Dhananjay Keer writes
in his biography (page 619):
“The fate of Gandhi’s
Harijan uplift movement was no better than its theory or blue-print. M. C.
Rajah moved a temple entry Bill [to allow untouchables entry into temples] in
1938, and Rajagopalachari [Rajaji] as Premier of Madras compelled 28 out of 30
Harijan members to vote against it. When Rajah appealed to Gandhi, he replied
that Rajah’s community had no better friends than Rajagopalachari. The Bill had
been introduced with the consent of the Congress Party. . . .
And when Dr. Khare, Prime Minister of the Central Provinces, later included a
Harijan in the Cabinet, Gandhi expressed disapproval of thus ‘raising absurd
ambitions in the minds of the Harijans’! No wonder then that after twenty years
of the Gandhian Harijan Movement, S. Ramanathan, a Congress Minister of Madras,
said in 1943: ‘Gandhism has given rise to a worse evil than the Hindu-Muslim
conflict. It has justified the caste system and has given it a fresh lease of life.’”
Gandhi
strongly supported the birth-based caste system of the Hindus. He even
proclaimed that inter-marriage and inter-dining between different castes was
promiscuous.
What
he said about the Kafirs in South Africa has to be read in his own words to be
believed:
“Indian Opinion,
March 7, 1908,
“Classification
of Asiatics with Natives”
The cell was situated in the native quarters and we
were housed in one that was labeled “For Coloured Debtors”. It was this
experience for which we were perhaps all unprepared. We had fondly imagined
that we would have suitable quarters apart from the natives. . . .
Degradation underlay the classing of Indians with
Natives. . . .
Many of the Native prisoners are only one degree
removed from the animal and often created rows and fought among themselves in
the cells.”[1]
Gandhi
also bombarded the Government in South Africa for months fighting for a
separate entrance to the post office for the Indians. It was a degradation for
the Indians to share one with the “Natives,” he writes.
I
shall end my post here offering just one more point to think upon. It is so
easy to be conned by a slick tongue and a charming personality . . . ! And so,
I have a very simple litmus test to weed out the worthy from the unworthy.
My litmus test:
compare a person’s words very carefully with their actions. If they match, the
person passes and is certainly of genuine, solid character. If not—watch out!
Needless
to say Gandhi fails this litmus test time and again. The blinkers around the
eyes have to be made of cast iron to not accept this fact.
Anurupa
Mahatma Gandhi Facts: Gandhi Revealed
Mahatma Gandhi Facts: Gandhi Revealed
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