tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674709389503889160.post2154080711459913176..comments2024-03-25T14:25:25.102+00:00Comments on Poetry as Socio-proctology: Implausible Indian- Feisal Devji on Gandhi.windwheelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18099651877551933295noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674709389503889160.post-13291262985201446252012-11-04T16:50:01.161+00:002012-11-04T16:50:01.161+00:00I appreciate your comment but I would take issue w...I appreciate your comment but I would take issue with you on two points<br />1) The British did actually rule India. They achieved things. They were able to mobilize Indian resources in an unprecedented way so as to put millions of Indian soldiers on battlefields as far away as Flanders. India's force projection capacity reached a peak under the British which it will never regain.<br />2) Indians were already divided. Indian troops, Indian capital, Indian compradors, paved the way for the re-unification of India only under tutelage to the British. But, even when the British were saying- 'unite and we'll give you representative government'- Indians could not and did not unite. Why tell lies about it? Okay, when I was young some Indians and Pakistanis believed that the 'elites' had been bought by the Great Powers and that was the only reason we simple people- who genuinely loved each other when we met in East Africa or Gulf or (from the 50's onwards) in U.K or (from 60's onwards) in U.S- had been divided up.<br />Here in Southall, West London, I saw with my own eyes Muslim men coming with their sons to help build the Gurudwara and Sikhs and Hindus reciprocating to build the Mosque. The tragic thing was these people had been childhood friends and neighbours- 'chaddi buddies' as they say in Southall- and, during the late Seventies or early Eighties, they had the same enemy- viz. the Nazi 'British' National Front- and the same Socialist heroes and ideology. <br />All that is gone now. Nirankari gurudwaras were attacked, Ahmediyya institutions attacked, then Sikh vs Muslim youth gangs, then just total criminalization because of the pull of drugs.<br />I remember, people used to send their boys back home for education to keep them out of trouble. Now Punjab is the biggest drug disaster zone! Honestly, at one time I would have accepted Fundamentalism if it kept the young boys away from drugs. But that was even worse- Terrorism just become Crime and Extortion and Prostituting of the younger sisters. <br />Honestly, if there was a real Gandhian solution to real problems, we would all sacrifice anything for it. But, where is it? Gandhian ideology is good for social climbing- my own family benefited- but how did it benefit the vast mass of Indian people?<br />In any case, forgive me if I offend your sensibilities on this point, you yourself may be a Great Human Being. Why do you need this crutch of Gandhi? He is dead. Let him go. See things with a perfectly equal eye and you yourself could give us guidance. <br />Why worship the Saint when you are not less, by your nature, yourself?<br />Gandhi said 'what is won by the sword can only be kept by the sword'- (okay, this is false. What is won by the sword can be kept by sound Economics- i.e. incentive compatible mechanism design) - but he also said 'what is won by Satyagraha can only be kept with Satyagraha'. But Satyagraha is costly. If it were not so it would not be Satyagraha. So what is the point of gaining things, that too only for a moment, by the most bankruptingly prodigal means possible?windwheelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18099651877551933295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1674709389503889160.post-10633053006805726892012-11-04T13:23:40.066+00:002012-11-04T13:23:40.066+00:00British pursued divide and rule policy which is wh...British pursued divide and rule policy which is why Mahatma Gandhi put stress on not just Hindu Muslim unity but also unity between Rich and Poor.<br />He put the model of voluntary sacrifice at the core of his philosophy of Satyagraha.<br />What we see now is vote bank politics based on divide and rule and appeasement of special interest groups.<br />That is the simple point Dr. Devji makes in his article.<br />One can criticize anyone for their mistakes. Lenin, Churchill, Mao- all made mistakes but the message to history is based on the principles they followed.<br />In this regard, Mahatma Gandhi stands out as one of the Greatest human beings of the Twentieth Century.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com