As I seem to emerge as the main spokesman of the Rashtriya Yuva Sangathan in your cover, Gandhi, A Second Coming, Sep 11), let me put khadi, charkha and youth involvement in the Gandhian movement in perspective. I don’t think khadi or charkha are outdated, it’s just that the whole khadi movement has lost direction. We have turned khadi into just another piece of cloth. It has lost its revolutionary fervour. The khadi in its present commercial form isn’t what Gandhi had envisaged. His philosophy behind khadi was that it should be spun by one who wears it and worn by one who has spun it, and without knowing the full implication of both, it is meaningless to have khadi. This is in fact true of most symbols Gandhi advocated: the symbols remain, their meaning is lost. This is why we have to present Gandhi to the youth in new symbols, language, idioms and more challenging action programmes. Only then will they be able to relate to and talk of the values khadi and charkha were meant to symbolise. Another clarification. I’ve been quoted as saying that rys has recruited more young volunteers in 12 years than most Gandhian organisations have been able to in six decades. But youth entering the Gandhian movement has been inconsistent post-independence. They were attracted in huge numbers to Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodaan and JP’s Sampoorna Kranti movement. But after the anti-emergency movement, youth involvement in the Gandhian Sarvodaya movement waned considerably.
Santosh Kumar Dwivedi, Umaria, MP
In London for the Round Table Conference of 1931, King George’s ‘half-naked fakir’ made waves in the media. After meeting with the King, he was asked how his meagre clothing countered the bitter cold of London? "The King was wearing enough for both of us," he remarked, with trademark humour. "I am here to represent the people who don’t even have this much to wear." The father of our nation was much more than an apostle of peace, and certainly more than an idealistic leader. It’s also true that he had many kinks associated with his personality other than his saintliness. Gopal Gandhi is right, the worst disservice done to him is he’s been turned into a bore—a prime reason for the younger generation’s loss of interest in him.
Wasfia Jalali, Aligarh
Couldn’t help but notice how your front cover had a picture of the Mahatma and the back cover Kingfisher ad invited franchisees for selling alcohol. Hats off to Outlook for getting together a deadly combination. Kuchh to sharam karo.
Liju Mathew, Calcutta
Covering the Mahatma’s funeral procession, a bbc commentator quoted Einstein on Gandhi: "Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a man walked this earth in flesh and blood." No wonder Gen Y’s tuning into Bapu again.
S.C. Raju, Hyderabad
Gandhi was just another politician, and no mahatma. There’s plenty of research, books, articles and even videos on Gandhi to put any self-respecting Indian to shame, leave alone earning him the title of the father of the nation. His repeated racist references to "the raw kafirs" (native Africans) in South Africa, the reasons why Ambedkar called him the worst enemy of the untouchables, his sexual experiments with young girls and his advice on their "bowel movements", his fooling the Sikhs into not seeking autonomy (and not wanting Ambedkar to convert to Sikhism with his followers), his conspiring for Partition and the riots that killed a million people, not to mention his general dislike for Muslims. ..the list of his shortcomings go on. Is it then our pathetic gullibility or a desperate hunger for icons that makes Indians choose the wrong men as heroes every time?
Suraj Chatwal, Toronto
If a man can write ‘Let hundreds like me perish but let truth prevail’ and follow it up by taking a bullet in his chest from his own people, then he has to be be somebody who can’t be dwarfed by anyone. Gandhi was used, and then left high and dry by the smart operators of our freedom struggle. Yet he remained an enigma, who like Mao cannot be erased completely from our lives.
Rajeev Sinha, Gurgaon
I had the privilege of attending the 1936 Lucknow Congress as a child, where my grandmother and her sister-in-law served as volunteers. At that open session, I got a glimpse of Gandhi—who impressed me so much that since then I rarely missed participating in a Gandhi Jayanti samaroh. In the late ’30s and early ’40s, the young and old of a mohallah would gather to take out prabhat pheris on the day, singing Bapu’s favourite songs. Later, Gandhi Jayanti became an occasion for people to organise processions to Harijan bastis to help out their lot. Gandhi Jayanti attained demi-official status in 1946 when an interim government was formed under Nehru’s presidency. Then, charkha dangals (spinning competitions) were held in which Nehru himself participated.
H.N. Sinha, Lucknow
When 76 per cent of our youth want to revive Gandhian principles, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel.
Lalitha Iyer, Mumbai
Gandhi’s principles of truth, non-violence and frugality are still as relevant as they were 60 years ago. But until we have a political leadership that adopts Gandhi not just in talk, but in walking the talk, we have a long fight ahead. Satyagraha is not just about stopping work, it is also about being truthful.
Sudhanshu Mishra, on e-mail
I’m all praise for Gandhi and his doctrine of ahimsa. But having successfully raised the issue of untouchability, neither he nor the Congress could achieve anything beyond. Worse, they put all possible brakes on Ambedkar’s efforts. The Congress was designed so that it remains in the control of the higher castes, with token Harijan faces like Jagjivan Ram. No wonder then that it isn’t the Congress but a Kanshi Ram or a Mayawati that Dalits look up to. Ambedkar won, Gandhi lost.
Rajesh Chandra, Phoenix, US
Gandhi had influential ideas about grassroots political mobilisation. But in the end he was basically conservative and his martyr act was annoying and fake—a deep form of passive aggression. His Pune Pact fast was unforgivable. He traded the rights of Dalits for those of secessionist Muslims—a strange dynamic that continues with secular parties frequently being maniacally anti-Dalit.
Sundari, Chennai
Gandhi’s greatest success? Thanks to him, India’s being overrun by a Muslim population, much of which would have left for Pakistan in 1947.
Anil Narlikar, Pune
I don’t believe Gandhi was or is relevant. Nor do I think Gandhism is making a comeback. But assuming it is shows again the great harm done by Godse. Gandhi was almost a non-entity after ’47.His popularity had hit rock-bottom. No one listened to him—a fact Gandhi himself acknowledged. Had he died a natural death, he’d have been ‘buried’ like other political figures. Godse resurrected him, making him a saint, a man beyond criticism, and Gandhism became a panacea for all ills. Godse committed two atrocities—murdering a man, and giving fresh life to his nonsensical ideas. He should have been hanged twice.
V.R. Ganesan, New Jersey, US
Gandhi wasn’t a failure. What failed is our nation’s ability to imbibe his teachings.
Ameet Bhuvan, Bhubaneswar
Very few are qualified to assess Gandhi historically, much less criticise him. Sam (Pitroda), I and many India Forum members saw the movie Gandhi several times and were truly inspired. And yet he was human, though a very great one. Buddha, undoubtedly, would be India’s (or the world’s) greatest son, with Gandhi a distant second.
Marpa, St Vincent
"I’ve stopped going to discos and drinking." "Whenever I go shopping, I ask myself: do I really need this? Usually I don’t. I’ve given up ice-cream," say the new Gandhians. I am sure the Mahatma must be overjoyed. Now let’s buy some designer khadi clothes and make our superficial transformation complete!
Vipul Mistry, Boston, US
Gandhi wanted the village to be a self-contained economic entity geared to people’s innate talents, traditional vocations and easily available/replaceable natural resources. Instead of concentrating on big cities, Gandhian youth organisations should increase their activities in the villages. Provide good primary education and ensure excellent nutrition to the village children. Give them agricultural inputs and increase the basic foodgrains output (not the costly cash crops, horticulture etc promoted by the agriculture minister now).
Wishwas Rane, Pune
The problem with our polity is that we give a lot of importance to ulema who meddle in politics (An Unsettled Old Score, Sep 11). When the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid said that Vande Mataram was un-Islamic but he had no problems with Saare jahan se achcha Hindostan hamara, why didn’t somebody ask him how the patriotic imagery in the songs is different? Don’t Muslim kids going to Christian schools sing psalms from the Bible in the morning assembly? Do they come back losing their faith?
Hemavathi S., Hyderabad
In India, patriotism is compelling people to religiously sing national songs. Patriotism is violently attacking hospitals, public transport, theatres, etc. Patriotism is forcing shops to close down and bringing rail and road traffic to a standstill. Patriotism is a show of might becoming right. There is no place for patriotism which flows from the hearts of law-abiding citizens.
Cletus Dias, Mumbai
As the then head of the I-T department at Mumbai and spearheading the investigation, it was with some satisfaction that I read Clause and Effect (Aug 28) on the misuse of the Indo-Mauritius dta. The government’s announcement after six long years to revisit treaty shopping via Mauritius vindicates the action the department took in 2000. When we said the free fall of the Sensex in April 2000 had nothing to do with tax assessments and possible manipulation should be looked into, it only fell on deaf ears. You correctly emphasise that during the period tax assessments were made in Jan-Mar 2000, there was a net increase in fii fund flow. Now one watches with sceptical amusement the debate over phasing out or controlling fii fund flow via participatory notes. Another bizarre sight is the shadow-boxing between the commerce and finance ministries over the tax loss in setting up sezs and the possible benefit therefrom. Cent per cent I-T exemption allowed on export profits of commodities, software, films, etc was phased out in the last five years. Instead of a fall in exports as the sceptics expected, exports out of India have doubled. That direct tax incentives have been grossly misused is an open secret.
B. Mishra, Mumbai
I thank S. Anand for touching upon the abominable portrayal of gays in Vettaiyadu Vilayadu. The movie also has objectionable references and comments about women, like the ridiculous pun on the word "pottai" Kamalahaasan’s character makes in one scene.
Aniruddh Vasudevan, Chennai
Good, bad or ugly, KANK touched a chord among people, Mr Pinto, whatever you might say in your column (Coup De KANK, Sep 11). Sure, a news channel used the opportunity to launch a discussion—and why not? In criticising the show, Jerry Pinto belittles the many people who were brave enough to come on national TV with their personal ordeals. Not to mention the many adults (rather than just "little girls") who saw the film and could look beyond the "unbearable gloss" to relate to many of the situations portrayed.
Poonam Mohan, Delhi
I couldn’t agree more with Vinod Mehta regarding the ‘Axis of Evil’ he speak of in his Delhi Diary (Sep 11). The Muslim ‘leadership’ and their apologists in Congress and other ‘secular’ parties have brought them more problems than solving any. All they had to do was to keep their mouth shut and let each Muslim decide if they wanted to sing Vande Mataram. But how could they? How else would they have got their face on TV?
Anil Joshi, Delhi
Right Mr Mehta. Indian Muslims should concentrate on enhancing educational skills and earn a better future and prosperity rather than heed their misleading leaders.
Asad A. Khan, Doha, Qatar
What kind of leaders should we Muslims have? They definitely need to have honesty, integrity, knowledge of the religion as well as of the issues facing the community, some basic education and a genuine commitment to do something for the community and the nation. More importantly they should be people the majority of the Muslim population in India looks up to and are respected by people of other religions as well. The sad thing is that when I look around today I don’t see any leaders who stand tall, it’s just that some are taller than the other dwarves vying with each other to represent our community. At some point we started accepting some of these lesser mortals as leaders even when we knew some were far from it. It’s time now we started being concerned about who we want to lead us and how that leadership should be.
Amer Haleem, Manila
The leadership of the Muslim community needs to be smarter and shrewder. We have tonnes of problems facing our community, from international discrimination, to immense poverty and illiteracy. These leaders should be pushing Muslims in the right direction.
Taha, Buffalo, US
"Of course, you can argue that I am out of touch. But one indicator of the times we live in is the fact that in the last six months I haven’t heard a single piece of sexual gossip concerning my fraternity. Remember, we journalists are supposed to be notoriously promiscuous!" Really, Mr Mehta, the fact that you haven’t heard any gossip on fellow journalists is probably no indicator of a new-found monogamy, it is the surest sign that you are out of touch!
Bhuwan, Gurgaon
Will Ed Do A Marley? Sure, Mr Ed. But wouldn’t your legacy alone earn you your dal-roti and wine? Anyway, if it does not work, why not join politics and become an MP? You already have Madam’s ear.
Arvind, Rochester, US
Contrary to the negative review you’ve given to John Wright’s book (Sep 11), the former Indian coach has tried to do something past Indian coaches never tried! They still need the bcci for survival. Wright couldn’t care less. He should be commended for highlighting the murky world of Indian cricket and the mandarins who rule it. Some of the latter are not even professional cricketers but wily, corrupt men who’ll eliminate their peers if they perchance smell something positive. Wright has given us a preview of this and it’s for the readers to draw conclusions.
Santosh, Singapore
Reading the item Virgin Ventures in Bibliophile (Sep 11), I wondered if it was a private feud between a publisher and an individual author getting undue coverage? Both may have their own versions—however to use words like ‘rapes them all’ gives the entire publishing industry a bad name, particularly those who go to great length to publicise their authors and their works. One quick suggestion—just name both parties involved and let them sort it out themselves!
Rock Furtado, New Delhi
