Practising Gandhism? Not for our netas

Another October 2, the day when the nation remembers the Father of the Nation, Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, and the second Prime Minister of the country Lal Bahadur Shastri is over. As usual, it proved to be a routine affair with each party trying to claim the legacy of Gandhi and very few remembered Shastriji. In fact most of them even forgot to mention his name.

Rahul Gandhi who is on Bharat Jodo yatra remarked, "While it is convenient for those in power to appropriate the legacy of the Father of the Nation, it is difficult to walk in his footsteps. We remember and pay our respects to that great son of India. Our remembering is made more poignant by the fact that we are on the 25th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a padayatra in which we are walking his path of ahimsa, unity, equality and justice."

For Rahul, the BJP v/s Congress fight is equivalent to Independence struggle led by Gandhi. This clearly shows either he continues to be naïve or is being handed over a badly scripted speech. One may accuse BJP of resorting to divisiveness but then divide-and-rule policies were never given up by successive governments, which was more evident from the time of Indira Gandhi to date.

Rahul spoke of Congress fight against Himsa and Asatya. Well Rahul needs to explain whether Congress never resorted to Himsa. Hope he has not forgotten what happened in 1984 the day when Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards. Was that Ahimsa? Can the kind of murder of democracy the country witnessed in 1975 again under the rule of Congress led by his grandmother Indira Gandhi be called Ahimsa? Didn't Congress ever follow the policy of divide-and-rule?

Almost every leader across the state gave speeches on Gandhi's theory of non-violence, peace and sacrifice, saying it was universal and eternal theory and that no one can erase this doctrine. Sounds music, but how many are practising it?

Lal Bahadur Srivastava, or Shastri Ji as India knows him, was a humble yet strong statesman who guided India through tough times. He served the country in various roles and was one of the most down-to-earth personalities of our history. He promoted White Revolution and Green Revolution. He was a 'man of peace' and dedicated over 30 years of his life to the freedom struggle and building India's infant years. The slogan, "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" was coined by him. It became a symbol of respect for soldiers and farmers of the country.

As a man of integrity, he resigned willingly after a fatal train accident. Perhaps, he was the last railway minister to do so. Replying to the long debate on the Railway accident, Lal Bahadur Shastri said; "Perhaps due to my being small in size and soft of the tongue, people are apt to believe that I am not able to be very firm. Though not physically strong, I think I am internally not so weak."

These days, no minister resigns taking moral responsibility even when some major incident takes place. Interestingly, such people are never tired of giving lectures about moral values in society. It is unfortunate that due homage is not being paid to such a great leader but his slogan of 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' is used for narrow political gains.