When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered in protest against his peace efforts, many parallels were offered by commentators, most frequently with the Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, but also with Indian Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However, if we look for parallels in India, the closest parallel is not with these Government leaders, but with Mahatma Gandhi.
This is a very interesting article. Great as Gandhiji was, I feel that Hindus should not support everything that he did. It is a sad state of affair that men such as Nehru who became famous mainly because of Hindu support acted against our interest. This should be a lesson for us – that we should be careful who we trust – apperances should not deceive us. Sound political judgement is required in choosing our leaders – the question we should always ask ourselves is “do they stand for Hindu/Sanatana Dharma”?
A very very interesting article, I didn’t know any of this
Very interesting aarticle. But I would ask, If population exchange would have been given a chance [during partition], how many years would it have taken to complete? And would the British (and the British troops) have cooperated–for so long??
I don’t think it would have taken longer than 3 years. The Brits probably would have co-operated, an exchange of population would appear to vindicate what they had been saying about staying in India only as long as is necessary to solve the Hindu-Muslim cauldron.
Connected with the theme of the article, peace and politics.
Lal Bahadar Shastri, who many probably haven’t heard of, was an Indian prime minister (1964-66). He was PM during one of the wars with Pakistan. After Pakistan had been battered in that conflict, under the auspices of the “United Nations” (lol), India were pressured into peace with Ayub Khan, leader of Pakistan. Lal Bahadur Shastri NEVER RETURNED FROM TASHKENT ALIVE ! Officially he is said to have had a heart attack, soon after he signed a peace treaty.
Wait for this….his successor happened to be one Indira GANDHI. The dynasty had ronce again returned to politics and kept its grip on India.
Anyone smell a rat ?
Sounds a bit conspiracy-theorist to me. Anywayz, I.Gandhi dealt more strongly with pakistan than Shastri, from what I understand.
I wouldn’t put anything beyond that clan or its supporters. After all it certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone was bumped off in high-stakes politics.
I.Gandhi had to act during the Bangladesh war, millions of refugees coming into India, mass scale persecution of Hindus in the territory built up huge internal pressure to intervene. If anything she was too slow to act, and was rather forced to act !
There was another person killed by his own people. They turned their sense of persecution into one of the greatest killing and persecutatory machines any one has ever seen in the world. Still they deny that it is their belief that leads to killing and hate. Unlike jesus, the followers of Gandhi, in the vast majority, do try to bring peace into the world, to decrease human suffering, and to transform the world into a more giving place. I know many of you don’t particularly like Gandhi Ji wiht particular regard to politics and (my own belief) his failed understanding of the evil in akarmic religions; but if the homicidal, racist, ethnocnetric, egocnetric followers of jesus can call him a christ, wouldn’t the world be better off calling Gandhi the true christ?
hariaum
Off the point because the quite frankly the world would have been better off with no christ at all. To paraphrase Sita Ram Goel, Christianity has committed more crimes against humanity, over a longer period of time, over a larger area and against more people than Communism, Nazism and Islam put together. And the root of this is the belief (quite central to Christ’s teachings) that Christ is the only redeemer. You’d have to be a nutter to think Gandhi was anything of the sort anyway.
Having said that, it is important to remember that at least Gandhi was active and stood up for what he believed in and wasn’t afraid to reach out to the masses. He also resisted many attempts and all sorts of inducements to convert to Christianity. This puts him apart from the vast majority of educated people who were his followers then and claim to follow him now.
Mr M.K.Gandhi was at the right place at the right time, Maan he had all the luck, just imagine if lathi blows which Shere Punjab Shri lala Lajpatrai ji took inturn had been on Mr MKG, wouldn’t the history been different????
There is no doubt , the British patronised him since he was ,anyway emasculating the whole Hindu society with his stupid anti Gita philosophy of non violence.
Pls, I don’t want to hear idiotic comments like” what have you done in your life as compared to Mahatmaji” If it comes, I do have the answers(chuckle)
I don’t care if Gandhi is your christ or not. I agree that if jesus existed as the bible describes him, he was a jerk, demon, idiot, not worth the time of any rational person. But if you were to go looking for a person in history that is the “prince of peace,” “resurrected” from the dead repeatedly, the hope of mankind to live together without war, the savior of the meak… whether it was timing, charisma, luck, or leadership skills, Gandhi Ji has to be amongst your list of hopefuls.
Any warrior really can’t because they are the result of and thus result in division or extermination (their survival is more of luck than anyone else’s I suppose). Any philosopher (academic or sitting on a stupa somewhere) isn’t because it needs to be lived as an example. Perhaps a musician, a family wo/man, a secret service person? Or it could be just everybody looking to find the connection between atman-paratman-brahman. I look forward to suggestions.
hariaum
A person who had tested his instincts by sleeping with young girls, if this is your hero? suits you fine!
My god has the head of an elephant, heis high on drugs and sex, he is flirting with many girls at the same time (and married), she is worshiped as ugliness, he is a monkey…
My heroes are the daily people I run into who are confronted with the awesome world of complex power plays and yet find time to be simply human, with faults and grief. They are my teachers some of whom know nothing about the most advanced literature in the world. They are crazy scientists, isolated philosophers, insane artists, compassionate businesspersons…
They need not be your heroes. But I think it was Suraj’s mindset that cost Ayodhya and Lord Rama the presence of Sita Ji. If you are looking for perfection, look into yourself. If you are looking for the perfect, see it in everything. If you are looking for beauty, grace, wisdom, love, compassion, justice, truth… you will find it does not behave the way you want it to.
Anyway, I’m still waiting for suggestions of a better person. I promise to go out and learn about your heroes so that I can compare and thus know more. Previously ShivaJi was mentioned. I did not know his history, the more I learn the better he seems. But he did not lead the world to find a new way to live together – though he did not use his political power to oppress. Gandhi is able to bring christians, marxists, buddhists, and jews to a table of common humanity. He remains, as far as I can see, the bringer of peace to the world, the hope for human salvation (in a political sphere), the man killed by his own people, the man risen from the dead many times, a man of humble mount, and as a Hindu – descended from the Devas (David
).
I reject jesus as nothing more than a mythological zeus based political construct. But the man who is in touch with god and bringing that shakti to this world in a useable fashion for the betterment of our age, whether he is Narada Muni, Krishna, Rama, Sankara, Buddha, ShivaJi, Gandhi, Vivekananda, Auribindo, … Wow, now that’s something worth incorporating.
hariaum
hehehehe
Whatta joke this is?