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Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth. —Albert Einstein on Gandhiji’s
70th Birthday Every year, we remember Gandhiji for a day on 2nd October and then forget him for the rest of the year. We should never forget him even for a single day, but we rarely remember him. We know very little about one of the greatest persons whom we call “The Father of Nation”. It is time we know more about his work and his life. It is difficult for the present generation, which is leaderless, to understand how this frail man had the strength to shake the mighty British Empire, how he won our freedom with weapons of Love, Truth, and Nonviolence. It is difficult to envisage his tremendous influence over millions of our people, across the length and breadth of the country. He exercised influence without any authority.
“My life is my message” said Gandhiji.
In the days of our freedom struggle, thousands were arrested. A few of them asked for pardon and got out from jails. There were rumours about terrible tortures being inflicted on our freedom fighters. I had heard a rumour about Dr. Usha Mehta who was caught operating a secret radio station. Dr. Usha Mehta addressed our BCA Society Members, when she talked about this incident. “My mother was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and was not very highly educated, approached the prison warden, and arranged to send a food parcel to me. In between chapattis, a note was smuggled giving a clear message. “Usha, it is rumoured that you are going to seek pardon of the British Govt. and get released. If ever you do so, never come back to our house again!” – This was the spirit instilled in millions of Indians by Gandhiji. I, Pradeep, have seen many people, who were ordinary persons like you and me who became heroes. They were prepared to sacrifice everything and did sacrifice everything for our country.
Gandhiji’s ability to touch the hearts of people did not end with Gandhiji’s demise. Recently we have the case of Laxman Gole, a young person who had 19 criminal cases pending against him. He changed completely by merely reading Gandhiji’s writings while in jail. He came up clean before the judges and confessed to his crimes. He dedicated himself to spreading Mahatma’s message amongst his fellow prisoners while in jail and later to the outside world. I do not know of any other person who after more than 50 years after his passing away – could influence and change the hearts of men – and change a Walia Robber to a Saint Valmiki.
Some of us know of his work in India, but very little is known about his work in South Africa. Our knowledge is limited to the incident when he was thrown out of the train at Maritzburg Station. Little do we realise that that was the first event, in a struggle which went on for over 10 years! In fact, it was 13 years later, that this resulted into a mass nonviolence resistance against “The Black Act”. We all believe that he gave a legal practice which was quite small and insignificant. I was stunned to read this very recently that he had 30 juniors working under him and the practice in current rupee value was over 1.5 crores annually.
What should we do to remember Mahatma Gandhi? We must remember what Gandhiji said and act accordingly.
