M. K. Gandhi is deemed the father of
Nation and many people very readily accept this. And many people in utter
naivete identify as Gandhians too. But, isn't this the result of a very
simplistic reading of history and our freedom struggle? At a time when people
are free to think what they want, they should make sure that they don't make
reason and logic suffer in the guise of freedom of speech. No, doubt we are all
free to speak our minds, but this doesn't mean that we don't be fair to the
truth. And of what I make of history, Gandhi is simply overrated. Although I
find a major portion of his philosophy quite kaput, but there are two aspects
I'm very particularly critical of, those are his role in the freedom struggle
and his theory of 'non-violence'.