We want Gandhiji's possessions not what he taught us

James Otis, the US based private collector, is in the news today. He is going to US supreme court to get back Gandhiji's possessions, won by Mallya a week back in an auction. He was queried by a journalist on his change of mind and about the negative feelings it may generate. In his reply he said, he has a great value for Gandhiji and feels last week's auction caused Gandhiji's photograph on the front pages of newspapers all over the world, which will help people remember the great man's teachings and his ideals. I thought to my self, "we have Gandhiji's photo in every police station and Government offices". He also went onto say that he is prompted to approach the court now as Vijay Mallya, who bought the items in the auction, is in the opposition camp. Can it get any absurd?

What was appalling was the casual way in which Otis mentioned that repossession of auctioned items would help him to renegotiate with the Indian Government on the points he is raising. Whether he is well intentioned or just a fraud, as Tushar Gandhi calls him now, the fact that we are in a position that an individual is talking and behaving like this is shame on our Government and each one of us. There was so much hue and cry about the auction and how it is important for India to bring back Gandhiji's possessions. It's an irony that a liquor baron won it in the auction.

Gandhiji taught us on how to lead a clean public life. He taught us on individual discipline. He taught us the virtues of non-violence. He taught us tolerance. He put the society ahead of the self. When one of his sons, helped the another from the common funds he was responsible for managing, Gandhiji admonished him and sent him to Chennai with just a train ticket. He was not supposed to say whose son he is and find his way to earn and live. Gandhiji's son, whose name I forgot, slept on platforms, toiled hard, earned and lived his life for a year in Chennai on his own. All this to know the importance and how difficult it is to earn money. Have no doubts. Gandhiji lived in this very land we call ourselves, where politicians, powerful and the corrupt promote self, family and their cronies.

We don't care that we have abandoned Gandhiji's ideals and teachings. In fact Gandhiji is a witness, in his framed presence, to many crimes that take place in this country. But we want things that he possessed, back in India as otherwise it would be an insult. What a hypocrisy? We must hang our heads in shame that a foreigner is reminding us of Gandhiji and his teachings. He feels, seeing Gandhiji's photo will evoke in us the principles he stood for. Hope it does.