David Asta Alares |
New Delhi (EFE).- The “mahatma” Gandhi, a champion of non-violence and the fight for the independence of India, was assassinated 75 years ago today by a Hindu extremist, Nathuram Godse, an anniversary that the Asian country commemorates this Monday between the doubt of to what extent his ideals are still relevant.
With the idea of a secular India that Gandhi fought for – and cost him his life – under siege due to the rise of Hindu nationalism, and the rise of a certain cult towards the murderer of the “father of the nation” exemplified in films like the recently released “Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh” (“Gandhi Godse – a war”, in Hindi), the question seems more relevant than ever.
A battle against shit
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was shot three times at point-blank range as he was preparing to lead multi-faith prayers in the heart of New Delhi, just nine months after India gained independence from the British Empire after decades of protests led by the “mahatma” (great soul). ).
“I said ‘namaste’ to Gandhi, and then I aimed at his chest and fired,” Godse, an extremist who preached the idea of making India a Hindu country and who saw minorities as the greatest enemies of society, would recall during the interrogation. nation.
The champion of non-violence always claimed to be willing to give his life to stop the spiral of violence that triggered the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 in India and Pakistan, leaving around a million dead.
“He would have given his life to save a Muslim from harm,” Neera Chandhoke, a retired professor of political science at the University of Delhi, told EFE.
For Chandhoke, who preaches that Gandhi should be understood as a political strategist with an exceptional ability to “capture the moment” in the face of the saintly image that carries his “mahatma” title, his spirit remains the order of the day.
“First, and speaking in the current context of India, it taught us what it means to be free from fear,” he explained.
The non-violence that Gandhi made the pillar of his campaigns of civil disobedience and passive resistance against the British is another of the most relevant aspects today.
As well as the cosmopolitan mentality of a leader who knew how to value the diversity of religions and languages in India, despite the fact that he made the mistake of thinking that the discriminatory caste system would disappear without having to destroy the Hindu religion, according to the professor.
But although relevant, Chandhoke assured that his ideas are conspicuous by their absence in India in 2023.
“Gandhi has, quite frankly, been reduced to a pair of glasses on the Clean India posters,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign to install toilets and remove litter from the streets.
The clash of two ideologies
Whether reduced to a mere symbol or not, Gandhi’s ideas are more relevant than ever given the rise to power of the BJP by Modi, a leader sprung from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization known for its radical Hinduism.
This is the opinion of the journalist and writer Dhirendra K. Jha, who traced Godse’s career through his membership of the RSS to the assassination of the “mahatma” in “Ghandi’s killer” (2021, “Gandhi’s killer”).
Jha told EFE that the BJP’s rise to power “has revived the flaw” in Indian society “that led to Gandhi’s assassination.”
“The same resentment against Muslims and the same love for a Hindu nation that inspired Godse to kill Gandhi,” he said, have reappeared in present-day India “in the constant attacks against Muslims and Christians.”
Some ideas that never disappeared despite the fact that the defenders of Hindu nationalism had to adopt a low profile, due to the feeling of rejection that Gandhi’s assassination aroused in Indian society.
The government is busy creating a climate of impunity for the most radical sectors of Hinduism, according to Jha, while pushing controversial laws such as a rule to grant citizenship to irregular immigrants from neighboring countries that is described as discriminatory by excluding Muslims.
“For the first time here in India there has been an attempt to implement discrimination based on religion,” he said.
All this while Godse has been the subject of increasing interest in recent decades, the latest example being a film that imagines what would have happened if Gandhi had survived the attack and struck up a conversation with his confessed murderer.
In “Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh”, released last Thursday during Republic Day, “Godse is shown as a hero” and even becomes the savior of the “mahatma” by preventing an attack.
“Hate, which was confined to the margins after Gandhi’s assassination, has begun to occupy the public square,” lamented Jha.