Wednesday, January 30, 2008

World remembers Gandhi on his 60th death anniversary

Medias spreading the news of Gandhi as peace maker,father of non violent movement etc......

But I believe about him as a ruthless man conspired against Bagat Singh and team

Team PMSG

London: "Generations to come... will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon earth."

Albert Einstein's words from 1944 bear testimony to the near-mythical status held by Mahatma (the title means "great soul") Gandhi in his own lifetime.

Campaigning first in South Africa against racial oppression of Indian immigrants, then against British rule in India where he rose to lead the Congress Party, he espoused strategies that graduated from orderly petition to passive resistance to civil disobedience - but never violence.

Eschewing the material wealth available to him as a lawyer, he walked the world stage in a white loincloth, steel-rimmed spectacles and pauper's shoes, causing Winston Churchill to spit that he was "a seditious Middle Temple lawyer posing as a fakir". In fact, Gandhi's adopted style was the result of harsh personal scrutiny and deep consideration of the moral structure of the world. He read widely across all religions and was greatly influenced towards an ascetic life by the writings of Leo Tolstoy.

Imprisoned

Gandhi was imprisoned several times, notably at the height of his Non-Cooperation Movement and after the defining act of civil disobedience - when he led thousands of peasants in a march to the ocean to evaporate sea water into salt in protest at the British monopoly on salt production.

Not just an anti-colonialist, he also campaigned against the caste system and for religious tolerance between Muslims and his own Hindus.

This last campaign, in the overheated atmosphere of newly-partitioned India, prompted Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse to fire the three gunshots that ended Gandhi's life. Six decades after Gandhi's assassination, the legacy of the man officially accorded the status of Father of the Nation remains as powerful as ever.

Last June, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring October 2, Gandhi's birthday, to be the "International Day of Non-Violence". And on January 30, the 60th anniversary of his death, some of his final ashes will be scattered on the Arabian Sea.

The museum had planned to display the urn along with Gandhi's personal belongings, but deferred to the wishes of his descendants, who asked that the ashes be scattered on water in accordance with Hindu tradition.

Remains: Immersion today

Sixty years after Mahatma Gandhi was shot down by a Hindu fanatic, some of his mortal remains will be immersed in the Arabian Sea by his great grand-daughter and other family members today.

A Dubai-based businessman, Bharat Narayan, had handed over Gandhi's ashes, that had been with his parents Madalasaben and Shriman Narayan since 1948, to Mani Bhavan Gandhi Museum."They were both ardent followers of Gandhi," Dr Usha Thakker, Secretary, Mani Bhavan, told Gulf News. Since January 26, the ashes in a small urn have been on display at Mani Bhavan, which was Gandhi's residence whenever he visited Mumbai, and a stream of visitors have been coming to the Museum to pay tributes to the "Father of the Nation"

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