THE GANDHI PARADOX
His photos adorn every government building, his face is on every Indian currency and major roads and cities are named after him, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi 149 years after his birth still stands tall in modern day India. The father of our nation led India to Independence by practicing non-violent means or “Ahimsa”. Major Non-Violent struggles in the 20th century have been shaped by his ideas. And using this image of Gandhi, to further his own stature in the International arena has been a masterstroke on the part of Narendra Damodardas Modi.
Modi, an RSS product was widely condemned by national and international media for his apparent roles in 2002 Gujarat riots, which would leave 796 Muslims and 254 Hindus dead in its wake, understands the game of appearances very well. To be accepted and maintain a stronghold on his storyline, Modi has launched several initiatives such as National Hand-loom day and his pet Swach Bharat Abhiyan. The drive behind these projects has been, to project a new India who is proud of its culture and a renewed attention to Rural India and here lies the Gandhi Paradox.
Modi who has so far never shied away from using Gandhi’s image for his image makeover has been promoting the very hatred Gandhi so vehemently fought against. Since his rise to power in 2014, the crimes against Muslims and Dalits have increased exponentially. Muslims were the target of 52% of violence centered on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to 2017) and comprised 84% of 25 Indians killed in 60 incidents, according to a study carried out by India’spend. As many of 97% of these attacks were reported after Modi’s government came to power in May 2014 and half the cow-related violence–30 of 60 cases–were from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when the attacks were reported. BJP states and leaders have gone on record to promote such vigilantism and even in some cases justify the attacks.
When Riots started in Bengal, in 1947, Gandhi himself visited the affected places and worked endlessly to bridge the gap between the communities. When the situation was not improving, he started a fast onto Death which ultimately brokered a peace pact between the warring factions. Gandhi’s approach and empathy was the major reason as to why Bengal didn’t turn into another Punjab, where masses were massacred on the basis of their religion. But as we have seen in the past and present, Modi projects himself as a proud Hindu, who’s unafraid of pointing out the “unfairness” meted out to Hindus and stroke communal feelings to achieve his goals of power & control. When Phelu Khan has lynched to death by the public, Modi kept quiet. When Akhlaq was murdered in broad daylight, Modi kept quiet. And this carried on for the last 4 years. The same story keeps repeating again & again.
In the 1940s, Gandhi was persuaded by well-meaning politicians to write to, Adolf Hitler with a hope that he might show him a way of non-violence, a world where brotherhood reigns supreme & people aren’t persecuted on the basis of religion or race. Modiji preaches just the opposite. Modi follows trolls who have been booked under the law for taking it into their hands and spreading communal hate and violence in Social media as well as their communities. When senior journalist Gauri Lankesh was murdered, his troll followers reveled in this development & yet there was no condemnation or even a reply by the PMO. Dissent always is an important part of democracy but if Modi and his bhakts had their way, no one could question Modi or his policies. Eg: Sanjeev Bhatt, Kanhiya, Umar Khalid and Swami Agnivesh are just a few names who have faced the brunt of Modi’s bhakts.
I wonder if the Mahatma were to venture out today, would he be able to survive in the toxic environment created by the present political scenario. Today’s India where dissent is equivalent to sedition, Gandhi’s ideas have long been crushed, while Modi will keep on using his name & image in an attempt to hide his demons of past & present.
