Rules of Membership

[Bijoy Misra]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2000, Rajarshi Banerjee wrote:
> Less of Gandhi's
>  theatrical moralism and more common sense would have saved numerous lives.
> 
>  The Mahatma gave us a peep into the workings of his own mind when he
> advised
>  refugees from West Panjab in Delhi to return home (and face certain death):
>  "If all Panjabis were to die willingly, Panjab will become immortal."
>  (someplace in Collins and Lapierre: Freedom at Midnight)  This to refugees
>  who had lost everything and seen their relatives butchered; as Alain
>  Dani�lou has remarked, Gandhi was alternately ice-cold and
> arch-sentimental.
> 
> Many of gandhijis followers themselves can be quite critical of him. I
> personally head angry criticism by a staunch follower on his treatment of a
> pregnant kasturba when she refused to clean public latrines in south africa.
> This from people who knew him personally and have been staunch followers all
> their lives. People do openly discuss his faults rather than just treat him
> as some undisputed symbol of morality. There is nothing strange about
> treating gandhi as another human being.
> 

Of course Gandhi was a human being.  The statement above implies
as though human beings are Gandhis.  It takes a lot to be a Gandhi.
There is organized criticism of Gandhi lately by political
lobbyists.  It's unfortunate.

BM