Letter of (Mahatma) Gandhi

I read in BBC about a significant letter allegedly written by Mr. M.K. Gandhi (Mahatma) before his death, has been put up for sale in an auction. I felt, well, worth a piece for any wealthy to hold it as a monument and boast about all the richness he can show the public. I definitely thought for a moment it must be very significant because of its time proximity being close to the cruel assassination. I wondered, what the news would be in Indian media and government reaction attached to it. Well, I expected there will be some out roar in parliament zero hour to discuss about the letter and formulate a diplomatic mission to acquire it through request to British government.

I was pretty surprised again when BBC reported that the auction has been called off and a deal has been settled between Indian authorities (Nehru memorial museum) and seller (auctioner) for an undisclosed amount. I thought at the moment the amount will be disclosed in Indian media anyway. My assumption was proven completely wrong and the “undisclosed amount” was completely left to anybody’s guess work. Hmm…. Why secrecy though. Why Government acted on this letter hiding transaction details? I surely don’t know …….. but I wonder why.

Argument sake, was it a letter owned by Government of India? Surely not. If it is, it would have been with the Government long before it was disclosed in an auction house. It could have been owned by any one close to Mr. Gandhi and for making big bucks kept it for long time and sold to westerner. Considering the letter was kept at an opening value of £12,000; a good amount of money has been taken by the original owner. But why Government of India thought that a letter with no important details should be bought by a western seller using tax payers money. It could be for the reason of preserving Mahatma’s legacy on Indian soil. But the question is; has all Mahatma legacy been preserved by Government of India considering volume of information is already available. If we look at the following link from National Gandhi Museum there is lot of manuscripts already available in there.

http://www.gandhimuseum.org/papers.html

Most of the documents are related to freedom struggle of India which makes sense to keep them for future generations. So, what extent would these authorities go to collect all papers related to Freedom struggle ……. Well, at some point it should be stopped as these heritage building process is not profit making. Moreover, the letter of Gandhi obtained recently has nothing to do with freedom struggle of India. I think, such documents should be targeted by biography authors rather Government bodies. Again, why government secretly acted upon to acquire this letter.

Hmm …my wild guess is to preserve the legacy of ruling Congress government and its policy of minority appeasement. The letter’s content involve a appeal to Muslim friends to support the Urdu edition of his publication Harijan, after realizing the it has to cease due to dwindling demand. Refer to the link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6262288.stm

So Government thought it is an important document to preserve the Muslim votes and didn’t think a lot to spend any amount of money from tax payers pockets.

Congress is one of largest party in India but it hangs so much on Gandhi legacy for propaganda and do exactly opposite in its actions in terms of not promoting the equality by appeasing the minority. Protecting Indian Muslims at the time of partition was necessity and elite witty politician like Mr. Gandhi had realized it well. But in this time, Indian muslims, well any Indian for that matter, do not need protection rather need equal opportunities than social division based on the religion. I think, Indian can feel Nationalism when promoted at highest level by showing equality and uniform identity. I think what we need is feeling as Indian rather Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian; faith can provide an identity in spiritual level of realization but not at the level of national unity. Would this be sensed by any mainstream political parties of India? Sooner the better, Hope makes life more interesting isn’t it?