Sally , Even I have heard a lot about Gandhiji's non-greatness.Anyways it is not worth talking now as the damage is already done.He agreed to handover a great leader to the Brits.I saw a program in BBC where a person who was with Gandhiji explained how he was.But the lady said , there is no use in talking about a person who has been already accepted as a great person and dead now.Gandhiji was over rated by the British as the Brits were not ready to accept the defeat.They just wanted to make it as a "handover" instead of "defeat".
IN India "Great people are made by politicians" for their selfish political interests.For eg is Abdul kalam really a great guy as everybody thinks??? No. He is a bunny in the hands of politicians. he was made great person by then BJP govt to soften their Anti Muslim image. Hmmmmmmmm I feel India is the only country in the world where even if we say facts they call it bad mouthing or negative campaign.no body gains by placing the facts above the table( u call it as negative campaign) but wht do u gain by by not accepting the facts or so called positive campaign?? chk these links below 1. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/h4-indian-ladies/147259-do-you-know-your-sonia.html 2. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/news-politics-and-society/147463-dr-swamy-exposes-seedy-home.html 3. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/g...33-unknown-facts-about-swami-vivekananda.html 4. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/n.../147460-unknown-facts-about-nehru-gandhi.html 5. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/n...47459-unknown-facts-about-subhas-chandra.html 6. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/news-politics-and-society/147461-how-nehru-let-us-down.html 7. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/news-politics-and-society/147341-real-map-india-how-much.html Hope at least now u realize there's no saint in the world including u & me.
My view is that he could have been overrated... truth is that he did do something to get freedom to our nation and that to me is enough.
Thanks for all the links nettem. I don't mind discussing current politics and the politicians behind it. But when the leader is dead & buried is it still worth digging up dirt about their personal past? That is what I object to in my OP. I do agree lot of our leaders are termed as great because of political reasons rather than their contribution to society.
We have to accept that Gandhji did spearhead the freedom movement against the Britishers and got us freedom. All of us are humans and have our failings.He never claimed that he was a saint.In fact he has written about his failings in his autobiography and writers pick up incidents from it and get cheap publicity. Digging into the past of great leaders and writing books is a good way of minting money and catching the eyeballs! A big name ensures a good sale and attention.There is hardly any new information in most articles or books, time and again the same incidents are discussed threadbare! Its always easy to criticise everybody and question all decisions years later.
sally few more... 1. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/n...4114-gandhi-nobody-knows-richard-grenier.html 2. http://www.indusladies.com/forums/news-politics-and-society/164112-its-fact-british-left-india.html
It is not possible for people to believe that ahimsa and non co-operation can lead to the british rule withdrawal. Actually, that were the only tools for the already looted and impoverished freedom fighters. By bad mouthing Gandhi, we are insulting the martyrs who gave up their lives so that we can enjoy our freedom to speak and wirte like this today.
There can be an eternal argument running about whether Gandhi's way or Bose's way could have gotten freedom. But our freedom struggle is not essentially one man's show but an ensemble of various aspects. Gandhi's role can be summarised as: -There were various factions that were fighting the freedom struggle in their own direction and it was only Gandhi's movements helped organize all those. -When the congress was disconnected from the people by its elite nature, he acted as a bridge. Having said that, there are some reasonable critical points against him: first being his patronage of Nehru rather than Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Imagine how even at 2012 the central government is grappling with and clueless handling a State issue, and this one man united the country called India politically. Patel truly deserved to be the PM of the Independent India, instead Gandhi supported Nehru. And from then, it is practically one dynasty that is ruling India through the Congress party. He was adamant rather than diplomatic when dealing with the British. PS:Bringing up his personal life is rather not conducive to a discussion. Further, British leaving India has not only Gandhi or freedom struggle as its sole reason; world war has weakened economies, there were political differences within the country about having colonies and spending for them.
I have only one question to ask detractors of Gandhiji and his methods. Can you imagine one Indian today or at any other time who could get the kind of support to rally behind him and to fight the British through non-violent means? Sad to say even an Anna Hazare who tried really hard to root out corruption could not win against our own government. What do you say about a person who could throw out an imperial power with just one weapon - the support of his own people? Then leave aside any other weaknesses or wrong decisions he took. He was after all human.
I agree that Gandhi is projected as the main person to have brought freedom and other's efforts are undermined. There are many good things about Gandhi and can be projected as a good role model for the nation. I strongly believe division of the country was the right decision. Possible, Nehru's personal ambitions were a factor. But, I do believe he made a decent PM. First leader for a newly free country is a very responsible and important position. Nehru was a very deserving person. Why are people so attached to Pakistanis and miss being with them is beyond me. Division proved to be their loss not ours. Netaji made wrong choice by forming alliance with Nazis. Am I really going to show him as role model to my kids? Tell them that we can act according to our convenience without care for any basic morals?