Mahatma Gandhi birthday

India is celebrating the completion of 75 years of its freedom. Yet there is another 75th anniversary we need to talk about. It's been 75 years since ...

Was this the response of Gandhi and his friends to the treachery of the "high castes"? But the rest of the nation then moved on the path he had asked it to do. By way of example, if we make the vain attempt of obliterating the Muslim period, we shall have to forget that there was a mighty Jama Masjid in Delhi second to none in the world, or that there was a Muslim University in Aligarh, or that there was the Taj in Agra, one of the seven wonders of the world, or that there were the great forts of Delhi and Agra built during the Mughal period. He wrote to his friends and well-wishers that he did not know what would happen the next moment, or whether he would live. Time and again, he said and wrote that the belief of the people of India in non-violence and Khadi was superficial and hypocritical. Similarly, he was also able to see that the 'upper castes were not interested in playing their role for justice to the Dalits, which he had demanded from them after the infamous Poona Pact. The purpose to which Gandhi had dedicated his life had been achieved. While it was relatively easy to overthrow British rule, the task of freeing the country's people from the clutches of caste was far more difficult. We can say, looking back, that while taking account of his life and his engagement with his people, Gandhi was more dissatisfied and agonised on the occasion of his birthday. Recall the threat of the then chief of the RSS that, if need be, Gandhi could be silenced. Now we know it was to be the last birthday of Gandhi's life. India is celebrating the completion of 75 years of its freedom.