The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) on Tuesday organised a talk on the “Relevance of Gandhi in Today’s India” as part of its Democracy Dialogue series of lectures.
The panel comprised former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, historian Mridula Mukherjee, author Mrinal Pande and politician Sudheendra Kulkarni.
Mr. Khurshid said that Gandhi ji would be relevant as long as love and truth were important. “If love, truth, friendship are relevant today, Gandhi ji is also relevant,” he said at the function held to mark the 70th Martyrs Day. He added that the country also needed to rediscover Gandhi in the age of nuclear conflict and the ethos that made him the Father of the Nation.
Nip evil ideologies
Ms. Mukherjee said “the greatest living Hindu” was killed by a “fanatical Hindu” on this day in 1948. “There is a need to nip evil ideologies like fascism, racism, fundamentalism of certain types and communalism and we cannot lower our guards or take them lightly,” she said. She condemned any ideology that divided the people and led them towards violence.
Speaking about widespread violence at Bhima-Koregaon, Kasganj and the attack on a school bus in Gurugram, Mr. Sardesai said such incidents would have shaken the conscience of Gandhi ji, and Indians, today, need to ask themselves what would the Mahatma have done in such a situation.
