Issue 424 October 1, 2019
Great men and women belong to a great community of people. They carry with them dignity, honour, self-respect, concern for others and most importantly, humility.
In a world of upstarts who believe that wealth conquers the earth, there are people who believe that modesty is the greatest wealth that anyone can acquire, although only a few actually possess it.
Mahatma Gandhi was one of them and this Leader is a tribute to a great leader who secured political freedom from British through non-violent means.
We will mark his 150th Birthday on October 2, 2019 with respect, in silence.
Reserved Honorific
He was a Mahatma and no one can carry that honorific, not even his celebrated grandson Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who was our Guest of Honour at the Fifth Annual Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards in November 19, 2012.
“I am not the grandson of that Mahatma but of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The Mahatma is far above,” he said, remembering perhaps his formative years when the great leader left us poorer and parentless.
The British regard for Gandhi was something more than the respect given to a politician sincerely devoted to his principles and prepared to die for them.
It is a recognition that in Gandhi’s ”soul force” there was a moral and religious factor transcending the ordinary politics of nationalism or democracy.
“Even so,” observed the Economist, “an Englishman’s appreciation of his life and character must fall short of the feeling which his Indian followers have for them. His title of the Mahatma makes him heir to a great company of religious teachers, mystics and devotees.”
In more ways than one, it was Gandhi who shaped the concept of secularism in India.
