Bande mein hain dum, aur rahega

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will likely be unhappy on Wednesday the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma MK Gandhi the Father of the Nation a term first used by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on Azad Hind Radio according to the magnificent secondpart biography by Ramachandra Guha Gandhi The Years That Changed the World 19141948 Penguin Allen Lane 1129 pagesHe was killed by Nathuram Godse a hero to many of Modis supporters and fellow Hindutvawadis The two cannot be spoken of in the same breath much less compared it would be ignorant and farcical to measure both by the same historical yardstick Yet since May 2014 some have tried Some have even spoken of erecting a statue or two in Godses honour Even if Modi is thrown out this May we are likely to continue hearing such nonsense in the futureWhich is why reading Guhas Gandhi is an imperative I dont have enough adjectives for this magisterial work Guha is a Gandhi scholar whose life has been devoted to extensive and deep research this volume is illuminated not just by past archival material but also by papers that came into the public domain in two instalments in 2007 and in 2012 Gandhijis papers that were in the possession of Pyarelal Nayar elder brother of Dr Sushila Nayar and secretary to the Mahatma after Mahadev Desais death in 1942 Guhas biography is the first to use this material and he has more than done justice to itEvery Indian intellectual needs to come to terms with Gandhi during their lifetime IMHO each serious writer must consider Gandhiji at some point regardless of whether you think him weird for sleeping alongside his grandniece or you call him a racist as Guha points out Gandhiji had the common racialist views of his era when he arrived in Africa in 1893 but 21 years later when he left he arrived in India on January 9 1915 the anniversary of which was observed as Pravasi Diwas till this year another example of Modis efforts to undermine Gandhiji he had radically revised his view to one of empathy and even admiration for the moral courage of black Africans More than that many fault him for his quarrel with Dr BR Ambedkar and the latters efforts against casteismGuha puts things in perspective Gandhijis experiment with sleeping alongside a young woman was part of his worldview in which his asceticism his morality and his politics were intertwined When during the 1940s his politics was less effective than its peak the Dandi march of 1930 he agonised that the shortcomings in his politics was linked to shortcomings in his abstinence The experiment was a test of this and it left his close associates horrified He dropped itA more interesting phase in his life was his spiritual marriage to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagores niece Saraladevi Chaudhurani She was Lahorebased and they became intimate during his involvement in the Punjab both following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 as well as his efforts for HinduMuslim unity with his illfated Khilafat movement in the 1920s which was overtaken by a movement for Pakistan Gandhiji almost publicly announced a spiritual marriage but was dissuaded from this historic blunder by Rajaji C RajagopalachariReligious unity failed for the same reason that intercaste unity failed trying to take everyone along he alienated both sides The upper castes that ran the Congress party machine Gandhiji was the ultimate authority but maintained a facade of consensus thought his ideas too radical while Ambedkar like the Muslim leadership found him too conservative Gandhiji himself waffled by saying the varna system originally served a purpose though he disapproved of interdining and intermarriage restrictions That he walked a tightrope is evident even today in 2019 as casteism still bedevils IndiaYet Gandhijis political astuteness his conservative image of being a sanyasi enabled him to mobilise Indians on a scale never before achieved and not matched since With it he won us our freedomGuhas book is important for its topnotch scholarship and also because each generation needs a doorway to Gandhiji as he recedes deeper into memory This is particularly so at a time when a political agenda exists to rob him of his legacy by glorification of Godse a devotee of VD Savarkar whom Modi publicly worships and a onetime RSS memberSo why will Modi feel sad on Wednesday Before the 2014 elections a friend now in government confided to me that Modis ambition was to be known to history of surpassing even Gandhiji in greatness Wednesday though will be a reminder that he is not even close Gandhiji might have been physically eradicated but thanks to scholars like Guha his struggle remains alive and his idea of India lives onAditya Sinha is a writer and columnist His latest book India Unmade How the Modi Government Broke the Economy with Yashwant Sinha is out now He tweets autumnshade Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates