Aniversário do assassinato de Gandhi

Em 30 de janeiro de 1948 foi assasinado um líder que dispensa apresentações. O Guardian republicou a reportagem...

Mahatma Gandhi was shot and killed this evening by a Hindu fanatic. He was walking from Birla House to the lawn where his evening prayer meetings are held and was several minutes late for the meeting. He was as usual, leaning on the shoulders of two grand-nieces, and when he approached the meeting a man dressed in a khaki bush jacket and blue trousers and standing within five feet of Gandhi greeted him with the customary Hindu salutation of namesteh - that is; with folded hands.

Gandhi smiled at him, and, according to one version, spoke to him. The man then whipped out a pistol from inside his pocket and fired three times at point-blank range. The bullets lodged in Gandhi's chest, stomach and groin. He raised his hands above his head in the same salutation as he fell. He was carried into Birla House and died half an hour later, at about 5.40.

... e o perfil do Mahatma feito na época.

Mr. Gandhi was known to believe that the division of India would be a calamity. At one time in the negotiations between Congress and the British he seemed to acquiesce in division, as the price of freedom, but later he reverted to unqualified opposition. Opinion in the Congress Working Committee was, however, for division as the only solution, and Mr. Gandhi therefore stood aside and left the decision to the younger men, believing that they were taking a disastrous course, but believing too that the leadership must now be in their hands.

O Hindustan Times de hj traz um editorial discutindo a relação entre política e religião de acordo com o ponto de vista do Gandhi.

Few people are aware of Gandhi’s contribution to the concept of secularism in India. Deeply religious as he was, he said that he would have opposed any proposal for a State religion even if the whole population of India had professed the same religion. He looked upon religion as a personal matter. He told a missionary: “The State would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody’s personal concern.”

Aliás, é preciso mesmo reviver essas idéias do Gandhi. É impressionante que em pleno século XXI milhões de pessoas usem crenças religiosas para justificar a violência e estados usem a fé para reprimir a liberdade individual dos não crentes...

Saiba como foram as homenagens no newkerala.com e no keralanext.com.