My experiments with truth - Part 2

“ Gandhi was killed by an upper caste man.” he said. “of course all upper caste people hated him. The upper caste thought his ideology was rubbish. Why was it that they were so motivated to actually kill him ?”. Everyone’s eyes fell on me. I said “ Aw’ c’mon, saying Gandhi was killed by an Upper caste is like saying Kennedy was killed not by Oswald but by a Christian, I think its hardly a fair statement.” He continued “ My friend, you are saying this ‘cos you come from the same background (Caste) and it is possible that you have been brought up on the same anti-gandhi ideology that Gandhi’s killer was” I remained silent. “Gandhi was anti-upper caste, he was a great supporter of the backward caste. As a result all upper caste people hated him. And they got rid of him. Subsequently, in the present day, where no one really cares for Gandhi’s principles, who benefits ? It is the upper castes, is it not? It was always the backward castes who were big followers of Gandhi. Gandhism never really caught on with the upper castes. I am very sure that even in this day, he is still remembered more among the backward castes than the upper castes. Gandhi was good to the Muslims, which obviously didn’t help”
I said “You still haven’t explained why it was the Brahmins who killed Gandhi and not Godse ?”. He said “Godse was a member of Hindu right wing fundamentalists. You very well know that this organisation was completely run by the Upper caste. The Jan Sangh (early BJP) is a hindu right wing party. It’s a fundamentalist organisation. After independence, they found an excuse to get rid of him. Now they have got rid of his ideology.”

I was quite taken aback by the caste angle. I had never really thought of it that way. I never really thought the upper castes had an active hatred against Gandhi for “de-stratification” of the society. But I was willing to agree that it might be possible. It was the first time in my life I was seeing that point. However, I found it very unfair to be branded as Gandhi killer caste. And also, there were innumerable people who fought along-side Gandhi for Indian Independence. How is their fight any less compared to Gandhi’s ?.

It was my turn to speak. “ Firstly, I would like to point out that there are numerous upper caste Gandhi disciples or Gandhians. Secondly, you say the upper castes have systematically eroded Gandhi principles ? How would that be possible my friend ? I am not a supporter of the BJP, as they haven’t done better than any other party. Right wing or Left wing. However, I must point out that in the last 60yrs of Indian Independence, more than 80% of the time India was ruled by the Indian National Congress. The very party which is claimed to be based on the principles laid down by Gandhi. The hindu right wing party has ruled for less than 10%. It is always the victors who write the history, not the losers. If Gandhi’s principles had to be got rid of by a planned campaign (as suggested by you) , don’t you think you would have to be in power to implement such a policy ? Even among the so called upper castes, the Brahmins constitute only a fraction. Keeping this mind, if they have managed such massive PR coup against Gandhism, it would be quite a feat especially when not in power, don’t you think ? If they DID manage such a feat, I beg to ask you the question, why have they struggled to stay afloat as a political force in all 60yrs? All their efforts to come to power have been pathetic. So if today there is a complete erosion of Gandhism, by sheer logic you should be blaming the pro-gandhi Congress party.”
“As far as Gandhi being relatively more popular among the Dalits today, I think that too is nonsense. Only Ambedkar is considered a true leader. I am not sure they give a toss about Gandhi today. And you think I am anti-Gandhi ? Lets not go there as it is besides the point. If you think my ideology is shaped by my caste, you have another thing coming. My family has hardly shown any interests in political issues. Our social circle too indicates a lack of casteist fundamentalism. I too like millions others have been brought up on the mundane text books preaching the very same ideology you are talking about, in four different languages!”
By this time my friend L was struggling to counter my point. Of course, I being Indian gave me a little more edge in gathering the points. But he refused to give up, which I suspect had all to do with ego rather than rationale. He queried “ Where do you think I got such an impression then ?”. I immediately recognized this as a trap. If I had speculated on where he got his impression, he would immediately be in a position to catch me on the wrong foot. “ I don’t know” was the only thing I said. He looked at others around the table and dismissed me “ He is a cynic. He wont give up”. I just said “Prove it” “Prove that I was being a cynic. You cant make random statements, my friend”. He said “ I can say whatever I want, cant I ?” As a man of science, that’s the last thing you would expect him to say. It was the sound of his nerves snapping. I shrugged and let it go.