Remembering the Mahatma: Idea of India Under Attack?
India is marking the 146th birth anniversary on Mahatma Gandhi today, yet are words like ahimsa and satyagraha now alien to our vocabulary? Just platitudes that sound good to repeat? As we come to terms with the horrific murder of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri in western Uttar Pradesh, one can't help ask such a question. In his seminal Hind Swaraj, written in 1909, Mahatma Gandhi said "If I were overfull of pity for the cow, I should sacrifice my life to save her, but not take my brother's. This, I hold, is the law of the religion." How would he have reacted to this intolerance? Is the idea of India under attack?
