The fourth estate appears to have had an apocalyptic vision about Gandhiji. As a result, the Mahatma has been all over the print media in India for the past couple of weeks. Believe it or not, it did not dump him, as it usually does, after Gandhi Jayanthi. Thanks are due to Obama and Nobel Peace Prize Committee for this uncharacteristic behaviour of the media.
Obama’s choice of Gandhi as the one person he’d like to dine and talk with appears to have opened the eyes of our scribes to the worth of the Mahatma. The op-ed pages are discovering that there could be a remote possibility that Gandhi is after all not quite so antiquated. If he can inspire the person who occupies the most powerful seat in the world, surely Gandhi is not the most forgettable commodity.
So what if took a Prince Charming in the form of the President of the United States of America to wake our media to the relevance of Gandhiji? Gandhiji now stands a chance of getting reinstated in the consciousness of India, to whom he is nothing more than a mere name now. After all Obama is dropping his name every other day!
Every time someone gets a Nobel Prize for peace, our media shakes itself out of a stupor and makes some perfunctory noise about Gandhi not getting it. And then goes back to its indifferent silence. But this year, Obama’s remark about Gandhi, Gandhi Jayanthi and the Peace Prize for Obama – all coming in quick succession, have led to an effort to excavate the great man from the ruins of oblivion. Can we hope this interest will not prove to be another bout of enthusiasm and will not vanish without a trace till the next Gandhi Jayanthi or Nobel Peace Prize, whichever comes first?
Now, there has been another incident which will make the media shake its mane and roar the name of the Mahatma. See this bit of news: Gandhi's ideas influenced release of Lockerbie bomber. A terrorist set free by a western country on compassionate basis on Gandhi‘s diktat from the grave! Am waiting to see how the Indian media is going to respond to this.
Mahatma Gandhi was a real leader of India... i proud of him..
ReplyDeleteHi. Interesting reading. Try to imagine this. Mr. Obama as a warrior for freedom, democracy and peace in the name of democracy will in secret get to Myanmar, swim across the lake and visit Suu Kyi place and have a talk with her about e.g. her fight for democracy. After two days he wants to go back but is arrested by Myanmar forces. However, they have to release him after several weeks of hunger strike. Mr. Obama is returning home as a hero and is winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Jay