Eminent historian and one of India’s most respected public intellectuals, Dr. Ramachandra Guha is the deeply knowledgeable biographer of Mahatma Gandhi on whom he has written two heavily researched and eminently readable biographies — Gandhi Before India (2013), and its sequel Gandhi: Years that Changed the World 1914-48 (2018). Prior to that, he wrote the most authoritative and readable history of post-independence India titled India after Gandhi (2007). Excerpts from an interview with Dilip Thakore. After independence, Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings and vision of a free, independent India were quickly forgotten… First of all, I want to say that Gandhi fascinates me as a historian and a biographer. I am not a Gandhian or an unqualified admirer of Gandhi. I believe Gandhi is significant for the movements he led, for the debates he initiated and for his moral courage. But he was not always right. For example, on the question of caste, Ambedkar was more perceptive than him. On the question of gender equality, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was arguably more forward than him. On the question of nationalism and internationalism, Tagore had better insights than Gandhi. As to your question — what of Gandhi remains today, I would like to invoke an image used by Gandhi in 1922, around the time of the non-cooperation movement. He said, when swaraj comes, it should be a sturdy bed with four robust pillars — non-violence, Hindu-Muslim harmony, abolition of untouchability and the promotion of khadi. By these, he meant that in free India, Indians must settle their debates non-violently. Next, Hindu-Muslim harmony was crucial to Gandhi’s vision of India. The third pillar: abolition of untouchability including gender discrimination because Gandhi was also committed to emancipation of women. And with the promotion of khadi, he had generation of employment, elimination of poverty, dignity of labour in mind. These four ideals are still important, and we must honour them. Of the four, I would say, the one that is most under threat today is Hindu-Muslim harmony. Majoritarianism has endangered Gandhi’s vision of India. But there are other challenges such as environmental degradation, abusive language on social media that Gandhi would have deplored. You are also an admirer of Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India’s first prime minister. But in recent years there’s been a reassessment of Nehru. In the critical 1946 AICC election for presidency of the Congress which would determine the first prime minister of independent India, Nehru didn’t get a single vote which went overwhelmingly in favour of Sardar Patel. Yet Nehru persuaded Gandhiji to request Patel to withdraw his nomination. Moreover, after independence Nehru imposed the inorganic Soviet-inspired socialist economic development model on the nation which has led India to socio-economic ruin. What’s your comment? These are extreme statements. Both of them. In fact, the first has no basis. It was not an AICC meeting, but a meeting of the Congress Working Committee. This is a very important issue that Whatsapp University has distorted. Let me explain why Nehru was chosen free India’s first prime minister.…
