Lots of hue and cry was made over Vijay Mallya's bidding for Mahatma Gandhi's stuff. The Government's spokesperson Ambika Soni saidthat they were in constant touch with Mallya and this is a government accomplishment.The very next day, an agitated Mallya told TOI that no one from the government ever spoke to him about the deal. That was a big slap on he spokesperson's face of course(though I am 100% sure she didn't care for it, politics makes you spineless).
So we have Gandhi's things in our country now. Great. Has the communal tension eased here? No. Is there any lessening of rapes and murders in the capital. No. Did any robbers surrender? No.Point is why are we equating a Great man and his thoughts to materialistic possessions.
Ironically, Gandhiji did not like to have materialistic comfort around him. He shunned that way of life.His need were simple and basic. With all that he just wanted us to believe in simplicity of living; of sharing responsibility; of loving our fellow men. Did bringing his possessions back to India did any of that?No it did not. Were Gandhi's possessions the reason for his thoughts?Of course not.
It is very fashionable to say today that Gandhi's non-violent theory failed and Bhagat Singh's Rebellious theory was better. If we think about it, I am sure most of the people reading this article never knewwhat the independence struggle was. Two centuries of enslavement is not funny.
At that time, it was a necessity to end the British rule. Every person did what he thought would be best. To compare their actions with each other is actually an insult to their spirit. They were working for a common goal. No wonder the goal was finally achieved, but not all were alive to see it.The point I simply want to make is, its great that Mallya bought Gandhi's things back. But making it a national accomplishment is not.
National Accomplishment will only be when we can proudly say that we preserved his teachings by implementing them. In fact, when we make a difference of not waiting to do all good someday but by simply doing something good everyday.
