As India is going to complete its 60 years of independence, i start my journey to identify the 10 most defining moments of these 60 years of the Independent India. Defining moments for me are those events that have created an impact on generations to come and would always be remembered as those incidents that have altered the history of Independent India. Lets take a journey through the time frame of these 10 moments, each described in each of the posts, reasons for their cause and their effects, and finally their impact. These are not ranked not based on their relative level of impact but just are testimonial to the various time frames of these 60 years in an order.
This is for me the most Defining Moment # 10 of Independent India.
DEATH of GANDHI : History writes it's own course
History is written by victorious people, who have the ability to ride against the ride. Neverthless if there has been any Indian personality who has been prominently respected everywhere in the world, Gandhi holds the place with esteem. Now everyone knows about his role in Indian Independence and how instrumental he has been in the beginning of New India exactly 60 years before. I am not gonna talk about any of his struggles but the incident which had shaken the nation and for me, still his death is one of the most significant moment than the declaration of Indian Independence.
Gandhi: Why was he killed?
In one of his prayer meetings held in 1947 Gandhi said "It is my constant prayer..that even if i fall victim to an assassin's bullet i may deliver up my soul with the rememberance of God on my lips." It looked this old man like knew his future, before anyone else.
Indian Independence has been a struggle which cut across all the regional barriers under the leadership of Gandhi, but what Gandhi forgot to foresee the long term sabbaticals he would be facing by allowing some of the leaders to function for other ulterior motives like Jinnah who had the motive of relgious independence. He failed to imbibe the religious tolerance within his orgnaisation himself, and it was foolhardy for him to expect the same level of religious tolerance in the common citizens of country. His efforts in stopping Jinnah and his associates to press for the claim of a seperate country based on religion is still considered to be a great blunder on behalf of this great leader. So it does not come as a surprise for many now in the present, that main reason for his death was due to the enragement that followed due to the violence which followed the partition of India, motivating some fundamentalists like Nathuram Ghodse devised a plan and implemented it successfully. But in no means this is justifiable for Ghodse and his associates. By killing Gandhi, they have created and publicized a weapon for all the religious fundamentalists of India to play the card of religion for their own purposes, be it political, monetary or respect.
Impact of Gandhi's death
Can anyone measure the impact of Hiroshima-Nagasaki blasts? No way, unless you sense it as a mere physical body count. Gandhi's death can be classified as of such nature. Gandhi's death may have just been a prelude to a picture of bigger and larger problem which India currently faces: Religious intolerance.
Pseudo-secular politics took an important place in India, wherein rulers (some who have the surname of Gandhi itself...what an irony)and religious tolerances overcame the national interests. Gandhi's death can be seen as a trigger to what can be classified as Fundamentalists vs Pseudo secular politics vs Peace . Fundamentalists of nature of Ghodse, irrespective of religion entered into political arena, propogated their agenda, tried to create an atmosphere where in they could cash in when ever there is a trouble. Pseudo seculars are those who play the card of secularism whenever needed and in name of vote bank politics are the main culprits, who cannot be trusted. Peace, well thats what the common citizens want, but where is it. Looking at the grim situation right now,it might be that it had taken its last breath with the death of the old thespian. Consider the case of Gujarat violence, irrespective of religion, everyone should blamed for the violence that engulfed the nation. Fundamentalists use the religion card to save their face and post, and for using the slightest provoking incident. What followed was even more shameful, the role of pseudo secularists. Cutting across national agendas, these people are unified under the common agenda of so called maintaining religious tolerance, but are the main culprits in making the violence more wide spread. The common citizens like me also should be blamed for the "i am saved for the day" kind of attitude. These people are making the same mistake which people in 1946 in India have done. They should be trying to guide their leaders on the right path. Difficult but not impossible. Unless the common citizens take up an active role, Gandhi's death will still be counted as one of the incidents which brought in to limelight the thin line between religious tolerance and peace.
What is Gandhi remembered now for?
Looking over the past century, he can be remembered in the same tone as of Martin Luther King for their same set of ideals who have fallen on the last step to their nemesis of their preaching -Violence. Nearly 3 generations have passed by since his death and it comes no suprise children of present India see him just as the "Old man on the Indian currency". The same set of ideals which gandhi and his associates had died or fought for have died a natural death and political indifferences are now motivated by national agendas on growth, economics and poverty but on the issues of religion, caste and power of money. "Dry day" as we call a national holiday, signifies the state of affairs, wherein people are so lazy that they see these dry days as a movie or picnic day rather than a day where they need to set their ideals straight. If this is the case, as 2 more generations pass by Gandhi's name would be eliminated from the history books, as Ghodse's will be ruling India.
Epilogue: As a child i could relate Gandhi only to Indian independence, but as years i started disliking his non-violence preachings as i considered them to be ineffective in bringing forward Indian independence a time ahead. But now when i look down the history i feel he was right, Non-violence scores over violence any day. My salutes to Gandhi for this. Would like to repeat the words of J.F.Kennedy:" Men die, nations may rise and fall but an idea lives on."
This is for me the most Defining Moment # 10 of Independent India.
DEATH of GANDHI : History writes it's own course
History is written by victorious people, who have the ability to ride against the ride. Neverthless if there has been any Indian personality who has been prominently respected everywhere in the world, Gandhi holds the place with esteem. Now everyone knows about his role in Indian Independence and how instrumental he has been in the beginning of New India exactly 60 years before. I am not gonna talk about any of his struggles but the incident which had shaken the nation and for me, still his death is one of the most significant moment than the declaration of Indian Independence.
Gandhi: Why was he killed?
In one of his prayer meetings held in 1947 Gandhi said "It is my constant prayer..that even if i fall victim to an assassin's bullet i may deliver up my soul with the rememberance of God on my lips." It looked this old man like knew his future, before anyone else.
Indian Independence has been a struggle which cut across all the regional barriers under the leadership of Gandhi, but what Gandhi forgot to foresee the long term sabbaticals he would be facing by allowing some of the leaders to function for other ulterior motives like Jinnah who had the motive of relgious independence. He failed to imbibe the religious tolerance within his orgnaisation himself, and it was foolhardy for him to expect the same level of religious tolerance in the common citizens of country. His efforts in stopping Jinnah and his associates to press for the claim of a seperate country based on religion is still considered to be a great blunder on behalf of this great leader. So it does not come as a surprise for many now in the present, that main reason for his death was due to the enragement that followed due to the violence which followed the partition of India, motivating some fundamentalists like Nathuram Ghodse devised a plan and implemented it successfully. But in no means this is justifiable for Ghodse and his associates. By killing Gandhi, they have created and publicized a weapon for all the religious fundamentalists of India to play the card of religion for their own purposes, be it political, monetary or respect.
Impact of Gandhi's death
Can anyone measure the impact of Hiroshima-Nagasaki blasts? No way, unless you sense it as a mere physical body count. Gandhi's death can be classified as of such nature. Gandhi's death may have just been a prelude to a picture of bigger and larger problem which India currently faces: Religious intolerance.
Pseudo-secular politics took an important place in India, wherein rulers (some who have the surname of Gandhi itself...what an irony)and religious tolerances overcame the national interests. Gandhi's death can be seen as a trigger to what can be classified as Fundamentalists vs Pseudo secular politics vs Peace . Fundamentalists of nature of Ghodse, irrespective of religion entered into political arena, propogated their agenda, tried to create an atmosphere where in they could cash in when ever there is a trouble. Pseudo seculars are those who play the card of secularism whenever needed and in name of vote bank politics are the main culprits, who cannot be trusted. Peace, well thats what the common citizens want, but where is it. Looking at the grim situation right now,it might be that it had taken its last breath with the death of the old thespian. Consider the case of Gujarat violence, irrespective of religion, everyone should blamed for the violence that engulfed the nation. Fundamentalists use the religion card to save their face and post, and for using the slightest provoking incident. What followed was even more shameful, the role of pseudo secularists. Cutting across national agendas, these people are unified under the common agenda of so called maintaining religious tolerance, but are the main culprits in making the violence more wide spread. The common citizens like me also should be blamed for the "i am saved for the day" kind of attitude. These people are making the same mistake which people in 1946 in India have done. They should be trying to guide their leaders on the right path. Difficult but not impossible. Unless the common citizens take up an active role, Gandhi's death will still be counted as one of the incidents which brought in to limelight the thin line between religious tolerance and peace.
What is Gandhi remembered now for?
Looking over the past century, he can be remembered in the same tone as of Martin Luther King for their same set of ideals who have fallen on the last step to their nemesis of their preaching -Violence. Nearly 3 generations have passed by since his death and it comes no suprise children of present India see him just as the "Old man on the Indian currency". The same set of ideals which gandhi and his associates had died or fought for have died a natural death and political indifferences are now motivated by national agendas on growth, economics and poverty but on the issues of religion, caste and power of money. "Dry day" as we call a national holiday, signifies the state of affairs, wherein people are so lazy that they see these dry days as a movie or picnic day rather than a day where they need to set their ideals straight. If this is the case, as 2 more generations pass by Gandhi's name would be eliminated from the history books, as Ghodse's will be ruling India.
Epilogue: As a child i could relate Gandhi only to Indian independence, but as years i started disliking his non-violence preachings as i considered them to be ineffective in bringing forward Indian independence a time ahead. But now when i look down the history i feel he was right, Non-violence scores over violence any day. My salutes to Gandhi for this. Would like to repeat the words of J.F.Kennedy:" Men die, nations may rise and fall but an idea lives on."
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