Gandhi-The real commando

        A recent television squib of Idea Cellular shows a young woman being eve teased by a road side Romeo. The girl resists for which the rogue replies, "Its democracy, can do anything anywhere". The lady types "Gandhi ya Commando? Gandhi or Commando" on her mobile to conduct a poll and declares "99% logon ne kaha commando","99% people says commando". She then kicks the trouble maker and makes him taste the dust and finally says "This is democracy"

The Ad definitely demonstrates qualities like progressiveness and independence of today's women and also depicts the prominence of democracy. But, in quest to show case it, the creators of this film didn't hesitate to show Gandhian ideologies in poor light. It did annoy me in the beginning and I must admit, it took a stronger form when I heard that some protest was being made. Protest which clearly seemed like a political stunt in the wake of impending elections. I had some thought over it and realized that Gandhian thoughts are actually ridiculed by most of today's youth and to some extent he is even abhorred.

The very thought took me back to a bitsy debate that I had with my friends few years back. One of them said "Gandhi took away all the glory, when many others also fought for freedom. He played wonderful politics and walked away with all the accolades. We also had men like Bhagat Singh and Netaji who were real martyrs". Over the period of time, I paid some thought on Gandhian philosophies and realized few aspects about it. Here, thru this post, I would like to defend the ideologies of the Father of our nation as the most apt ones for pre-independence India.

History has it, that before the emergence of the phenomenon called "Gandhi", Indian independence struggle was largely isolated to cities like Calcutta and Bombay. Gandhi foresaw the importance of reaching out to the common men and enlightening them about the same. He travelled the length and breadth of the country and reached out to people and hence became a house old name. The very idea of independence became a talk of every common man in India be it a shoemaker or a zameendar. It was the first real cause that brought not only the budhi jeevees or the intellect but also the common men of the whole country together.

Gandhi had an unexampled approach. He was a messenger of non-violence. As any other youth of today, I believed once that we had a prolonged history of Independence struggle mainly because our leader were liberal.I felt the ideologies of Bhagat Singh and Netaji were more cognate. I was a huge fan of Bhagat Singh and admired him to extent that i had his potrait in my room.I couldn't accept that our forefathers appreciated silent protests and non-violence as struggle for independence. It was difficult for me to fathom that they allowed a pack of a million English men to control this country.

But with more thought and understanding, I realized that, Gandhi was a man with vision. He envisioned that a bloody revolution might unite us against the Colonials but at the same time greed and power would later turn us against each other. We have Afghanistan for an example, a nation crumbled it bloody pasts. It was the greed for power and control of warlords that ripped the country apart. Gandhi realized that the same would happen in India and chose the path of non-violence. Also, He believed in slowly preparing the country for independence. Like for instance, after the Chora-Chori massacre he proclaimed that the country was not prepared for independence and called off the 'Non-corporation' movement. Today, when we debate in the name of religion, caste, creed and ethinicity I wonder whether we are yet deserving the independence that we enjoy.

Gandhi became the face of Independence struggle. Post independence, over the time, his glory walked hand in hand with his defamation. Ironically, he became the face of the very political party he represented which for the sake of electoral vote bank politics plays with emotions of religious minorities. Naturally, indirectly attacking Gandhi became the agenda of the equally formidable opposition party, which eventually plays with the emotions of religious majority. Tarnishing Gandhi's image has become their lethal weapon.

Many youth today hail Netaji for his courage. I too believe that he was the true son of our Mother land. But how many of us have really thought that he formed the Indian National Army with Japanese assistance. Japan, an ally to Hitler's Germany in the world war. Hitler whose mere mention makes a modern German feel insulted!

'Mahatma' dont mean god. And so, he did commit few mistakes in life. But still we should be thankfull to god and be proud that India produced a visionary like Gandhi, who had the vision of a Republic called India