Gandhi in The Handmaid’s Tale

Hello folks. I have had certain admiration for Gandhi. Reading about him being a wife-beater, is quite curious to me. In reading through some of the interacts, I discover a lot of opinions, but I have no concrete facts of him ``beating,`` whatever that means, his wife. Are there any of you who are able to send me such information, so that I, if I chose, may comment regarding the same.

Of course, I am sure that most of you know that in evaluating a person`s actions, character, etc., one must oppose imposing our own, private, or current values on a segment of culture, in a different generation and or a different culture. It is OK to give an opinion, as long as one qualifies the opinion by stating that it is such, and as such, it may not suit endeavouring to evaluate another by it without clearly articulating the gap between the A of one culture/time period and the B of another culture/time period. If such is not done, I believe that the analysis often ends up in nebulism - something that we as educated persons, need not to be entangled in - such can only leave a query wanting.

I would appreciate your assistance if you are able to afford it to me.

Thank you,

Darrell Hall, April 25, 2007.

REVIEWS: Gandhi’s still alive in Gujarat




Reviewed by Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari

In Gandhi’s hometown, Gujarat, three years after the religious violence, the Muslim community is still squandering for justice and freedom from fear of Hindu retaliation. The pogrom that left 110,000 Muslims homeless and killed over 2,000, according to the Human Rights Watch still have their violators roaming free. Recently the BBC reported that mass graves were dug out to hide evidence of the depravity. Women and children, physiologists say, are unable to get over the trauma and violence they witnessed.

Despite this, Dalits and other untouchables in Gujarat are “far worse than the Muslims.”

About eight decades ago, it was this alliance of common interest between the Muslims and the untouchables that frightened Gandhi, fictitiously known as the Mahatma, into a series of political manoeuvres to protect not only his adherence to orthodox Hinduism, but also the Congress party’s capitalist interests. If Kamran Shahid, author of Gandhi and the Partition of India: A New Perspective, is to be believed, the alliance of the lower caste Hindus and Muslims (who were themselves converts from lower-caste Hindus, escaping the drudgery and humiliation of class), formed a majority of Indian vote bank.

The British planned to leave the colonies and intended to implant the traditions of democracy and fraternity in Indian politics before they did. Recklessly abandoning his spiritual face to the world, Gandhi articulated his worst fears in reaction to safeguards granted to Muslims and untouchables granted by the British Communal Award of 1931, “the Untouchable hooligans would make alliance with the Muslim hooligans and kill upper-caste Hindus.”

As a failed lawyer in South Africa, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had fought tooth and nail against perceived discrimination against Indians, but not as popularly believed in the interest of equality. It was for the more privileged treatment of Indians in South Africa as compared to black Africans. He fought to separate and segregate the Indians from the subhuman “savage kafirs” who were not “equal to the Indians”. It is because of this fact, outlined in his volumes of Collected Works and his own personal diaries that prompted countless South Africans to protest his statue in Johannesburg in 2002.

When he returned to India, he did so to restore the traditionalism and social conservatism of status quo. He rejected British plans to distribute power evenly amongst all parties and interests, because it would severely undermine the Congress and its leading upper-caste Hindu interests. He formulated a plan to ensure no power sharing deal with the Muslims and he broke the threat of a lower-caste Hindu and Muslim alliance by reinventing a religiously inspired revolution against the British. He claimed to blur the lines of caste by verbally restoring dignity to the lower caste Hindus or Harijans as he called them, and calling them to unite with all Indians to fight for their independence through satyagraha, however, he never forgot to spell out that their place belonged as servants to the upper caste Brahmins.

On numerous occasions he articulated that the peasant must serve his master at all costs, even if he “suffers in his person” and this usually meant exploitative labour rates. He prohibited inter-dining and intermarriage across castes.

Much to the distaste of the long-term champion of lower-caste Hindu rights, Dr Ambedkar, who is also the principal author of the Indian constitution, Gandhi continued to manipulate the lower caste into overriding any realpolitik plans to broker rights for themselves in the new independent India. Gandhi, instead, marched them to salt fields, made facades of ashrams for them, made their women spin yarn to champion self-rule, coerced the British into imprisoning him and gained mass sympathies in the process.

Winston Churchill refused to give into Gandhi’s hunger strikes, and would rather that Gandhi starve to death but his associates feared that because he has asserted himself as India’s spiritual leader, his death would turn him into a martyr. True to Dr Ambedkar’s prediction, Gandhi’s much flaunted spiritual emancipation of the lower-caste Hindus did not secure them a better future and, even today, they stand as the most marginalized lot of India, a notch below the Muslims.

Having shattered any possibility of a collective vote bank of Muslims and lower-caste Hindus, Gandhi shifted his focus to manufacturing an illusion of poverty. He successfully bought the Congress party a golden choice to back away from any power-sharing deal with the Muslims rejecting the prescience of the Lucknow Pact which secular politicians like Jinnah and Gokhale worked hard to secure the co-existence of Hindu and Muslim communities.

When Gandhi split the movement by his cleverly crafted plan of rallying a majority into religious fervour for independence, politicians like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, at first sidelined and shunned, realized that the only way they will not find themselves in the same trap shared by lower-caste Hindus is by demanding a separate state. Used as a bargaining chip, historians such as Ayesha Jalal say that Jinnah till the end tried to give Indian Muslims the best constitutional protection they could get, but at the end, for Gandhi, it had to be all or nothing.

Under no circumstances was the Congress party negotiating, nor did they see any need to, because the British were hastily retreating and the Congress was turning out to be the one with the bigger pie and the more visible forces.

Seeing that the blame would fall on him for being unable to keep the country united, Gandhi made alliances with Islamic religious leadership, distracting Indian Muslims from interest based politics into religious euphoria. This only widened the rift between the Hindus and Muslims. Ironically, his own orientation remained completely Hindu centric — “I am a Hindu and therefore a true Indian”, he declared.

Jinnah was willing to go as far as accepting the Cabinet Mission plan in 1946, favouring united India rather than Partition. Pakistan came to be because Gandhi and the Congress party found it unpalatable for Muslims to have full autonomy in the majority provinces.

The “new perspective” that Kamran Shahid has articulated in his book is not new, it is one that the Muslim League articulated and that H.M. Seervai, Asiananda and Patrick French wrote in their books. In fact, recently two fascinating books dealing with contradictions of the “great soul” who once was held by Einstein as the greatest man to walk the earth were published. These are Gandhi: Behind the Mask of Divinity (2001) and the Ungandhian Gandhi (2004).

Certainly established as fact, this perspective the academic circles have now accepted, but where it is new, however, is in the psyche of non-serious activists and upstarts who would rather believe in the myth of Gandhi than read what he wrote and did. Will this myth persevere with time or will a more honest understanding of Gandhi emerge that will give a balanced perspective on the man held by millions as the very icon of non-violence and pluralism that Gandhi’s own actions negated?

---

Gandhi and the Partition of India: A New Perspective
By Kamran Shahid
Ferozsons, 60
Shahrah-i-Quaid-i-Azam, Lahore.
Tel: (042) 630 1196-8
UAN 111-62-62-62
ISBN 969-0-02011-0
124pp. Rs250

Re: # 1192

Thanks HP. Hope my previous post is also an eye opener.

Regards,

Aisha Sarwari

M.Gandhi on caste and related matters:

If the Shudras (low castes) leave their ancestral profession and take up
others, ambition will rouse in them and their peace of mind will be
spoiled. Even their family peace will be disturbed. (Hind Swaraj).

I don`t believe the caste system to be an odious and vicious dogma. It has
its limitations and defects, but there is nothing sinful about it.
(Harijan, 1933).

I believe in Varnashrama (caste system) which is the law of life. The law
of Varna (color and / or caste) is nothing but the law of conservation of
energy. Why should my son not be scavenger if I am one? (Harijan,
3-6-1947).

He (Shudra, low caste) may not be called a Brahmin (uppermost caste),
though he (Shudra) may have all the qualities of a Brahmin in this birth.
And it is a good thing for him (Shudra) not to arrogate a Varna (caste) to
which he is not born. It is a sign of true humility. (Young India,
11-24-1927).

According to Hindu belief, he who practices a profession which does not
belong to him by birth, does violence to himself and becomes a degraded
being by not living up to the Varna (caste) of his birth. (Young India,
11-14-1927).

As years go by, the conviction is daily growing upon me that Varna (caste)
is the law of man`s being, and therefore, caste is necessary for
Christians and Muslims as it has been necessary for Hinduism, and has been
its saving grace. (Speech at Trivandrum, (Collection of Speeches),
Ramanath Suman (1932)).

I would resist with my life the separation of ``Untouchables`` from the
caste Hindus. The problem of the ``Untouchable`` community is of
comparatively little importance. (London Round Table Conference 1931.)

I call myself a Snatana man, one who firmly believes in the caste system.
(Dharma Manthan, p 4).

I believe in caste division determined by birth and the very root of caste
division lies in birth. (Varna Vyavastha, p 76-77).

The four castes and the four stages of life are things to be attained by
birth alone. (Dharma Manthan, p 5).

Caste means the predetermination of a man`s profession. Caste implies that
a man must practice only the profession of his ancestors for his
livelihood. (Varna Vyavstha, p 28, 56, 68).

Shudra only serves the higher castes as a matter of religious duty and who
will never own any property. The gods will shower down flowers on him.
(Varna Vyavastha, p 15).

I have noticed that the very basis of our thought have been severely
shaken by Western civilization which is the creation of the Satan. (Dharma
Manthan, p 65).

How is it possible that the Antyaja (outcastes) should have the right to
enter all the existing temples? As long as the law of caste and karma has
the chief place in the Hindu religion, to say that every Hindu can enter
every temple is a thing that is not possible today. (Gandhi Sikshan, Vol.
11, p 132).

There are I am sorry to say, many Hindu temples in our midst in this
country, which are no better than brothels. The caste system can`t be
said to be bad because it does not allow inter-dining and inter-marriages
in different castes. (Gandhi by Shiru, p129).


The caste system, in my opinion, has a scientific basis. Reason does not
revolt against it. It has disadvantages. Caste creates a social and moral
restraint - I can find no reason for their abolition. To abolish caste is
to demolish Hinduism. There is nothing to fight against the Varnasharma
(caste system). I don`t believe the caste system to be an odious and
vicious dogma. It has its limitations and defects, but there is nothing
sinful about it. (Harijan, 1933).

Coffee Break: Jailhouse Rocks….

It feels great to be free!

Let me just say that one more time – “It feels GREAT to be free!!!” – and little else!

So I will (at least for now) withhold any strong comments on the cavalier attitude displayed by these self-appointed keepers of the copyright laws – these henchmen and these goons masquerading as “technical” individuals (yes, all of them – with the exception of the innocent chowk “volunteers” – those being among the humblest of the humblest in the totem-pole hierarchy and perhaps the only sane individuals in that lousy den of creeps – and who get so callously crushed in the cruel clutches of the rest of those crooks).

I refuse to say anything negative about how such “chowk staff” individuals, in reality, are little more than bouncer babies for the chowks ladies and “ledaas” of easy virtue – those puffed-up liars of lawyers and those little looneys and lurid outliers who fancy themselves as legitimate lekhaks – not to mention those bungling baboons who imagine themselves to be legitimate editors but whose job consists of simply waving on the lousiest of the lousiest of verbal diarrhea which no sane individual will confuse with an article – even when it is amply evident that the writer probable spends more effort straining to relieve herself in the loo than pondering over that OTHER crap relieved through her keyboard.

And I refuse to criticize all their cohorts located on this pathetic excuse of a web site, including the so-called “liberals” who consider themselves above it all – too far above it all to be concerned with such basic characteristics as common sense and decency – but invariably and unfailingly side with the devil nevertheless by poking “jokes” – har, har, har…!

And I will withhold criticism of those smarty-pants who consider themselves experts on copyright laws – at least when it comes to posting the Mahatma’s pictures – while handing over green passes (yes, you heard it GREEN!) left and right to all others – and having orgasm after orgasm as the dead Mahatma’s memories are desecrated again and again – and whose sense of decency is a casualty to their GREEN land of dreams while they gobble up all the green stuff that the foreign countries provide them – then turn around and relieve themselves ungratefully by crapping all over the values espoused by those same sane countries!

Again and again, I refuse to say anything negative regarding that gang of nameless, faceless buffoons hiding behind such non-descript terms like “chowk-staff” – a term perhaps accurately describing the physical state of individuals who may have a flagpole staff stuck in vulnerable spots – that gang which assumes the quadruple role of accuser, jury, judge, and hangman – all in one breath – and the “culprit” learns of the charges only AFTER the sentence is executed.

I refuse to condemn this gang of moronic and pathetic liars and self-delusioners!

And I refuse to say anything negative about all of those curious specimens from the land of the purest of the pure – who are so fully attuned to dictatorship – so, so fully attuned that it is second nature to them – they probably do not drool over dictatorship deliberately – it is merely a reflex action!

I refuse to say a single strong word regarding all those lousy, impotent, effete namoonas and dregs of humanity – sans a few basic characteristics – like humanity!

It is fully understandable how the strong, brave pillars of chowk can easily start peeing in their pants when they imagine that the keepers of the Mahatma.org site – a site which does everything in its power to make it EASY to download those pictures – would be coming after THEM, with the Mahatma’s lathi ready to do its lathi-work!

The prison was really no big deal! What is a “couple of days” (not that the Chowk staff can count!) in jail when the Mahatma did more than his share!

It was for a good cause!

More about life in karawas at a later time, after I have enjoyed the fresh breath of freedom. For now –

LET FREEDOM RING!

Sincerely,
Beej.

PS:

(1) I would like to add a quick note to thank all those who supported me – especially my self-appointed lawyer who shares my name with the all-important difference that he adds an A.Y. (as in all yellow!) to it.

(2) While in karawas, I informed the mahatma.org.in site that I intended to use those photos – and that they should let me know if they had objections. It has been over a week and they have not objected yet – so I am going to assume they are okay with it. (Copyright “enforcers” – you can start crying NOW!)

(3) Those who asked questions regarding the story of the Mahatma project, a question I was unable to answer when the cruel creeps of chowk callously cut me off – please refer to their web site at http://www.mahatma.org.in/aboutus/aboutus.jsp?link=ab

Re: # 1217

``Should we assume that you are a pathetic liar? ``

its already confirmed.

Re: # 1217

``Should we assume that you are a pathetic liar? ``

its already confirmed.

Re: # 1217

``Should we assume that you are a pathetic liar? ``

its already confirmed.

Beej
Good work man..

Behram mian
I gave you a list of prominent jews and Parsis. You have still not given any proof of jews or parsis commenting against Gandhi. Should we assume that you are a pathetic liar?

Re#1138 Chowk-Staff

I am forwarding this petition from my “live-in client” – this guy all of you keep referring to. Chowk staff kindly take note and process the request therein promptly – before he goes berserk and creates some REAL trouble!

---

“Dear Chowk staff:”

“Sorry, I did not mean to make you ‘chownk stiff’ (startled to death thingie) with those large number of images. It was like this – once I got going, the thing took a life and speed of its own!”

“I admit – 456 pictures represent an overwhelming number – even though this article perhaps deserved it! The next time, I will obtain a suitable copyright clearance first – and knowing the fact that the source site is non-commercial in nature (like this site (isn’t it?)) and the intent in posting (the IMG links to) those images here was noble, it is doubtful that they would have refused.”

“Or (minus such clearance) perhaps a simple link to each image would have sufficed – I doubt that the issues that concern you would then have come up – but the punch would have been a lot less, too.”

“However, these postings should not be considered SPAM – each posting was unique – it was not sent to multiple recipients – and many of the images contained individual comments! Also, you know that including an image link does not overload or slow down YOUR site – the image comes from the source site and perhaps slows that one and the browser workstation.”

“But look at the overall scene, though, from the viewpoint of the interactors!”

“Okay, so the images are no more there – but every one knows now that they exist! The thing about the truth is – once it has been shown, it is extremely difficult even for the most hardened liers to pretend that it is not there. Of course, such people will continue to bad mouth Gandhi – but with an increasing hollow ring in the voice!”

“I am compiling (while doing karawas in the dog-house) an album of the original images that were (temporarily) posted here – minus the comments, but including the titles where available. If and when I complete it, I intend to send it to the source site to consider posting. I am hoping that the album (if they do decide to post it) will provide the “one stop viewing” that some in this crowd so enjoyed.”

“For those who got turned off by the Mahatma’s naked brown skin – what can I say? So is the skin for most of us. You have it too – ask yourself what you find so despicable about it and why – THAT problem is not the Mahatma’s.”

“And by the way, can somebody get me out of this dog-house?”

“How long two days really are? Are the days being calculated by using the Kumbh-Karan method (each day of being awake followed by six months of sleep)?”

“Sincerely,
Beej.”

Beej
chowk staff is saying that it is `a picture is worth a 1000 words`, not `a 1000 pictures are better than words`
Thanks, though.

Re: # 1212 ana

Well - Behram Mian has already crossed over to the dark side.... He has made his pact with that Angra Mainyu [the bad dude].... He is a disgrace to Parsi community.....

. . . .(some of them are. but i believe behram is a tad bit unfamiliar with qualifiers. . . .)

addendum: as are quite a few indians here at chowk. :)

mohar #1195

ahura mazda is the ``big boss`` rey. *sigh* from what i understand it is a misnomer to call him a fire god. but my knowledge of the zoroastrian faith is minimal. hopefully the link will help you out. or behram can help you out if he`s not too busy truly believing that indians are idiots. (some of them are. but i believe behram is a tad bit unfamiliar with qualifiers)

...30 years down the line...dost-mittar will still be around...scary...

.....3 years down to line , the patriotic Parsi from Pakistan and an ardent qaid admirer in his own right , Mr.Behram , will move in with Yasser....