What if the 'Mahatma' were alive today ? Would he be effective ? are questions, I have asked myself several times when I see my great country India in such a big mess. Would he have been able to single handedly counter the scourge of Terrorism & Corruption that is eating the life out of our country today?
I had the privilege of asking the same questions to his great grand son "Tushar Gandhi", to which his reply was "He definitely would not have been sitting around doing nothing & whatever he chose to do, he would have persevered irrespective of the opposition"
When I compare the situations when Mahatma Gandhi was alive and today, it looks like some circumstances have not changed much... perhaps just the players.
1) Pre Independence days innocent Indians were getting killed by the British, today they are getting killed by terrorists & Naxals.
2) Earlier our national wealth was being sucked by the British now its the Indian Politician.
3) Earlier loyalty of certain selfish Indian citizens/rajas/princes could be bought by money given by the British to do deeds against the common citizen & the laws could be bent, today the same happens, individuals are ready to be corrupted with the lure of money given by us & the so called elected representatives of the Republic of India.
So has much changed at least in this context ? No not really .. we are surrounded by similar circumstances as those before 1948. Certainly a man like the Mahatma would not change (perhaps his wisdom would have increased over the years).
So if the man has not changed and the circumstance have not changed, it would be real safe to say 'Mahatma Gandhi' would still be VERY 'effective' even in today's circumstances.
1) There would be people wanting to kill him (Before it was the British today it would be the terrorists/naxals/corrupt politicians...)
2) There were people wanting to buy him & hence stop him (Before it was the British, today it would be our corrupt politicians)
BUT we must ALSO not forget there would be LAKHS who would follow him & protect him with their lives too... & he would STILL have been able to create a mass movement against the mess in our country & forced a change that we so desperately need.
His detractors might still label him as the person behind partition but that is a matter of perception, circumstance & subjectivity but can anyone today give me the name of a single Leader who would have as much as mass appeal as Mahatma Gandhi ?
Can anyone deny the fact that he was capable of moving our nation single handedly in a direction that no one even now can even dream of.? Today even our top leaders have to pay people to attend their meetings so that it looks like a mammoth rally. ...
So YES!!!, a person like Mahatma Gandhi would be relevant even in this day & age. His methods effective and he would move the masses and force the change we so desperately need..
Jai Hind !
