The Return of Gandhi

“The Return of Gandhi” in my opinion rightly predicts that the Mahatma would not sit around and mourn the loss of his legacy. Rather he would travel this great land see learn and understand. And he would then spring to action. Dalits and Adivasis constitute the very heart of Indian society and their pain resonated deeply with Gandhi and he saw their upliftment simply as the pursuit of justice. In the course of my work with the United Nations I have seen just how large an impact Gandhi left on the world. I recall a youth in a totalitarian country once asking me “You had Gandhi…who do we have?”. In his words was a fervent longing for a leader who spoke to the masses of his country and for an example that he could identify with. I was barely surprised when his country had a non-violent revolution a year later. For whenever Gandhi is remembered his spirit returns. Dr Vizai Bhaskar’s Gandhi vows to “lift India from the quick sand of political delinquency and the slush of corruption and dishonesty” to “the solid rock of political and economic Justice”. He promises to return to protect the persecuted “the good and the innocent” and to become the “body mind and soul of the common man”. Indians may give up Gandhi’s ways but let us pray that Gandhi will never give up on India.                                                                                                                       -        Raja Karthikeya.                                                                                                                   Diplomat United Nations