07-03-2007, 01:14 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> No need to buy Gandhi article
Second opinion: KR Phanda
<b>There are reports in the newspapers that the Government, through its High Commission in London, has communicated its interest to Christie's that it would participate in the bidding process for acquisition of an article written by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi just 19 days before his assassination in 1948. The article urges Hindus not to oppress the Muslims of India.</b>
<b>The acquisition of the letter would be a waste of taxpayers' money. It is well known that most of the problems that India faces today are the legacy of Gandhi, who had spent half his life pandering to Muslim demands. Every satyagraha that he launched had resulted in the death of innocent Hindus. It is they who paid the price for his follies.</b>
Insofar as Muslims are concerned, they always treated Gandhi as a kafir. In this context, this is what Prof M Mujeeb, Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, has written in his book The Indian Muslims: "They objected to any form of cultural and social assimilation, and even till the first decades of the 20th century, the more strict among them would wash their hands if they had by chance greeted a Hindu with a handshake. Maulvi Abdul Bari of Farangi Mahal had objected to Gandhi wearing a dhoti that did not cover his knees."
In another instance, Maulana Mohammed Ali had made the following statement about Gandhi in 1924: "However pure Mr Gandhi's character may be, he must appear to me from the point of view of religion inferior to any Mussalman, even though he be without character." Some time later, in Lucknow, he had reiterated similar sentiments in more eloquent terms: "Yes, according to my religion and creed, I do hold an adulterous and fallen Mussalman to be better than Mr Gandhi."
Indian Muslims were never convinced of Gandhi's sincerity. They extracted their pound of flesh as and when the British rulers embarked on the process of constitutional reforms. Gandhi's last attempt to appease the Muslims was when he suggested to Lord Mountbatten that Mohammed Ali Jinnah be made the Prime Minister of undivided India and he should have the freedom to select his own Cabinet.
<b>I remember that our relatives had to live in a refugee camp in Purana Quila as Gandhi would not allow Hindu refugees to occupy houses of Muslims in Delhi who had left for Pakistan. Why should we waste our money for his manuscript?</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Second opinion: KR Phanda
<b>There are reports in the newspapers that the Government, through its High Commission in London, has communicated its interest to Christie's that it would participate in the bidding process for acquisition of an article written by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi just 19 days before his assassination in 1948. The article urges Hindus not to oppress the Muslims of India.</b>
<b>The acquisition of the letter would be a waste of taxpayers' money. It is well known that most of the problems that India faces today are the legacy of Gandhi, who had spent half his life pandering to Muslim demands. Every satyagraha that he launched had resulted in the death of innocent Hindus. It is they who paid the price for his follies.</b>
Insofar as Muslims are concerned, they always treated Gandhi as a kafir. In this context, this is what Prof M Mujeeb, Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, has written in his book The Indian Muslims: "They objected to any form of cultural and social assimilation, and even till the first decades of the 20th century, the more strict among them would wash their hands if they had by chance greeted a Hindu with a handshake. Maulvi Abdul Bari of Farangi Mahal had objected to Gandhi wearing a dhoti that did not cover his knees."
In another instance, Maulana Mohammed Ali had made the following statement about Gandhi in 1924: "However pure Mr Gandhi's character may be, he must appear to me from the point of view of religion inferior to any Mussalman, even though he be without character." Some time later, in Lucknow, he had reiterated similar sentiments in more eloquent terms: "Yes, according to my religion and creed, I do hold an adulterous and fallen Mussalman to be better than Mr Gandhi."
Indian Muslims were never convinced of Gandhi's sincerity. They extracted their pound of flesh as and when the British rulers embarked on the process of constitutional reforms. Gandhi's last attempt to appease the Muslims was when he suggested to Lord Mountbatten that Mohammed Ali Jinnah be made the Prime Minister of undivided India and he should have the freedom to select his own Cabinet.
<b>I remember that our relatives had to live in a refugee camp in Purana Quila as Gandhi would not allow Hindu refugees to occupy houses of Muslims in Delhi who had left for Pakistan. Why should we waste our money for his manuscript?</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->