'If Gandhi Was Alive, He Would Have Said...': Gopalkrishna Gandhi On Mahatma's Views On Democracy Today

ABP Southern Rising Summit 2023: The former Bengal Governor said South Indians in South Africa propelled the satyagraha struggle in India, which eventually led to Independence.

Prof Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former Governor of West Bengal and author

Former West Bengal Governor and author Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Thursday said if Mahatma Gandhi was alive today, he would have said that there was a need to make our democracy more real to serve our country more effectively. Speak at ABP Network's 'The Southern Rising Summit 2023', the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi said the Father of The Nation never sought immortality and regarded himself as an ordinary person.

"One major part of India's freedom struggle was making the country a democracy. If Mahatma Gandhi was alive, he would have said that I am glad to see political parties being active, speaking fearlessly and frankly but that is not enough. There is something more to be done to make our democracy real to serve our country more effectively," Gopalkrishna Gandhi said.

The former Bengal Governor said South Indians in South Africa propelled the satyagraha struggle in India, which eventually led to Independence. "Tamils and Telugus in South Africa propelled satyagraha. Mahatma Gandhi was privileged to be among them," he said.

Gandhi then went on to narrate the story of late freedom fighter Thillaiyadi Valliammai, a tea plantation worker, who fought for the dignity of Indian women in South Africa. "Thillaiyadi Valliammai and Kasturba Gandhi were imprisoned in South Africa in 1913 in the same jail after they took part in the satyagraha. The contribution of Tamil Nadu and South India was remarkable in India's struggle for independence," Gandhi further said.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi On Israel-Palestine Conflict

Gopalkrishna Gandhi also touched upon the two wars that has dominated the recent geopolitical arena --  between Russia-Ukrine and Israel-Palestine. Gandhi said the wars were not about borders or political control, but about hatred. 

"Deep suspicions and dislike among communities has led to the violence in Manipur. Greed is making human population turn to the world's non-human resources, making life on our planet precarious. Things about which Gandhi was particularly concerned," the former Governor said.

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its 20th month, the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant outfit Hamas has killed over thousand people in the past six days. Hamas has taken several Israelis as hostages even as Israel responded with heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

A former administrator and diplomat, Gandhi expressed concern over the continuing divide between Hindus and Muslims in the subcontinent and Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. "Untouchability may have been abolished but has caste, discrimination gone? Do women, especially adivasis and dalits, feel safer today than they did before independence? These are the real issues today and are relevant to us," he said.

He also said the soul of India was immortal but also very human. "It is capable of feeling pain, distress and agony. It is not some kind of a yogic saint above all emotions. India, that is Bharat, and Bharat that is mata, has the spirit of a mother that is timeless," Gandhi said. On his idea of India, he said India was not about majority or minority but it is a "majority of minorties". "Each one of us have a sepatate identity," he said.