Actually, we fail to understand the consequences of gandhi’s so called “Problems’.. As i said earlier, that a social gandhi, a spiritual gandhi should be respected and appreciated.. But, we have been so much affected by that political gandhi, that most of our sufferings today, could be traced its root to gandhi’s subverted satyagraha..

To quote an example, when Power was transferred to Congress, Nehru first asked the question “Why should we need army now?” (those in dis-belief, pls understand nehru asked this very question).. As a result, he neglected indian army, till china gave us a sever blow..

Another effect of gandhi’s satyagraha on nehru is that he voluntarily gave the rights of Tibet to China, under the guise of “Hindi Chini – Bhai Bhai”, as though india was his personal property.. (still the nehru dynasty feels india and congress are its property..that’s a different case )..
Could any ordinary person donate a part of his land just for a illusionary friendship? (We cannot do this even to our close friend, nor our relative)..

Whats the effect of that decision on us? We lost tibet which acted as buffer b/w india and china.. we lost a part of arunachal pradesh, and a part of ladakh.. we lost strategic heights in himalayas.. we lost a natural boundary for us.. we lost source of our major rivers like ganga and brahmaputra..

Today, china is claiming remaining part of arunachal pradesh.. China is planning every move to dis-integrate india, and surrounded us with “string of pearls”.. (pls google this phrase).. We lost our ability to stand against china to defend ourselves..
http://news.rediff.com/column/2009/oct/08/to-chinas-delight-india-reins-in-its-media.htm

So, i pose this simple question.. When china attacks us next, will any of gandhian values help us? If Not, what is the use of eulogizing those values.. Arent we subverting our intellect ourselves? And also subverting the intellect of the next generation?

/** My personal grouse of promoting Nehru instead of Patel. **/

This is also one of the reason why i hate gandhi (the political gandhi) too much.. When almost all congress commitee members had chosen patel, why should gandhi push nehru? That too for a silly reason (do any one want to know this)?
Is it not against the very spirit of democracy.. and that’s why i called gandhi as a fascist..

Also, if you read the following link on Nehru, your grouse will further increase

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1216186/The-shocking-love-triangle-Lord-Mountbatten-wife-founder-modern-India.html

The above details on the illicit affair that nehru had with edwina.. but more importantly the fact that Nehru mortgaged india, just for the same reason.. his weakness towards edwina, which mountbatten utilised for his purpose, in persuading Nehru to refer Kashmir issue to UN, just when indian forces was within two weeks of recapturing the entire kashmir..

Arent we suffering from the consequences of the insane decision, that nehru took at that time, just for his illicit love? Is it just a small mistake?

PS: i think dailymail is a reputed one among the elites

I am willing to see gandhi in an objective manner.. but most of those writing on gandhi is doing a kind of hero worship, which i could not agree with..

Infact, i feel, gandhi’s valuable ideas are discounted as not suitable to modern times, whereas, his impractical ideals are eulogized..

For example, let’s take the case of Gram Rajya, and the village republic that gandhi suggested.. I visualise that, if implemented properly, it could have been a efficient indigenous development model, that would have pushed india to a developed country by now.

While i would cover this in my detailed post, i am giving a glimpse of what i envision..

Gandhi village republic consists of a self-reliant village, where every basic thing needed for the village is produced there itself. The village should look outside only for those materials which it could not produce itself. Similarly, the village people should elect their representative directly, and should be able to de-elect the same if he found to be inefficient. The village should have the power and authority to design its own geographic space, like house architecture, developing infrastructure, policing, collecting taxes, laying roads etc.

Imagine, if such a system has been implemented, then today, every village would have developed itself, and people there living a standard life.

I have an interesting hypothesis here. Suppose, if an IT company wants to setup development centre, they can choose a village republic, get permission from them, setup a dev centre, pay a part of tax to the village administration, and another part to the central government. Whatever the company needs, would be fulfilled by the village authority, as they are the direct beneficiary of having an IT company.

if there are thousand such autonomous village republics, with refined administrative system, our IT companies would have the most favourable environment to work with. Since IT companies generate more revenue, there would be competition b/w village republics to setup development centers in their region, with all facilities. (as they have the power to develop their area). And we need not pack ourselves in just chennai.. rather all our employees would have had the opportunity to work near their native place, able to look after their parents, living a comfortable life along with their relatives..

The central government would be taking care of defence, foreign affairs, and other larger infrastructure activities.

This is just my dream coming out of my understanding of our true history (NOT the one that we study in history books)..

This village republic is a concept that was existing for thousands of years in india, as dharampal writes in his history.. Gandhi would have observed such village setup directly, as on those days, india’s social setup might not have changed much..

I emphasize one thing.. Only if we understand “What we have lost’, and only if we are able to envision “How we could have been”, we could be able to ascertain our current position or status..

I do agree with you on certain points about Gandhi being opinionated and not a consensus person. My personal grouse of promoting Nehru instead of Patel.

But the point of blog as I see it, what ideas/concepts given by Gandhi is useful to us.

I strongly believe in “Matran thotathu malligaikkum vasam undu”. The neighbour’s garden has jasmines which smells nice.

Gandhi might have his problems but some of his concepts/principles are strong and meaningful. Why reject anything/everything from Gandhi just because he messed up somethings. Afterall he is also human. Just look at him as another smart being rather than a person whose clone should be made.

Just to give you a perspective my thinking. I don’t believe in God or Krishna. But I like “Gita and its principles” I find it meaning if you read it with a neutral frame of mind. Read Gita as if it is management book. You will actually discover some intersting perspectives.