WHY GANDHI STILL MATTERS

Close to 150 years after he
was born, how relevant is Mahatma Gandhi? In our country, he is revered as
the Father of the Nation; his face still adorns currency notes, postage
stamps and government offices; streets and welfare schemes continue to be
named after him but has he been reduced to a mere symbol? Do his values,
message and sacrifice have any meaning for us in the twenty-first century?In
Why Gandhi Still Matters, the Mahatma?s grandson and award-winning writer and
scholar Rajmohan Gandhi, appraises Gandhi and his legacy by examining some of
his most famous (and often most controversial) ideas, beliefs, actions,
successes and failures. He analyses Gandhi?s commitment to democracy,
secularism, pluralism, equality and non-violence, his gift to the world of
satyagraha, the key strategies in his fight for India?s freedom, his
opposition to caste discrimination and his equations with Churchill, Jinnah
and Ambedkar, as also his failings as a human being and family man. Taken
together, the author?s insights present an unsentimental view of aspects of
Gandhi?s legacy that have endured and those that have been cast aside by
power-hungry politicians, hate groups, casteist organizations, venal
industrialists, terrorists and other enemies of India?s promise.