Never mind Gulliver and the Lilliputians, or David slaying Goliath. There is now a reversal of roles, with a giant Goliath trying to destroy a defenseless David. The dramatis personae are the present political dispensation on the one hand, and its attempt to belittle or sideline Gandhiji, the original one, the Mahatma, on the other.

This was the subject matter of a discussion held recently at the Ashok Library in my hometown of Kanpur. The Mahatma had visited this library about 80 years ago, and the table and chair at which he sat is reverentially preserved to this day.

Unfortunately, using Gandhiji’s furniture cannot furnish an answer to the concerted attempts to downsize him. These attacks are not brazen, but a subtle strategy that exploits peoples’ ignorance and prejudices.

First the plot. Religious hardliners and right-wingers have always been uncomfortable with the Gandhian legacy. In the north, several of those who experienced the pain of Partition erroneously blame Gandhiji for it. Those who seek to idolize his assassin, Nathuram Godse, would have us believe that this happened because Gandhiji stood up for the agreed monetary compensation of Rupees Fifty Five Crores (550 million) to be paid to fledgling Pakistan.

Another group of neo dalit leaders accuse of him being casteist. The object of their scorn is dead 68 years, and cannot defend himself. But those who lay claim to his legacy, be it political or social, seem grossly inadequate in coming to his defence, or telling it as it should be.

Gandhiji was a Congressman, who together with Nehru was the main architect of India’s freedom. Hence the Congress party should have been the natural inheritor of the Gandhian legacy. But it has strayed so far from his lofty principles, that it has forfeited its right of natural succession. The other reason that the Congress gets caught on the wrong foot is because Gandhian scholars repeat ad nauseum that after India attained Independence Gandhiji said that the Congress now needed to be disbanded, as it had achieved its purpose of Independence, or Swaraj (self-rule).

Here is where I differ from the naïveté of the Mahatma, and those who subscribe to the disbandment theory. In more recent times Anna Hazare seems to have been equally naïve, while his erstwhile protégé, Arvind Kejriwal, read the signs of the times correctly and chose to enter politics. Whether or not we agree with Kejriwal is not the point. The real issue is that politics, political affairs or policy making are an integral part of a vibrant democracy, and cannot be wished away because of its inherent shortcomings.

I have many Gandhian friends, who also seem to have missed the boat. They go for the peripherals, like wearing khadi. They also harp on the need for cottage industries and promotion of village life. With their deep-rooted suspicion of all things modern (often quite hypocritically so) they are flogging a dead horse.

I recall a government official speaking at a handicraft fair. He said that if a foreign buyer wanted 1,000 pieces of a particular product he would give the order to an Indian handicrafts company. However, if 1 million pieces were required the order would go to a factory in China. A simple matter of economy of scale that my fellow Gandhians don’t seem to understand. We cannot put the clock back and revert to the bullock cart age.

Here is another example. My wife bakes cakes and biscuits at home. However, their cost of production is more than that of big manufacturers like Britannia, Parle or Sunfeast. These companies can sell a chocolate cream biscuit pack for as little as Rupees Five. That too after paying excise duty, VAT, transportation and packaging costs, and providing for their own profit, as well as distributors and retailers’ margins. Even yoga guru Ramdev has recognized the potential of large scale manufacturing processes for his range of consumer products.

So where does this leave the Mahatma and his followers? They need to do a serious re-think on both their message and its delivery; without falling into the trap set by their adversaries.

How is the latter operating?

Namo waxes eloquent on Gandhiji when he goes abroad. This is because he knows only too well that the latter is the only internationally recognized Indian. In contrast, at home he talks of building the biggest ever statue for Sardar Vallabhai Patel, or declassifying the Netaji files.

The subtle game plan is to portray Gandhiji as just another face in the crowd. His birth anniversary on October 2 has now been re-christened as Swachta Divas (cleanliness day). In like manner his martyrdom day on January 30 is now being called Martyr’s Day, which includes a host of others. There are even reports of removing his image from our currency notes.

Both the Gandhians and the Congress are at sea as to how to counter this propaganda. They get entrapped in futile arguments, just like our much-hyped TV debates that generate more heat than light!

They need to take a leaf out of Jesus’ book. Anticipating such apathy he said to his disciples “I send you as sheep among wolves” (Mat 10:16). Had he sent them out as wolves, using the same approach as their detractors, there would have been bloodshed. But a wolf is actually attracted to a sheep and ingests it. So the sheep has actually entered into the wolf.

It is this humility and apparent defenselessness that the Gandhians need to imbibe, for their message to touch the hearts of those who do not as yet believe.

What is the message? Is it khadi, spinning wheels and village crafts? No. They were specific to their time and circumstance. The enduring message is very different.

Firstly, Gandhiji was a deeply spiritual person. It gave him the stamina to take on the might of the British Empire, on which the sun purportedly never set. Secondly, there was no dichotomy between precept and practice. Whether or not we agree with him we must admit that he was no hypocrite. Thirdly, he did not talk about cleanliness, or perform a symbolic act. He actually set about cleaning public toilets. It would be a distortion to say that he was anti dalit. When he coined the word “harijan” it had a noble meaning, though its inference may have changed with time.

Communal harmony was also central to his beliefs. He was not the architect of Partition, and therefore did not celebrate that first “independence” day. He was fasting to prevent the communal riots in Bengal.

What was the swaraj that he talked about?

It was not just home rule, but self rule, where the people themselves were to be the arbiters of their own destiny. Unfortunately, in “independent” India we are totally dependent on the brown babus that have replaced the gora sahibs. About four years ago, when a new District Magistrate was appointed in Kanpur, he was presented with over 500 keys. I presume that they were of the multiple departments that he was handling at the time.

As a social and civic activist I can say in no uncertain terms that the bureaucrats are the defacto rulers of the country. The lesser-educated politicians are mere pawns in their hands. Remember the BBC serial “Yes Minister”, and its not so successful Indian avatar “Ji Haan Mantriji”?

The 73rd amendment to the Constitution, passed by parliament in 1992 ushered in Panchayati Raj, that devolved power on village bodies. This is the closest to the self-rule that Gandhiji envisaged. In like manner the 74th amendment for urban bodies was also passed at the same time. But it has not been implemented in most of the States of the country. So the Gandhians, and even the Congress, have their work cut out for them.

I believe that it is the Gandhian legacy that has kept our motherland united and relatively safe. The Mahatma was a small man who has cast a long shadow over us. We should not let it disappear or be diluted and dissipated.

Let us not be dwarfed by the giants with deep pockets and sinister designs. We need to show more spunk, and pay the price for it. We also need to translate his core message into today’s idiom. Munnabhai’s Gandhigiri was one such attempt.

We have a gigantic task cut out for us. Let us not be dwarfed by it.

(The writer is a member of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Kanpur unit.)