{"id":98901924,"date":"2019-08-13T13:11:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T17:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/?p=98901924"},"modified":"2019-08-14T15:32:52","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T19:32:52","slug":"the-relevance-of-gandhi-in-modern-india-and-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/the-relevance-of-gandhi-in-modern-india-and-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Bapu’s Way: The Relevance of Gandhi in Modern India and the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him at our own risk.”\u00a0 —\u00a0<\/em>Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

In 1915, Indian National Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale invited a frail lawyer in his late forties from South Africa, to come to India and duplicate his success in fighting injustice and class division. Gokhale also had another motive; to groom this man to take on the mantle of the Indian independence movement. This man was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi — the\u00a0Father of the Indian Nation, or more affectionately\u00a0referred to as “Bapu” (father) by many Indians. This year marks the 150th birth anniversary (celebrated October 2) of arguably the greatest leader of the Indian independence movement whose teachings went on to inspire countless other non-violent revolutions around the world.<\/p>\n

Mahatma Gandhi had, and continues to have, a huge global influence. He is regarded as\u00a0more than just an\u00a0Indian — just\u00a0like Einstein is more than\u00a0just Swiss, Mozart Austrian, da Vinci Italian, or Chekov Russian; he is one of those human beings who belongs to all of humanity. His followers include prominent global\u00a0leaders and activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and more recently, Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

I first learned a lot about the Mahatma through Richard Attenborough\u2019s movie Gandhi<\/em> in which actor Ben Kingsley portrayed Bapu to perfection — a performance that won him an Oscar Award. I vividly remember how inspired I was\u00a0as a child after seeing the journey of a common man to the zenith of national leadership. I got to know more about his\u00a0immensely challenging life\u00a0by reading the many books on him including The Story of My Experiments with Truth<\/em> and Hind Swaraj<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Decades since his death, a strong and independent India still has\u00a0a lot of work to do\u00a0to stay on track with the vision\u00a0the Mahatma\u00a0had for his country and countrymen. It\u2019s quite obvious that when you look at certain aspects of modern India\u2019s political, social, and economic make-up, there\u2019s still a desperate cry for an infusion of more of Gandhi\u2019s values and ideals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become voguish to question, \u201cDo we really need Gandhi in today\u2019s world?\u201d and it\u2019s always being asked with the presumption of the reply being, \u201cNo, we don\u2019t\u201d. In the age of information technology, where is the applicability of Gandhi’s iconic spinning wheel? In the age of consumption, what is the use of self-control?<\/p>\n

The core Gandhian values are not\u00a0practiced enough today. Non-violence, his biggest teaching to the nation, is not the term to be associated with\u00a0modern\u00a0India, which is afflicted by different forms and levels of violence every day. The Gandhian era and current India are in complete contradiction. Trust in the nation and its leaders, which most Indian citizens\u00a0experienced to some degree during\u00a0Gandhi\u2019s era, is nowhere to be\u00a0felt today.<\/p>\n

Over the past decades, India has\u00a0sadly endured\u00a0incidents where law enforcement officials\u00a0have been suspended for investigating government corruption. Journalists who write the truth\u00a0have been harassed or silenced. Even young girls traveling alone\u00a0have been victims to violence. There was even an occasion where a defenseless man was lynched by a mob because of \u2018rumors\u2019 he may have kept cow\u2019s meat in his refrigerator!<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The only solution to injustice and extremism today is to revisit and practice\u00a0Gandhian values such as truth, non-violence, and secularism.[\/perfectpullquote]
\nWe come across \u2018chosen\u2019 religions, races, political ideologies — all lending themselves to prejudicial arrangements\u00a0that crush the rights of those who do not subscribe to them. Our ancient texts say Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti<\/em> (“the truth is one, wise men interpret it differently”). If this is what our culture tells us, then how can we accept just one school of thought that says it is the only way\u00a0and which\u00a0paints those who do not associate\u00a0with\u00a0it as infidels or unpatriotic traitors? All the injustice and extremism today are\u00a0like\u00a0festering sores, and the only balm of relief is to revisit and practice\u00a0Gandhian values such as truth, non-violence, and secularism.<\/p>\n

\"Mahatma<\/p>\n

Gandhi was a charismatic leader, but his mass appeal was never based on appeasing any specific community or spreading hate against any section of society. While political parties have always been subservient to the masses and the masses have followed certain political figures without question, people like Gandhi had the courage to fight mob mentality. He always considered mobocracy as an unacceptable way of conducting politics and organizing a society.<\/p>\n

You may ask that, if Gandhi was all that history says he was, then why did India suffer partition and carnage? Also, why do corruption and animosities stain\u00a0the country even in 2019? As for non-violence, can we look at Syria or\u00a0Iraq and still talk of its relevance in today’s world?<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]In the age of social media and instant gratification, there\u00a0is perhaps no place for ethics, camaraderie, honesty, peace, and non-violence … or is there?[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

Gandhi was criticized for not solving all the issues of our times. His failure to accomplish an ideal world speaks volumes of what he inspired us to expect from him — simply everything … even miracles. In his journey, he both failed and prospered. It proves that he wasn\u2019t perfect — which is exactly what he always tried to say!<\/p>\n

In the age of social media and instant gratification, there\u00a0is perhaps no place for ethics, camaraderie, honesty, peace, and non-violence … or is there? Until the day these values continue to mean something to us or matter to our existence, then whether you like it or not, Mahatma Gandhi will remain relevant. He, as a human being, may lose his relevance someday, but his legacy and thoughts can never become irrelevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable. He lived, thought, and acted, inspired by the vision of humanity evolving toward a world of peace and harmony. We may ignore him at our own risk.”\u00a0 —\u00a0Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[\/perfectpullquote] In 1915, Indian National Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":98901952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98901924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98901924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98901924"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98901924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98901935,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98901924\/revisions\/98901935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98901952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98901924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98901924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98901924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}