Politicians of all hues, are celebrating the birth anniversary of Gandhi this month. A leader of one political party has recalled his legacy, by rightly emphasizing the `Gandhian agenda’ of “more openness, freedom and a life of dignity and respect.” (Ram Madhav: `Gandhi’s True Legacy.’ Indian Express, October 2, 2020). Ironically, it is his own party that is in power [Read More...]
This Gandhi Anniversary (October 2020) one saw a twitter storm ‘Nathram Godse Zindabad’, (Long live Nathura, Godse). This overshadowed the tributes to Gandhi on the same platform. This year the tweets on Godse exceeded over a lakh, while last year 2019, they were close to twenty thousand. This year many of the tweets notably came from bot accounts that on other days[Read More...]
As we celebrate another birth anniversary of the father of the nation, it is worth recognising that the thinkers, writers, and activists are valuable for a society. Gandhi represented all of these, leaving a mark on the humanity that even his enemies find hard to deny. Some argue that it was the matter of time and Independence would have come[Read More...]
The world has witnessed an incredible amount of progress in the last five decades that has transformed lives and made people richer and many nations prosperous. The pace of the change has[Read More...]
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During the course of agitation ‘Black lives matter’ some protestors defaced the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in US. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of Indian Nation, has the unique distinction of leading the biggest ever mass movement in the World and leading the strong anti colonial movement. In this direction he contributed two major tools as the basis of the[Read More...]
Even at the breakneck pace at which its proponents are rewriting history in the Hindutva mould, its real past will habitually catch up with it. Last year, a statue of freedom fighter and first education minister of independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was destroyed by Hindutva mobs at Kankinara in North 24 Parganas district, … Continue reading Exit Azad! Enter Savarkar!! →
Mohan Das Karmchand Gandhi would have turned 150 yesterday. The entire nation is celebrating his birthday. There was an edit page article by Narendra Damodar Das Modi on Gandhi in the New York Times whose cover page ironically showed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. His home minister who was in West Bengal warned that all the ‘infiltrators’ i.e. Muslims[Read More...]
In Mahatma Gandhi’s lifetime climate change or threat to environment was not yet a perceived problem. Therefore it is no surprise that there is no explicit mention of it in Gandhi’s concerns. Yet his entire worldview was environment friendly. Protection of environment or non-destruction of nature was in-built in his philosophy. He expected his most ardent followers, especially the ones[Read More...]
The 150th birth anniversary of MK Gandhi falls on October 2, 2019. He was described as Father of the Nation by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in his address on the Singapore Radio on July 6, 1944 and since then this title became an integral part of his identity. There is no doubt that democratic-secular India which came into being on[Read More...]
Third Shambhu Dutta Memorial Lecture, Organized by Transparency International India at IIC, September 9, 2019. Preface to the Lecture I am grateful to Transparency International India for asking me to deliver the Third Shambhu Dutta Memorial Lecture. It is held in the memory of Shri Shambhu Dutta (1918-2016), the founding father of Transparency International India. He was a well-known Gandhian[Read More...]
