Why do some people hate Gandhi?

It’s hard to imagine what anyone can have against Gandhi. He was entirely harmless. He didn’t hold political power and never forced anyone to follow his beliefs. One might question some of his principles, but no one who’s read “My experiments with Truth” can deny his sincerity in following them.

Gandhi - Violence leads to more violence
Gandhi – Violence leads to more violence

And yet with his birthday in 2010, there are those with whom Gandhi has fallen entirely out of fashion. Mainly with India’s right wing (and before anyone complains, that’s not an insult. I’m using the phrase “right wing” as generally understood and as defined by Wikipedia. So don’t take offence when none is intended.)

I’ve heard him called a rogue, the destroyer of India, a traitor, a betrayer and what not. Of course, the virulent right wing elements are a minority compared to the rest. But if you listen to these people, you get the picture that Gandhi had horns and slithered around on his belly.

There are many who idolize Nathuram Godse – the crazy fellow who was against Gandhi and who assassinated a defenseless man with a gun. To me, actions speak far louder than words. Never mind what Godse stood for. If the end result is the killing of a someone who never preached violence and never harmed him or anyone else, I want no part of what he was smoking. Such people point to the speech he gave in his defense. Even a cursory reading leads me to wonder if was entirely sane. Here’s a small extract:

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well-being of all India, one fifth of human race.

Say what? You mean as long as Hindus are happy, it doesn’t matter if Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Muslims and Jains are miserable eh? I get the feeling Godse would have gladly sided with Hitler. After all, as long as the non Jews and fully naturalized Germans were happy, then automatically Germany will be happy no?

Here’s another beauty:

This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology  and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Beware of the man who recommends only one way of thinking to the exclusion all others. He’s either god himself, or a fanatic.

Now I may not agree with everything Gandhi said. I’m not sure ahimsa or non violence would have helped the Jews against Hitler for example and he himself agreed that if ever violence were acceptable it would be against an evil of that magnitude. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand his main argument. That violence breeds more violence. Even violence for a just cause. It’s a double edged sword that merely deflects the injustice to another group of people if at all.

It’s ironic that when the entire world admires Gandhi and the president of the US has a portrait of him in his office, he’s attacked most in his own country. Gandhi was a man who led a movement of the kind the world has never seen. As a member of humanity, I gotta admire the guy irrespective of his nationality.

Interestingly I’ve noticed that the same people who hate Gandhi also hate Mother Teresa! One day I’d like to find out the real cause of this connection. It’s so absurd and out of whack that the explanation must be equally strange. Perhaps someone can enlighten me…

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129 thoughts on “Why do some people hate Gandhi?”

  1. All we learnt about Gandhi is through history written by congress stooges..and our forefathers read about him in newspapers , and who owned those newspapers?? The same tycoons in whose house Gandhi stayed on visit , indeed he was killed right on the lawn of one such 5 star “ashram”..!! Apply your mind, learn the truth …Gandhi was a media hype drummed up by the British govt in connivance with the capitalists of that time so that Indian mass temper be calmed..so the few hundred thousand British could leave India with life and limb from the revolting millions of natives…likewise the Indian capitalists who exploited the masses with British help could carry on their businesses after the british guns left, without fear of getting roasted alive. Gandhi was brought in and hyped up with all the resources available. Today the Americans can be twice fooled by one B. Hussain.O. simply by managing the media..in today’s knowledgeable age! Just think about the times of Gandhi .anything was possible back then. Gandhi was media hype..nothing else.Period.

    Reply

    • In reply to Indian

      Who cares if he was media hype? That gives you no right to kill anyone. Only a court can hand down the death penalty for specific crimes in the rarest of the rare cases only.

      The person who shot Gandhi was a violent criminal who deserves no sympathy. We should be glad the murderer was quickly removed from the presence of normal peace loving citizens who follow the law.

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      • In reply to bhagwad

        Even if Gandhi was non violent he opened the pathway for killing millions upon millions of Hindus which out ancestors have witnessed in 1947 and our upcoming generations will witness by keeping Muslims in India after partition he has signed future death warrant for millions of Hindus and there can be no example of treachery bigger then what Gandhi did

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      • In reply to bhagwad

        Opening a pathway he publicly asked hindus to accept death in the hands of muslims. He dint do anything to stop the killings of hindus in noakhali and mopla riots but rushed to save muslims when hindus started to kill them in self defence. Did you hear of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, gandhi openly said it was right to hang them coz they used violence against british to free their motherland. Wasnt it hypocrisy? wasnt hanging them violence and unjust. He opposed Subhash Bose, freedom fighter whom the british feared the most. He actively joined kilafat movement to restore khilafat in turkey (against the will of turkey people) which ignited the claim of a separate country for muslims.

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      • In reply to bhagwad

        Brothers, we all know who the gandhi was? I will never use or utter his first name as that title should be used for Bose or Godse. He was just a black person with the black heart towards Hinduism. That’s why he was killed by Godse. Gandhi also did not had right to get the Hindus killed in Pakistan. When the Indian Hindus trying to killed the Muslims here, the sucker Gandhi intervened.
        A person use to sleep with teenage girls for just the sake of showing brahmchari. Its just like committing crime and saying Its just to know how it is committed.
        A person who was based upon non-violence, recruited Indian Soldiers for World War II because he does not has to go to the Front & where does the non-violence went that time of Coward Gandhi.
        A person who went on fast unto death strike for the Indian Government to pay 55 crores to the Pakistani Goveernment. At the same time, they were killing Indian Soldiers on border.

        Furthermore, I have more points to make. We know that several leaders died due to various movement’s lathi charge. But Gandhi, who used to be in front of movements never hurted once. A big question to think man?
        Because Britishers were known that He is a man of low character & can be easily changed from time to time which led his movements to the time frame for a month or two at max.

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    • In reply to Indian

      He was media-hyped when print media was limited and electronic media was non-existant. Really ?? Can you even compare it to the media hype given to the present Prime Minister of India ?

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      • In reply to MetB

        dear all,
        I respect the human being due to made by only one god. all are the children and gift of one and only one god. but still we think and fight for just a though and not for one cause. that means no one from above comments have a proof of any thing against the one person called mahatma by whole generation on that time. if any one say that it is media hype or congress doing then why people blindly follow the philosophy of Gandhi. if you say that the people are fool at that time. then please provide the evidence for that. one more point is that if you say that the krantikaris are most responsible for the independence then please provide the proof how one who are engange in killing of forenigers have time for development of india before independence?. no, it is only the Gandhi and its philosophy is working for the 25 years of hard work by the followers. if you think that by bullets we win fight with british at that time is totally wrong. if it true then why subhash Chandra bose’s army not entered in india when fight with british. the answer of this is when any right person is fight against the wrong people with the help of another wrong peoples then the result is lost. you want the example of this is karna, bhisma pitama, dronacharya and many more in Mahabharata. same in the case of subhash Chandra bose because they fight with the help of hetler and japan . both are wrong because they cause many life of poor and dependent peoples in the battles. one more points is if anybody spread hatred then returing gift is also hatred. and if anybody spread the message of peace and work according to that then returning gift is peace of the next generation means indipendece with fully self dependent. so stop such nuances with any strong proof against such mahatma. who don’t form any empire and do corruption in country like today’s netas. I am a spiritual man. so I want peace on my friends and brothers. my recomandation is easy to tell fault but don’t have guts to resolve that.
        thanks and follow the truth with proofs next time.

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      • In reply to SHARAD

        I personally don’t hate Gandhi .
        Its just he is not a determined person who fought for the rights of all people.
        His views were always selfish in way, because he fought for Indians in South Africa and asked the Whites not to treat Indians like Dark colored. Which indicates that he is not broad minded person.
        He is in a way similar to Hitler,who fought for his people and showed negligence towards others interest and ideologies. except Hitler is so determined and used violence and harmed others physically.

        Congress and Gandhi family is again another entity which suppressed views and ideologies of great minds to gain power and money.

        To this date there is all proof that Gandhi’s movements had any real impact on India’s Independence is all made up . When Attlee (Britain’s then prime minister) was asked “did Gandhi had any impact on independence ? ” he said ” very little”.
        Not sure how many people in India knows this.!

        With all said Gandhi is also one of the leaders who tried hard to make India Free. Ideologically inspired many people .

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    • In reply to Indian

      Dude I think you should really update yourself with the historically and politically significant events of the past rather than simply making things up just to justify your argumen ( which is not appreciated)
      …..and by the way he wasn’t assassinated at any of the lawns of your *imaginary 5 star hotel* ……he was rather killed during one of his evening prayer meetings in an open ground.

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    • In reply to Indian

      Dude I think you should really update yourself with the historically and politically significant events of the past rather than simply making things up just to justify your argument ( which is not appreciated)
      …..and by the way he wasn’t assassinated at any of the lawns of your *imaginary 5 star hotel* ……he was rather killed during one of his evening prayer meetings in an open ground.

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  2. Sir, No one hate. He was right men at that time. His philosphy was different with Ideas of Ambhedkar and Jinnah. Now , it is second generation of Indian who are not aware about British Rule. They have read English langauge and western culture. People against Gandhian are proved” aadh jal gagari chhalakt jayai”. Forfathers of todays youth were followed the Ghandhiji . Was they are foolish ? Only Ambhedkar was against Gandhi. It means all groups who are against Gandhi are son of/child ambhedkarist. All are my personal views.

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  3. dears friend,
    I follows the Gandhi philosophy . I read every books and want to read many more.
    no one gandhist and no one ambederkerist. all are the children of one god. path are wrong or right.

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  4. You have not understood real gandhi.

    He wanted hindus to remain poor, and also wanted muslims to rape not hindu girls, even british. No one respects poor and weak, only strong gets respected.

    The fact is that gandhi was a frustrated person, and even britishers did not care about him.

    How can one forget POONA pact, where dalits were made to accept their defeat. Ambedkar had to make a sacrifice at the expense of his black mailing.

    Problem is that gandhi’s follower just follow him blindly, but don’t study him in details. Once they will study him, they will understand that real gandhi was a hollow person, and was a confused person. None of his ideas are implementable to lay down scriptures or constitution and no ruler cannot rule his empire/nations using his idea.

    And please, stop spreading lies, that his principles got freedom to India. British faced problems from many folds during second world war and Indic empire was proving costly for them,so they transferred the power.

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    • In reply to peterparker123

      dear peter,
      I think you are right. I also appreciate that you like dalit and feel good for the poor. I am happy that today’s peoples like you, not think the condition at that time when british rules. according to your views muslims are killers of peoples only which I think you are right if today’s population of india. I also appreciate your study of diffrences of economy of today and that time when we are dependent of only on foregien goods. I also knows that if you knows the complete truth as if you swear the god then please give the answers of the following: 1. why muslim rules the country for 300 years and britisher rules 150 years. 2. why Rajput of rajastant are the members of muslim rulers as well as british rulers. 3. todays dalit condition is better than that of british rule. 3. who free the salt tax, who start the swedishi movement, who want muslim and hindu unity, Gandhi or right wing element. 4. when riot happen then only hindus are killed by muslims. 5. who is responsible for the riot, right wing, jinna or Gandhi 6. if you think poor people is blindly follows the Gandhi then why tata, Birla, and various big peoples follows the footsteps of Gandhi, 6. the pandit jawarlal Nehru, lal bahadur shastri, vallabh bhai patel, lala lajpat rai etc. are also blind who follows the Gandhi principle. 7. many questions also but I think it is sufficient for you to find the truth of this question without feku style for your an prepred thoughts.
      so again I appreciate your study that you truthfully find the witness for your thought or find forgiveness for the you sin from the god.
      thank dear.
      my passion is only follow the universal rule i.e. faith in one god, truth, love , peace and self secrifices.

      Reply

    • In reply to peterparker123

      my friend…gandhi was not a frustrated person..
      .you dont even know the reason of what youre saying…what he was trying to do was give muslims a little power so that they wouldnt feel lower ranked as compared to hindus. jinnah said that they had witnessed the superiority of englishmen….they would not od hindus now… so gandhi wanted jinnah to become president only because he wanted hindus and muslims to become equal… feel equal…he was not by any means trying to push hindus towards poverty and make them miserable…he was only trying to make them equal….and youre wrong about him…he was not a frustrated person…he was not a person who was talking about how a constitution should be…he was the one who’s talking about how a country should be…that all the people should be equal in it… Youre the one who should study him closely first.

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  5. I hate him for most of the reasons mentioned in the comments section here.
    And I do like him as I was introduced to the world of reading by his book “My experiments with truth”

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  6. So the author first tries to paint godse as a villain, not just for he killed a ‘human being’, but for this pro-hindu views. Agreed. A self-hating hindu or a non-hindu can have such views. However, in the comments all the author is basing his argument is ‘Was godse right in killing poor defenceless gandhi’. C’mmon, i know indian books have taught you to confine urself to a narrow ideology where all that gandhi says was biblistic, still apply some logic. Lets imagine hitler. If someone wud hav killed him, it may have been fine with you? For hindus, gandhi was probably behaving as hitler wud have behaved with jews, albeit in a kill-yourself-by-choice manner. So why is gandhi’s killing so much of a stigma, that it makes u blind to what he stood for, what he left as a legacy for hindus, or what kind of impotency impact his teachings left on quite a big chunk of a generation? Well, you don’t need to answer, as ur article is devoid of any base except perhaps ur keen desire to be in line with what u learnt as a kid. Learn to challenge mate, that might do you some good.

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    • In reply to Maverick

      Lol, there’s a huge difference between a “kill yourself by choice” ideology and forcing people into death camps! And when I say “huge”, I mean gargantuan. Colossal. As in not comparable in the least.

      Gandhi was guilty of nothing but talking. He didn’t command an army. He never commanded anyone to kill. He never had plans to take over the world. I could go on and on. Hitler did all these things.

      If you’re going to make an analogy, at least make it reasonably accurate. Comparing Gandhi to Hitler – I’m wondering if you know who Hitler even was, and what he did?

      Oh and by the way, Hitler was not “defenseless”. He was always surrounded by guards, he hid in secure, heavily guarded secret locations, changed his timetable over and over again to prevent assassination etc.

      Gandhi on the other hand was truly defenseless. Only a coward could have shot him.

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    • In reply to Maverick

      dear,
      I respected your views for hindus. but i request you that all human being are born by one and only one. if you have dispute for this then i or anyone not change your mindset. i ask you one question that gandhiji is hitler who not kill anyone from his own hands then your thought about all the mahrajas are same or not? who kills many in their battle with muslims or even hindus. if you think that the fight for to save their religion then it it wrong. they fight for their lust and pleasure and also unsecurity feeling. godse is the pscho who thinks that killing the person means killing the principle. think that after killing the Gandhi how much time congress is winning who follows the principle of Gandhi?. if you are extremist then you don’t understand this. one more question think how much hindus maharajas or hindu politician rule the country? no one. think and think again before commenting on Gandhi or see the inner mirror also. thank you.

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  7. I completely agree. It has become a trend to come up with points to idolise Godse and criticise Mahatma. He killed an eighty year old unarmed man who was returning from his prayers. How could this be a “brave” act? Anyone could have killed Gandhi. Just anyone. Godse was just that – anyone.

    For more analysis on why we should not idolise Godse: http://blog.knappily.com/newblog.php?id=19

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  8. There are many points, if true are shocking. Gandhi was an intellectual person and Godse although praised his struggle for freedom. But, he considered that if Gandhi would be alive, Hindus and Sikhs will be in trouble.

    There are some of the reasons, which he highlighted that forced him to murder Gandhi :

    Betrayed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose : Oh man, Subash Bose was the person who called you father of the nation. And when Britisher were leaving India, you promised that if he will return you will hand him over. Not just this, if anyone has seen the film on Netaji they can understand that Gandhi was not happy to teach Britishers a lesson for Jallianwala Bagh massacre, whereas Netaji’s blood was boiling to take revenge. Many of us don’t know that Netaji even in his Azad hind Fauz, named Gandhi battalion and Nehru Battalion. Despite that, these traitors betrayed him.
    Double standard on Hindus & Sikhs : On one hand, if Muslims were murdering Hindus, Sikhs in Pakistan, Gandhi said face death Bravely & when Hindus retaliated in Bihar, he threatened to go for hunger strike and Nehru even threatened for air strike.
    Double standard on Non Violence : During 1947 Kashmir was an independent country under the regime of Maharaja Hari Singh. Jinnah didn’t like him and forced him to join Pakistan. Maharaja didn’t like his offer and finally Jinnah attacked Kashmir. There were huge numbers of murders, rapes & robberies, 10 times more as compared to 19th, January 1990. When India did counter attack, why did Gandhi allow for military action? Why didn’t he send his Satyagrahi, why didn’t he do hunger strike? It’s clear sometimes violence can be dealt with violence.
    Reciting Quran in Temple : Gandhi was known for double standard. He was reciting Quran in temple, but didn’t dare to take Bhagwat Geeta to Masjid. Answer why he didn’t take Geeta in Masjid, because he was a man of double standard.
    Hunger strike for Pakistan : As we know that during Independence India promised to hand over 75 crores to Pakistan, but due to attack in Kashmir, India denied to give until the issue of terrorism is resolved. But Gandhi was unhappy with the decision of Indian government, he straightly went to hunger strike and forced government of India to give money to Pakistan and within 2 days, Indian government surrendered to him. Such a shame, nobody wants to discuss about it.
    Vacating Masjid : Many Sikhs and Hindus refugees of Pakistan were taking shelter in a Masjid of Delhi. Gandhi was unhappy that Hindus and Sikhs are staying in a Masjid of Muslims. He went there and called strike to vacate it. Finally Hindus and Sikhs who were already in trauma, were left without a roof.

    Gandhi was a traitor, and he shouldn’t be treated as father of the nation. I recommend people to read this book or atleast do some more research.

    Reply

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