Writing anything about Gandhi is not easy. You have to confirm to strict code of conduct. Failing to do so instantly qualify you to for the membership of right wing Hindu fanatic and perhaps, as a Gandhi killer. You either eulogies Gandhi or you don’t write about him. There is no room for criticizing him. This process of making prophet out of him has cost India dearly. His naïve political moves that dealt with future of India, his weird inner voices and constant struggle to achieve sainthood lead to untold misery on the nation that he is usually credited of giving independence to. First, he was not the sole reason of Indian independence and second he was not saint by any mean. His aim was political independence of India from clutches of British empire and you can’t achieve something political and at the same time profess sainthood. I think it was more of need of the civilization, a defenseless and timid civilization, a civilization seemingly bereft of fighting and aggressive spirit, a civilization that was in search of itself, to make Gandhi its hero. But, I don’t intend to discuss Gandhi and his political moves in India’s independence struggle here. To his credit, he was one of the most influential figures that stood for Bharat as a civilization rather than as a nation. And of course, he was non-corrupt, he was patriotic to the highest extent and he understood the nerve of the nation.
I happened to read the accounts of his sexual experiments in last stages of his life. Towards the end of independence struggle, Gandhi decided to test his Brahmacharya. He started sharing bed with young women that too, naked. His grand-niece Manuben and Abhaben, his personal physician Sushila Nayyar were chief character of this episode. He said “Without Brahmacharya the satyagrahi will have no luster; no inner strength to stand unarmed against the whole world….his strength will fail hi at the right moment” May be his right but the point here is not whether his contention right or not but whether his actions on the eve of independence were making any sense or not.
Sex is utterly private matter in Indian society and in any case Gandhi was not involved in any sexual acts either. According to Manuben, Abhaben and Sushila Nayyar, Gandhi never touched them or behaved with them in any wrong way. That means he was successful in his experiments, he was a true Brahmachari. Then, why is it necessary to comment in his private life, his experiments to test limits of Brahmacharya? The answer is simple. Millions of people were ghastly uprooted, million or so were to loose their lives in most gruesome manner and in the midst of largest forced human migration in human history, most powerful leader at that time was indulging in self-gratification.
Ask any of Punjabi, Sindhi or Bengali who bore the brunt of partition, whether he is interested in Gandhis’ experiments and answer will be no. Because India didn’t need saint at that time, India needed people like Sardar Patel. It was clear to British policy makers that they are going to loose their empire. And true to their bastard behavior, they wanted to make sure that the area they are leaving behind is in utter mess. Muslim leaders provided them great opportunity to divide India and Britishers grabbed that opportunity with both hands. In the hindsight we can say that partition was better for India but the way it happed, the grief it caused, is way beyond words. We can say that our political leadership was inept to deal with partition but it is easier to say that in hindsight and in reality, I guess, no one expected partition to be this bloody. But, Gandhi, instead of behaving like a political leader, was trying hard to become saint. Naipaul correctly puts that “He became his own admirer”
This essay may sound a bit abstract and without any coherent conclusion. But I believe that during that period he should have concentrated more on India than himself. India was lucky enough that there were people like Mr. Patel; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been any India.
Mission of Mr. Gandhi was to cleanse the humanity of its violent nature. And all though that sounds like a noble mission, fanaticism in that mission defeated its very purpose. I am sure he was heart broken due to partition but it was not enough to bring back millions of lives back. Through his passivity he involuntarily end up participating in one of the most gruesome chapter of humanity.
P.S. – For records, Gandhi never denied about these experiments. He used to discuss his feelings with every one and wrote extensively about this issue in his diary. His forthrightness in such taboo issue is commendable.
