ct. 2nd comes with a bang this time. Yes, it’s Gandhi’s Birthday allright, and all the netas are still doing the media rounds garlanding all Gandhi statues in the vicinity, so nothing’s changed there. But this time there’s a fervor sweeping the nation (or maybe just the media ?). Watching TV and all the stuff dedicated to Gandhi-giri in real life, would make you believe that Ram Rajya is coming back to town. It’s magic, see. Watch “Lage raho Munnbhai (LRMB)” and become a convert. Begin paying your taxes, shame corrupt officials into not taking bribes, and stop eve-teasers in their tracks with those wondrous words : “Gandhi-giri”.
The public’s collective memory is short, and the media will churn out the stories that bump up those TRPs. So as I watch NDTV cover the cast of LRMB celebrate Oct.2nd , I wonder if everyone’s forgotten that the star of “Lage Raho . .” is Sanjay Dutt, one of the accused in the horrific Mumbai blasts ? Apparently the media with it’s gushing deluge of Gandhi-ism and it’s so-called pratitioners forgets about the recent court verdict. Was it only last month ?
Gandhi is cool again. We talk about it, read about it and the general feeling seems to be that if we do this enough, Gandhi-giri will permeate through. Under our skins, in our consiousness, in our thoughts and our actions. No extra effort required. We’ll respect the bystander on the road, clean up after ourselves in public places and wait patiently in lines for our turn. And yes, we’ll ooze patience and the milk of human kindness, forgive and forget, turn the other cheek etc. Just like that.
It’s absurd to me. Am absolutely flabbergasted with all the tripe being hurled up into the mainstream by the media. Gandhism has existed for a long time now. Gandhi’s principles are well-known. Humanity and respect are basic requirements of civil society – Gandhi didn’t invent them. You don’t need Gandhi to popularise what it means to be human. You should (hopefully) know that for yourself. Gandhi’s principles just extend the concepts a tad. Take them further. He tells you not how to be good, he tells you how to be best. And when you are not good, it’s hard to be best.
In society where hired help and servants are treated like second-class citizens, and elected leaders in parliament routinely resort to bashing each other up physically with implements like chairs and tables (I remeber seeing the footage on DD), this tom-tomming of newly found uber-cool-Gandhiism is ridiculous. Aiming for Gandhi’s principles when basic human rights are not respected is like aiming for the moon. If all it took was a film and advertising, creating a concept, a brand if you will, to get Gandhi into our system, India would be the land of milk and honey indeed. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way (much as I wish it would), it takes law and order to persuade some of us to adhere to non-violence.
