Only Narendra Modi has truly understood Mahatma Gandhi
It is true that Deendayal Upadhyay, Nanaji Deshmukh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Narendra Modi had never donned Gandhi cap or expressly declared themselves followers of Gandhiji, but their work ethics leaned towards Gandhiji’s ideals
Dr SB Misra 4 Oct 2019 7:21 AM GMT
When in 2014, Narendra Modi had launched Swachh Bharat Mission on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, people from Congress had challenged saying that only if Modi sweeps floors daily and imbibes Gandhi in every walk of life — he would be called a true follower of Gandhi, but then Modi had never claimed to be a Gandhian.
He was also criticized for creating an event out of every of his actions. Now it is difficult to make these skeptics understand that even Gandhiji used to do the same. Somewhere it was written that Gandhiji had once abandoned a high-level meeting to attend to the broken leg of a goat and had picked up a basket to clean up after people during Calcutta Session.
Upon his release from prison in 1977 by Indira Gandhi, Atalji had mentioned that he had read Gandhiji in prison and found that his own principles were quite similar to that of Gandhiji. When Congress raised the prices for diesel, Atalji went to the Parliament in a bullock cart and when he was stopped while going to the Lucknow Vidhan Sabha, he sat on the road and started a movement. To make an event out of everything is the legacy of Gandhiji to the nation. Maybe RSS, Atalji and Narendra Modi have understood Gandhiji better than the Congress.
No one had challenged Gandhi to make salt daily when he called for the Salt Satyagraha and organized Dandi March under Sardar Patel's leadership. Gandhiji had made salt Satygraha into a massive event sending the entire nation into a tizzy. Launching the Swachh Bharat Mission on Gandhi Jayanti, Modi too has taken the drive to every corner of the country.
Gandhiji had initiated a movement in the country with the symbolic gesture of spinning cotton, but then the charkha (spinning wheel) became the symbol of Indian Independence. Congress went a step ahead in making charkha its emblem. Had the country's self-reliance hinged on manufacturing the cloth, there wasn't a dearth of weavers in the country, but Gandhiji did so in order to unify and inspire them.
Narendra Modi has evoked the country to use khadi even if in the form of a handkerchief. This will bring us closer to experiencing Gandhi, liberation and self-respect. Both Gandhiji and Modi had been ardent hard workers and have charted out destiny in a common way. Gandhiji, Patel and Modi — all hail from the state of Gujarat and have been great pragmatists.
The Congress may not have upheld Gandhian ideals, but each morning remembrance of RSS witnesses a tribute accorded to Gandhiji. In 1980, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had envisioned his party's economic principle based upon Gandhian socialism instead of the integral humanism of Deendayal jee.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resolved to realize the dream of Gandhiji for a clean India. It used to be compulsory for Congress party workers to don Gandhi cap, not any more, playing Gandhiji's favourite bhajan Vaishnav Jan in trains such as Shatabdi has been stopped, prabhat pheris (morning processions) chant Raghupati Raghav no more, the people who had lit bonfires of foreign clothes have their descendants attending foreign universities and following western culture with pride.
Should the Gandhian ideals be promulgated, it must be done irrespective of the background of the supporters and agents. It is true that Deendayal Upadhyay, Nanaji Deshmukh, Atal Bihari Vajpeyee and now Narendra Modi had never donned Gandhi cap or expressly declared themselves followers of Gandhiji, but their work ethics leaned towards Gandhiji's ideals. Gandhi followers and Congress people should rejoice that Gandhiji whose stature was reduced to a sort of vote-catcher has been restored to his place of respect by the Sangh and Sangh Parivar.
