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Mahatma Gandhi: A Beacon of Peace in South Asia




Mahatma Gandhi, a great leader of India requires no introduction. A simple soul with modest dress and posture, a man of the soil, is to be remembered by all for his marvelous contributions for the protection of human rights, civil liberties and global peace. One may differ with his political ideas, but no one has ever raised a finger on him as far as his patriotism and efforts to achieve peace are concerned. He was a symbol of peace and an example to be followed. His golden principles and sayings are still contemplative and worth considering. His teachings clearly lay down the foundations up on which the society should be build. These cover all the aspects of the society; political, economic and the religious.

The crux of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi is that if a person is void of spiritual value, he or she is of no use to the society or to the world even if that person reaches the zenith of material successes and gains. Man is a beautiful combination of matter and spirit and unless both the facets are not satisfied the aim of life is not achieved. Mahatma Gandhi was of the view that peace starts from within the person. Once a person finds peace within, the achievement of outer / global peace becomes very easy.

Mahatma Gandhi always denounced violence. He always fought with his enemies with the weapon of peace and non-violence. He achieved tremendous successes with bare hands which many of his adversaries could not achieve with arms and wealth. However when we look at the present profile of India, we find it at a total divergence from what their great leader preached. The religious, racial and linguistic extremism is on the increase, the violation of human rights is a matter of routine and the political spectrum is dotted with nepotism, corruption and ambiguity. No minority may be Muslims, Christians or Sikhs are not safe. People like Bal Thackeray and organizations like RSS are all out to victimize / harass the religious minorities. The desecration of Babri Mosque, the massacre of Muslim minority in Gujarat, the denial of the right of self determination to the people of Kashmir and their brutal suppression and burning of the Christians along with their churches are some of the black spots on the democratic and secular posture of India. Had Mahatma Gandhi been alive today, he would certainly have condemned his fellow countrymen for open violations of his axioms. The enlightened people of India would be better placed if they convince their government to shun all those policies that are in contravention to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, particularly the ones that deal with the rights of minorities, so that the passionate image of their great leader is not tarnished and the achievement of global peace is made easy.


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