GANDHI NEHRU GANDHI philosphies

I quite agree with MJ Akbar when he speaks of the reasons why Gandhi wanted Indians to behave in a certain way. India, at least the northern region has seen more invasions than any where else in the world. Indians are inherently violent people and can fight for no reason. You can see it on the road; we can fight for just about anything. Add to that a nation with thousands of languages, castes and communities, each insecure about their existence. Indians can be easily provoked emotionally to kill each other and that is probably the reason why Gandhi preached Non-violence to save us from each other. The strongest emotions that came out from the Mahatma were only when there were riots of any sort and the nation was more often than not united for any cause that Gandhi stood for. He gauged India absolutely spot-on.

Nehru in comparison had a dream of India which was independent and not just free; he worked hard for it and tried to carry on the legacy of Gandhi. Trusting China before their invasion was low point of his stint as the PM. In the first decade of independence the country was running smoothly as people were still coming to terms with freedom and the entire country was more or less at the same level of socio economic strength and there were not many disparities or should we say the perils of capitalistic society. There was real development happening in India till Nehru was at the helm.

Indira was seen as the strongest of them all, Indira’s stint at the helm re-emphasized the fact that Indians still liked to be ruled by Kings and Queens and democracy is only in name. During Indira’s stint we saw the strengthening of the lower class, the emergence of communists, rich getting richer and more poor getting poorer. Indira was a true patriot, she would probably put country before self under most conditions and had the guts and the will to stand by whatever she believed in. This led to a separation of congress and formation of a government with Marxists with Indira at the helm. During those two decades we saw violent trade unions, emergence of naxalism, unrest in Punjab & north east, emergence of regional parties in south, war with Pakistan and the emergency.

Post emergency rout of Congress goes on to prove that democracy is over any one and every one and the electorate completely rejected democracy and Jaiprakash Narayan led Janta Party finally came at the helm. Weak organization led to the fall of Janta Party government. Indira got power again and this time she was more like a dictator. With all due respect she has done a lot for the country but she was not suited for a democratic set-up as she was a master manager and executioner.

What Indira did in Punjab is debatable but was the ultimate reason for her killing and her martyrdom.

IN A WAY THE FACT THAT SHE WAS KILLED GAVE HER MARTYRDOM, IF SHE WOULD HAVE SURVIVED WHO KNOWS IF SHE WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY SURVIVED????