Mahatma Gandhi, or Bapuji as I call him, was my grandfather. I lived with him till I was 19. This year, I turn 95 and I feel an urgency to pen my thoughts on PM Modi and Gandhiji. Generations to come may want to know the views of a family member of Gandhiji who, as an adult, had the privilege of knowing both of them.
My association with Narendrabhai began during the challenging period of the Emergency.Narendrabhai was then a young, dynamic pracharak of the RSS. In the 1970s, sectarianism was eating away at the national fabric. As a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, I was deeply worried about the demographic change underway in the border districts due to heavy infiltration from Pakistan. The influx into Assam was even greater.
No one in my party, the Congress, took serious note of this issue. But I clearly remember how Narendrabhai even at that young age cared about such matters. He was clearly committed to national issues and the politics of the moment didn’t diffuse his focus.
Even in those days he was fully seized with the challenges that women faced in rural Bharat, like personal hygiene, clean drinking water and primary health care for their families. Soon after becoming PM, he articulated the need for national cleanliness in his Independence Day speech. He launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which improved sanitation and also the dignity and security of women across Bharat.
My grandfather believed in ‘Jan Andolan’ – people’s movement as a basis of sustainable social change. Narendrabhai’s unwavering focus on the word ‘Sab ka’ — as in ‘Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas, sab ka vishwas’, and Viksit Bharat — is the same. These are not mere buzz words for him. They are his drivers.
His ‘humanity first’ leadership during Covid-19 pandemic did not stop at our borders, but embraced the entire world. Then again, he swam against the tide to free us from the choking yoke of Article 370. He is systematically completing the agenda that should have been completed after gaining independence. CAA is a case in point.
In this great land of Sanatan Dharma, political freedom was won by the spiritual force of many masters such as Sai Nath of Shirdi and Shri Ramana Maharshi. Gandhiji became the instrument to spearhead this. It is no coincidence that decades later, Narendrabhai has become the instrument to free us from the colonial mindset.
A second struggle of independence.
My grandfather always said, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’. Having closely witnessed Narendrabhai’s journey from an RSS worker to PM of Bharat, I can say without a doubt he personifies the change we have all longed for in our beloved Bharat.
The most striking similarity between Bapuji and Narendrabhai is that their public lives are rooted in the spiritual core of Sanatana Dharma. They both are Sthithapragnya – unaffected by both bouquets and brickbats. Such a person knows that Truth eventually prevails and therefore waits patiently for that to happen. This would explain the characteristic silence of Narendrabhai against relentless onslaughts by his political opponents. This is a sign of a Raja Rishi.
As per our scriptures, before Dharma is restored, there is always a churning. Negativity is the first output of such a churning, and these negative forces oppose Truth. Even national interests are compromised for political gains.
In such circumstances, it takes a person who has absolutely no interest in power, and is incorruptible, to put the interests of the poor and the nation above everything else.
Let me state without hesitation that had Bapuji been alive today, he would have been a great supporter of Narendrabhai. Bapuji would have been the first person to warn us about those who have usurped his name and who have made it their life’s mission to misuse it to divide us for their political gains.
It will come as a surprise to the many detractors of my grandfather, and those of Narendrabhai, that he has rejuvenated Gandhiji’s ideals by actually integrating them into modern Bharat’s development agenda. Directive principles of State policy have become State policy. By doing so he has ensured that Gandhiji’s legacy continues to seep vigorously and ceaselessly into our nation’s psyche.
Narendrabhai, just like my grandfather, will also have to stand the test of public scrutiny. But, as Lord Krishna told Arjuna, what matters is to do your job and leave the result to Truth – which will prevail eventually. I have faith that history will finally judge both Bapuji and Narendrabhai kindly.
(Author is the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi)