I find nothing worthy of admiration in Gandhi (whose birthday falls today). He wanted us all to spin our own yarn - which meant that he did not understand the "division of labour." His vision of Free India was therefore one of "self-sufficient villages" - which is why there are no roads into village India till today. Producing for oneself is not what "economic man" does. Producing for oneself is "economic suicide." And then, cities are civilization, not villages. Markets are in cities. Gandhi did not understand that.
Gandhi hated machinery. His ideas kept India technologically backward and her labour force unproductive. The less productive you are, the lower must be your wages. Gandhianism therefore means permanent poverty.
Gandhi hated alcohol. He admired the "prohibition" years in the USA and wanted that for India as well. Prohibition created the Mafia in the USA. In Gandhi's Gujarat, where prohibition still rules, the State Police are the mafia. A doctor I met in Ahmedabad told me that the highest incidence of liver cirrhosis in Gujarat is among police officers!
Gandhi hated violence and claimed to have "fought for freedom." Actually, everything The State does is accomplished through violence - including prohibition in Gujarat. Freedom is something else - the absence of State interference in one's actions. Gandhi never set up a State that does not interfere with the actions of the citizenry. Rather, he and his followers set up a maximalist State - one that interferes in anything and everything. Violence!
As India heads towards a Second Republic, we Indians of today must come to grips with where this "father of the nation" went wrong. In a nutshell - Gandhi was totally wrong about everything. He was a Statist, a Socialist, a Luddite, a Prohibitionist, an enemy of civilization and cities, an enemy of markets, an enemy of prosperity, and enemy of Economic Man. He was an enemy of good times too. He loved only one kind of party - the political party.
So the Second Republic must get things right. We must have Liberty - that is, freedom from the State. We must have civilization - which is cities and markets. We must have division of labour and economic man - each producing for the needs of others, via The Market. We must have machines and productivity - the only way to raise wages. And finally, we must party. Booze party, dance party, hash party, ganja party - all kinds of parties except the political party, which we can do without.
Away with Gandhi!
Away with all the inmates of his Sobermati Ashram!
And onwards to the Second Indian Republic!
half page adverts in major Indian newspapers from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, reminding us about the importance of 2nd oct, taxpayers won't complain.
ReplyDeletenever heard a mainstream politician or a celebrity critical of Gandhi, is Late M.K Gandhi really "untouchable". Isn't it ironic that the man whose policies glorified poverty is on most of our currency notes.
Personally didn't like Rajkumar Hirani's movie but respect his liberty as a director to make a movie on a subject he feels so strongly about, but the problem is if you or I were to write a book critical of Gandhi his "non-violent" protesters would take to streets(probably violently). Some time back a foreign writer had written a book about Shivaji and there was a lot of unnecessary politics over the isssue. Right to free speech is what we need in this country, not right to education....
do keep up the good work
I want to add something: Gandhi's non-violence theory of protest is in fact the most violent. In the North East, I have seen people do non-violent sit-in protest almost everyday, for example a serious hunger strike. But say when the condition of the protester deteriorates, people in a large area start throwing bricks and burning tyres. So much for non-violence.
ReplyDeleteI have always seen Gandhi as one of those old teachers in college who takes pleasure in crippling fun people just because he himself can't have fun.