what do we know about Gandhi?
letter to the editor- speaking tree
I have always liked the contents of The Speaking Tree’. However, the article on Gandhi (September 26) by Sonal Srivastava was disappointing. First, since speaking tree is a paper that offers us articles with good depth, I do not understand how your editors decided to include it here. Secondly, if you want to understand Gandhi, you do not ask common people, like a university student. I think this task of asking people’s opinions would be better suited if this article was about a survey on Gandhi.
If you want to understand Gandhi, the right thing would be to analyse the writings and opinions of those who either adopted and followed his principles, or those who have known him personally and those who have done some research on him. It took almost 40 years for Stanley Walport to study Gandhiana and come around to writing his book on Gandhi ‘Gandhi’s Passion – The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi’. Even William Shirer wrote the book ‘Gandhi- a Memoir’, almost 50 years after he met Gandhi in 1930.
Asking people who have nothing beyond a passing knowledge of Gandhi that too from some films like munnabhai is definitely not the right way to answer the question ‘saint or astute politician?’
The author has finally stated her opinion on Gandhi saying that he has exploited his faith for his own advantage. I think that we should leave such things to learned people who are better placed than the rest. If there are people who do not agree with Gandhian philosophy, time will tell, for even the Nobel Academy which declined Gandhi’s nomination for the Nobel had accepted publicly that this was a mistake.
-N S Nilakantan, Mumbai
I have always liked the contents of The Speaking Tree’. However, the article on Gandhi (September 26) by Sonal Srivastava was disappointing. First, since speaking tree is a paper that offers us articles with good depth, I do not understand how your editors decided to include it here. Secondly, if you want to understand Gandhi, you do not ask common people, like a university student. I think this task of asking people’s opinions would be better suited if this article was about a survey on Gandhi.
If you want to understand Gandhi, the right thing would be to analyse the writings and opinions of those who either adopted and followed his principles, or those who have known him personally and those who have done some research on him. It took almost 40 years for Stanley Walport to study Gandhiana and come around to writing his book on Gandhi ‘Gandhi’s Passion – The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi’. Even William Shirer wrote the book ‘Gandhi- a Memoir’, almost 50 years after he met Gandhi in 1930.
Asking people who have nothing beyond a passing knowledge of Gandhi that too from some films like munnabhai is definitely not the right way to answer the question ‘saint or astute politician?’
The author has finally stated her opinion on Gandhi saying that he has exploited his faith for his own advantage. I think that we should leave such things to learned people who are better placed than the rest. If there are people who do not agree with Gandhian philosophy, time will tell, for even the Nobel Academy which declined Gandhi’s nomination for the Nobel had accepted publicly that this was a mistake.
-N S Nilakantan, Mumbai
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