Mahatma Gandhi

An India of our Dreams – Reflections on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti 2021 

On the occasion of 152nd Gandhi Jayanti, 2nd October 2021, in tandem with Azadi ka Amrut Maha Utsav launched on the 75th Independence Day what thoughts flood our hearts as we survey happenings and events in the country and the plight of humanity.   On the one hand is the “India of My Dreams” that Mahatma Gandhi had expressed and[Read More...]

Heed Gandhi’s Voice to Minimize Discontents of Globalization

Economic ideas of Mahatma Gandhi are most remembered for his emphasis on village self-reliance, a far cry from   globalization. Despite this, as his birth anniversary is observed on October 2, a world troubled by many discontents of globalization may find it useful to consult Gandhian ideas for reducing them and getting some clues to important reforms as well. Mahatma Gandhi[Read More...]

Mahatma Gandhi and Congress on Bhagat Singh’s Martyrdom

Sangh Parivar and leaders and spokesmen of its affiliates never miss any opportunity to malign Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The latest in their malicious campaign is an article written by Rakesh Sinha, BJP member of Rajya Sabha. In his article published in Indian Express (August `14) Sinha claims that “Despite the unbounded reverence for Mahatma Gandhi the masses rejected[Read More...]

Re-making of the Mahatma

Noted Assamese poet Nabakanta Barua wrote a famous poem decades ago, with the title that translates into English as ‘There was a river here’. It describes in pretty ominous and disturbing words how the desert creeps in with slow invincibility.I used to nurse a feeling of dislike and disdain for it as it seemed to bracket out human agency. But[Read More...]

Does Gandhi Ashram need a Corporate Makeover?

Lawyers, former diplomats, journalists, scholars and host of eminent Gandhians have written an open letter appealing that the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati not be disturbed. The government has proposed to make it a “world class” tourist destination, taking over the 54 acres near the Sabarmati River, where Gandhi lived between 1917 and 1930. Among the proposals is a VIP lounge,[Read More...]

The Limits of Gandhian Non-Violence

Written by Prem Kumar Vijayan & Karen Gabriel It is widely acknowledged that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and more specifically, his political method of non-violent struggle, was one of the major reasons that the British were forced to leave India. However, it is also evident that these Gandhian methods have failed on many, many occasions, and are likely to continue to[Read More...]

Essential Message of Mahatma Gandhi Has More Significance in An Increasingly Troubled World

Nearly 73 years after he left us, victim of an assassin’s bullets, many people grappling with the  most serious problems and issues in our troubled world are increasingly realizing the great value of several essential messages Mahatma  Gandhi left behind after a very eventful and even more thoughtful life. One of these relates to understanding and appreciating the great importance[Read More...]

Gandhian antecedents of the anti-`love-jihad’ campaign – and Gandhi’s later act of  atonement

   The  term  `love- jihad’  is  being  used  by  the  activists  of  the  Sangh  Parivar  to  target  inter-religious  marriages  between Muslim  men  and  Hindu  women.  They  accuse  the  Muslims  of  seducing   Hindu  women  and  converting  them  to  Islam.  But  then,  how  would  they  justify  the  marriages  between  the  BJP’s  Muslim  leaders  and  their  Hindu  wives  –    with  Mukhtar  Abbas  Naqvi [Read More...]

A Tale of Two Monuments: Sabarmati Ashram and Narendra Modi stadium

Written by Harshvardhan Purandare and Sandeep Pandey Ahmedabad hosts a Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram, the iconic monument where values and foundation of Indian democracy evolved through decades of Freedom movement. Now the city also hosts five star Narendra Modi stadium at Motera ground, a new monument named after our seven star prime minister. One can say, Indian democracy which grew at[Read More...]

Was Mahatma Gandhi a true crusader for liberation?-Tribute on 73rd anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination 

Exactly 73years ago  Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu Communal fanatic who made an impact on humanity at large as few individuals ever did in the history of mankind. Whether for good or evil. few men ever on the face of this earth could mobilise or influence people to the extent or manner Gandhi did .Arguably there is no[Read More...]