Gandhi as the most written about personality

A few days back I asked Gopal Gandhi: “How many books have been written on or about your grandfather?” “Over ten thousand,” was the answer. Napoleon comes a distant second with almost five thousand. He is followed by Lincoln, Marx and Churchill.

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Books on Gandhiji keep appearing all over the globe; and the end is nowhere in sight. His is the most recognizable face in the world. He was his own PR agency. The identity problem he solved by taking off his Kurta at a meeting in Madurai. He invented the Gandhi cap. Soon, he gave up wearing it. But every Congressman wore it from the 1920s to the 1980s. He was assassinated 69 years ago. The 150th anniversary of his birth will be celebrated in 2019. If I am around, I myself will be ninety! Both dates are to be looked forward to.

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India’s is among the least egalitarian societies in the world. The facts speak for themselves. The richest 1% of Indian own 58% of the country’s wealth; 57 Indian billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom 70%. India accounts for the largest number its people living below the international poverty line.

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When I was at St. Stephen’s College nearly 70 years ago, all girls wore saris or salwar kameez. Today girls in metropolitan India wear churidar like jeans. I keep wondering: how do they get out of them? But they do.

(Miss) ‘S’ was a Miranda House contemporary of mine. She was so beautiful that all the boys fell in love with her, me leading the pack. She wore her sari as elegantly as Sonia Gandhi does. ‘S’ is still alive. We have not met for 60 years.

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President Trump was a world-class businessman. He has yet to become a world-class politician. His is the most controversial president to sit in the Oval Office. Is he up to the job? By all accounts not. Each day he creates a new controversy.

His European allies are getting restive by the day. The media is on tenterhooks. All politicians need a thick skin. The US President is in no hurry to acquire one. Will Washington tame him or will he tame Washington? Will he tame Congress or will Congress tame him? He is an unsettling force. That is neither good for the US nor the world.

Political India awaits the outcome of the UP assembly elections. Punjab seems in the pocket of the Congress, all credit to Amarinder Singh. The BJP will have to labour very hard to get a majority in UP. A loss would be catastrophic. At the moment, the SP on its own is well ahead of the rest. The Congress could give the SP around 40 seats. That could help Akhilesh in reaching the gaddi in Lucknow. By all accounts he is the most popular leader in the state. I have not met him for quite some time -- he has an engaging personality and a winning manner. Rahul Gandhi by trying to patronize him shows poor political judgement. The Congress is the junior partner.

I cannot guess how many Tribune readers are familiar with a wonderful book I am reading at the moment:  ‘The Mahatma and the Poet: Letters and Debates Between Gandhi and Tagore compiled and edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. 

Rabindranath Tagore was more than uncomfortable with several aspects of Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement: students leaving schools and colleges, spinning to win independence etc. In several lengthy and scintillating letters, the two great souls, non-violently ‘fought it out.’ Tagore was a poet of genius. Gandhi a politician (saint) of genius. He was no match for Gandhi. From the very beginning it was an unequal tussle. What is remarkable is the affection and respect each had for the other. It was always ‘Gurudev’ and ‘Mahatmaji.’

Gandhi, in the June 1, 1921 issue of Young India, took on Tagore on English language learning. The most famous part of the text is: “I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be swept off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or slave. I refuse to put the unnecessary strain of learning English upon my sisters for the sake of false pride or questionable social advantage…It is as wrong to judge non-cooperation by students in London or Malegaon in India, as it would be to judge Englishmen by the (Harry) Dyers and (Michael) O’Dwyer.”

I was more than distressed when I learnt of E. Ahamed’s passing away. We worked closely when I was External Affairs Minister and he was Minister of State. I put him in charge of the Gulf States and West Asia. He performed splendidly. I offer my sincere condolences to the members of the family.