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People are slowly forgetting Mahatma : Sumitra Gandhi
People are slowly forgetting Mahatma : Sumitra Gandhi
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/101214/people-slowly-forgetting...
Deccan Herald
Claiming that Mahatma Gandhi was remembered only during customary occassions and his ideals slowly forgotten, his grand daughter Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni today said people should practice his teachings in their lives instead of just eulogizing him on his birthday.
"People of this country are slowly forgetting Mahatma Gandhi and engaged in just remembering him in a customary manner," the 80-year-old Kulkarni told PTI from Bangalore on the eve of Gandhiji's birth anniversary tomorrow.
She said recently she read in a newspaper that when an eighth or ninth class student was asked, who was Mahatma Gandhi, the kid replied "Sonia Gandhi's father".
Kulkarni, the former Rajya Sabha member, said people forget Gandhiji's ideals soon after taking part in the customary meetings and get engrossed in their day-to-day work.
However, she said that she has no objection to the use of term 'Gandhigiri' by the people to oppose 'dadagiri'.
She also expressed concern over the deterioration of Khadi in the country and added that the spin used for weaving khadi could still be relevant in the country.The Gandhian philosophy of non-violence is very much relevant given that other means to stop violence have failed to yield the desired results, she said.
On the Ayodhya dispute, she said that if the case was left for locals to decide, they would have solved it in 15 days.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/101214/people-slowly-forgetting...
Deccan Herald
Claiming that Mahatma Gandhi was remembered only during customary occassions and his ideals slowly forgotten, his grand daughter Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni today said people should practice his teachings in their lives instead of just eulogizing him on his birthday.
"People of this country are slowly forgetting Mahatma Gandhi and engaged in just remembering him in a customary manner," the 80-year-old Kulkarni told PTI from Bangalore on the eve of Gandhiji's birth anniversary tomorrow.
She said recently she read in a newspaper that when an eighth or ninth class student was asked, who was Mahatma Gandhi, the kid replied "Sonia Gandhi's father".
Kulkarni, the former Rajya Sabha member, said people forget Gandhiji's ideals soon after taking part in the customary meetings and get engrossed in their day-to-day work.
However, she said that she has no objection to the use of term 'Gandhigiri' by the people to oppose 'dadagiri'.
She also expressed concern over the deterioration of Khadi in the country and added that the spin used for weaving khadi could still be relevant in the country.The Gandhian philosophy of non-violence is very much relevant given that other means to stop violence have failed to yield the desired results, she said.
On the Ayodhya dispute, she said that if the case was left for locals to decide, they would have solved it in 15 days.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Maybury on -
I tend to be of the opposite view.
The practice of non-violence and ahimsa in one's own life is the important thing to me. However, I do realise that most people are interested in names and people in history, so I do find that it is useful to mention the names of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, as this seems to be the link that people need, to find a subject interesting. -
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Permalink Reply by D.Sreenath on
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Respected Sumitraji,
Though now a days people just remember Gandhi in a customary manner, I personally feel that His Name can never be erased from the minds of the people and he continues to remain ALIVE in the hearts of many for generations to come.
There is a classification made "people who are dead but alive" and "people who are living but dead" Great Souls like Gandhji and Vivekananda etc belong to the first category. I would like to share and interesting incident which I heard relevant to this subject.
In a class room the students were asked to recall the names of their Grand Fathers and great grand fathers. None could recollect thier great grand fathers name. When the students were asked :
Why dont you remember your grand parents name?
The Student replied : What is there to remember Sir, there is nothing worth remembering them.
The next question asked was :
How many of you know Gandhji, Vivekananda, Mother Therasa, Rama, Krishna, Jesus etc..
All the student raised their hands that they knew them and heard of them.
Even though we dont belong to any of their family still all of us remember them where as we dont remember our forefathers names. The reason is our forefathers lived for themselves where as great personalities like Gandhji, Vivekananda etc lived for others. People remember only those who have lived for others.
One way to propogate the ideals of Gandhji is to include his ideals / principles in the education curriculum.
with warm regards
sreenath -
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