Experimenting with Gandhi

Gandhi, some one said, would be considered a myth by the coming generations. I see that happening already – to me. The real Gandhi seems to be fading away and a very, if i may say so, marketable Gandhi is taking his place. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, one of the leading radio stations of Bombay invited Sanjay Dutt as a guest speaker. He was invited not only to talk about his recent success Lage Raho Munnabhai in which he has an inspiring encounter with Gandhiji but also to talk about Gandhi-ism. I, as a listener and as an Indian, was offended. Sanjay Dutt, one of the prime accused in the 1993 blasts to talk about our father of the nation?!? Preposterous!! Are there no boundaries laid down for what should be on sale and what shouldn’t be price tagged? Is everything we own, are proud of, up for sale? Sanjay Dutt talking about how he has grown up on value systems of truth and love for his motherland felt like a slap delivered by an Indian on the face of our very own, old and forlorn Bapu. Sanjay Dutt is accused, at the very least, of possessing knowledge of the heinous terror that the animals were going to unleash on hundreds of innocent victims and he did nothing to stop the blood bath from happening. In this case, he is guilty until proven innocent…and I debar him from making a public mockery of the principles and ideals of Bapu in his real life persona. I debar him from owning up to the ideology of truth and non violence until the judicial system of India lets him walk out in the sun, his head held high. Only then do I accept him as a fellow Indian who respects the land he walks on. Until then, guilty.