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Gandhiji and today’s sorry state of politics

ON Mahatma Gandhi’s seventieth birthday in 1939, Albert Einstein wrote: “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this in flesh and blood ever walked upon this earth.

Gandhiji and today’s sorry state of politics


By K. Natwar Singh

ON Mahatma Gandhi’s seventieth birthday in 1939, Albert Einstein wrote: “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this in flesh and blood ever walked upon this earth.” Now, lightweights are snipping at him. “Chatur Bania tha”. Not even “they”. At one time Gandhi mobilised 40 million Indians in his non-violent battle with the British. Gandhi was a miracle. Only the insensitive can use an unbecoming language while mentioning Gandhiji’s name. 

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We will soon have new a Rashtrapati and an Up-Rashtrapati. M/s Mukherjee and Ansari have functioned in admirable ways. Neither has crossed the constitutional Lakshman Rekha. President Pranab Mukerjee was our most experienced parliamentarian. For a short time, we were cabinet colleagues. He was respected by one and all. 

I look with some pride at my almost single-handedly preventing PC Alexander from becoming President. Ambition is a very sharp double-edged sword. Alexander did not let both sides of the sword do their job. He made every possible error. He thought he had the job in his pocket. I have written about this episode at some length in my autobiography. Hence, I will leave Alexander’s soul rest in peace.

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Parliament and state assemblies are not meant to be disrupted, interrupted. The disease is spreading. Our democracy will endure in spite of being tripped up again and again. What is the remedy? Peaceful co-existence as also civilized and reasoned debates.

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Is it possible to get 96% marks in history, economics or English? If a student obtains 94% he or she is out. They are reprimanded by unfeeling parents. What do these youngsters do? A few commit suicide. Education, alas, has never been a priority for successive governments since 1947. 

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Now Shri Reddy has followed Shri Gaikwad. He did not use his footwear to hit at the air-staff but did get the assistance of the civil aviation minister to get him into the plane. One outrage follows another every week. Someone should put together a collection of these ‘gems’ and produce a book- “How not to Behave”. It will be a best seller.

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The other day I was sitting next to a retired chief justice of India at an Iftar gathering. He said to me: “You are a former heavyweight of the Congress. What is the future of the Congress?”. The future is in the past, I replied. He shook his head in visible agony. The depressing conclusion is that no effective opposition exists to put forward an alternative point of view to that of the present establishment. Only, the Congress could be a determined opposition. At the moment it is moribund and sickly. One exception is Punjab. 

This is not an inspiring state of affairs. Can the Congress re-invent itself? No. Not in the near future. The Gandhis have a monopoly of leading the Congress. And, where is the alternative to Sonia? There definitely is a Gandhi fatigue but fatigue is not an alternative.

Well-meaning friends tell me: “The Congress decline began after you left.” That’s what I say to them: the party needs new blood. It is as simple as that. I tell them that I am in mid-eighties and have nothing to with active politics. To my surprise, one of them chirped in: “Sir, but Robert Mugabe is 94 years old. He continues ruling Zimbabwe.” My answer was, “I am not Mugabe.”

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Infrequently I am asked, “If you were to be reborn, what career would you choose?” My answer is always the same. I do not believe in rebirth, reincarnation or a previous life or a personal god. There is to my mind a complete void once we are dead. This I believe very sincerely. 

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I have been invited to write a 30-page introduction to Kalol Bhattacharya’s forthcoming book, ‘Indira Ji’. Before getting to write the intro, I have selected four books to re-read. Katherine Frank’s ‘Indira’ and Inder Malhotra’s ‘Indira Gandhi’. Two books edited by Sonia Gandhi, ‘Freedom’s Daughter’ and ‘Two alone, Two Together’. These carry the letters written by father to daughter and by her to him. Nehru was remarkable letter writer. Indira Gandhi was not far behind.

I much look forward to writing the introduction.

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