Gandhigiri :: Relevance in today’s world

Gandhigiri … a word almost everyone is familiar with today not because of their staunch belief in the gandhian principles but more because people like Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi were behind its formulation …. Never would Mahatma Gandhi have thought that the principles he established,followed and advocated his entire life would be summed up in a single word like “Gandhigiri” that owes its origination from a word like Dadagiri ….. Yes i do agree that the times have changed but no one would have ever thought in the wildest stretch of imagination that the Gandhian principles and values,that formed the basis of our independence,would require such a medium to flow and such a name for recognition ….

I am not the age that i can say that i have seen many things come and go but i am definitely the age that i can see,understand and then accept or discard that exists ….. and my instincts,based on my personal experiences,compell me to strongly disapprove the relevance of Gandhigiri in the era that we are living in-the 21 century,an era where occurence of neuclear war and an SRK flip going flop have equal probability.

I was very lucky to witness a demonstration of the politicians of the opposition party where each one of them had a flower in hand a most of them had banners that extended get well soon messages for the ruling party …. It was a protest against the policies of the government in the state….It was a very soothing experience witnessing such a peaceful protest bringing back the memories of the protests that Mahatma Gandhi used to lead … It,for once,inculcated in me a sense of belief towards the concept of Gandhigiri(afterall this protest was strongly inspired by our Munna Bhai’s Gandhigiri) but my belief was a fantasy with a very short life …. The very next day one of the leading protestors made the headlines by being actively being involved in cases of bribery and frogery and evidences in the form of sting operation videos were being flashed on the news channels thrice every ten minutes….If i could have had a word with him the only thing i would have told him was-Switch proffession…you are better off as an actor …. because believe me on the day of protest he was looking like mahatma gandhi reincarnated !!!!!

“An eye for an eye” does make the world blind but “nothing for an eye” would also make half the world blind …. Today if someone slaps you on one of your cheeks and by any chance,following Gandhigiri,you made the mistake of lending him your other cheek,believe me buddy,your other cheek is going to be red by the end of the next second(same happened with Munna Bhai … remember ??? )….

It may sound bitter but the fact is the concept of Gandhigiri is completely irrelevant in the age that we are living in…If you think that you can melt the hearts of terrorists like Osama Bin Laden by handing them a bunch of roses then you need to pinch yourself and tell yourself immediately-wake up Sid !!!! I stand no doubt on the strength of Gandhian principles but i do stand a doubt on their relevance …..

Hats off to the team of Munna Bhai for making a sincere attempt to reimbibe the Gandhian principles but the world of today needs some strong modifications and the only man who holds the right is no more with us-Mahatma Gandhi….. The society which we have today is no where close to the one for which the great freedom fighter laid these principles so it’s the structure of the society that needs to be changed first…..So in a nutshell,if you really feel the issues of today can be sorted out by Gandhian principles then boy ——> you are a MAMU !!!!