flag is now with Sonia.
The never ending Indian political drama in which members of the Nehru family were brutally assassinated added to the public sentiments and still Gandhis of today are the great grand children of the old Mahatma for the Indian illiterate though they share nothing in common.
Have we, as a nation, not graduated ourselves to come out of this foolish dynasty politics?
UN General Assembly adorned to have eminent personalities in the history, the cradle of a few renowned orations ever rendered by Indians; a long tradition of voicing our views from that royal dais, right from the record breaking address of first defense minister Sri. V K Krishna Menon through the mesmerizing Hindi vocalization of the former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee. None of them simply spit at the mass in front or to the larger, eager audience across the globe the secretarial text in front on the podium, they were the voice and vision instead, of millions of Indians and the values which we stand for. How far have we come?
Here, on the birth day of one of the greatest leaders India ever contributed to the whole of humanity, world’s largest organization honoured the day with General Assembly session attended by delegates from all parts of the world. With all my due respect to Mrs. Gandhi, let me say, India definitely should have put a better face who could convey the message of non-violence and Ahimsa to a global audience in a better, stronger way on such an auspicious day.
Gandhi lived till the mid of 20th century. It’s just 60 years since we gained freedom. At least a tiny minority of those freedom fighters who burned their youth for the cause of nation must still be alive. We are quite a young nation but within a century after securing freedom, Gandhi and his legacy have become so fashionable among Indians that it can be used for purported purposes. Those who can no way relate themselves to him inherit the name and exploit securely. When the Kashmiri journalist Feroz Ghandi (remember, not Gandhi) married the first Indian Prime Minister’s gorgeous daughter the public image of the late leader was adopted by a whole family. We saw in her the rigour, charisma and burning will power of India’s strongest and most arrogant Prime Minister; the surname Gandhi got acceptance and became anonymous with the Nehru family. It descended through the next generations to reach her sons to revolve around a myth which interpreted itself into election victories and family dominations in the Indian political scenario. When Indira’s over hyped, good looking son, Rajiv inherited power it reached another level and the juggernaut still rolls and the flag is now with Sonia.
The never ending Indian political drama in which members of the Nehru family were brutally assassinated added to the public sentiments and still Gandhis of today are the great grand children of the old Mahatma for the Indian illiterate though they share nothing in common.
Have we, as a nation, not graduated ourselves to come out of this foolish dynasty politics?
posted by arjun sagar at 8:09 pm
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