Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a great leader of the Indian freedom movement. Many people feel that independence was due to his efforts. Though, the real facts are somewhat different and the main catylist was the fact that the British after the second World war were so weary that they left. One of the reasons for British to leave,was the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy and the Indian Army, which could no longer be relied to foster further British rule.
Gandhi is considered a Mahatma( great Soul). But despite this terminology he basically was a willy politician and a lot many of his actions defy rationalisation. An example is the case of the revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his party. All were sentenced to be hanged by the British presided courts. A lot many people requested Gandhi to make an appeal to the Viceroy, to spare these young men. But history records that Gandhi refused to make any appeal. This shocked the entire nation and Gandhi was greeted with black flags at many places, but Gandhi the consummate politician ignored all this.
The biggest failure of Gandhi was partition. This was the period when a massive exchange of populations accompanied by unprecedented violence took place in the Punjab and Sind. thousands of women were raped and many more killed. Children were butchered and an entire train coming from Pakistan to the Punjab was hacked and all the Hindu occupants killed. It is estimated that 12 million people were affected and the violence continued unabated for weeks and months. But Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence made no effort to visit the Punjab and Lahore to stem this violence. This is hard to explain, as to why he ignored this massive carnage in the west.
With almost 2 million deaths, Gandhi must stand condemned as a man who took no action.It was like Nero fiddling his harp while Rome burned. To top it, he expected the Hindu refugees, who had come from Pakistan to go back. Such naivety has never been explained. Gandhi was thus a simple politician, with a single point agenda to further his ideas. Non violence was only a ploy. History records that he had a terrible price to pay for his inaction, with his assassination in Jan 48 at the hands of a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Godse.
Thus Gandhi does not fulfill the high ideals of a peace prize. History will record that he could not prevent the partition of India and by his naivety allowed hundreds and thousands of Hindus to be butchered and women raped and murdered without his batting an eye lid. This perhaps weighed with the committee in denying the peace prize.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น