It frustrates me to see a generation of Indians being raised on alternate facts about Mahatma Gandhi and his role in the Indian Freedom movement.
Mahatma, a sobriquet given to him by Tagore, was by no means a perfect human being. His Experiments with Truths were strange in many respects. His neglect of his wife and children are well documented.
But he did come with novel tools that turned India’s freedom movement to a mass, all India, movement. He went from being a properly dressed brown Englishman to a half naked Faqir to identify with ordinary Indians. He changed a political movement to a moral/legal movement and changed the nature of discussion.
Emphasis on non-violence was brilliant. Civil-disobedince was a new techniqure against force was very ineffective. Filling up jails voluntrily made the unjust criminal justice system totally useless.
His techniques tugged at the heart of ordinary people in England who had no idea about unjust and illegal nature of the their Raj in India.
His techniques have proven efficacious for American Negoes in his fight for justice and fight against apartheid in South Africa.
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