: “Rituals are not being followed, but caste prejudices are still very dominant in our society. Our society is doomed because it follows these prejudices which are illogical and baseless,” said Thushar Gandhi, eminent journalist and great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
The author of ‘Let’s kill Gandhi’, who was in the city to inaugurate the ‘Gandhi Darsan’ programme of the Kerala Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi here on Friday, cited an incident narrated in his book wherein Bapu was not required to wash his hands after touching a calf but would not be allowed to enter in his house, would be scolded and asked to take a bath outside the house if he touched a Dalit domestic helper.
This, he said, clearly shows how caste has always played a major role in the lives of Indians and how deeply ingrained an evil it is.
Referring to the Dadri incident, he said this was not the first time that intolerance had reared its head in the country. “The debate on intolerance has been politicised. It is a social evil that has to be countered by the whole society. Instead, trivial issues are taking centre stage in the country,” he said.
“The sad part is there is a man who lost his life and after one year, people are still debating about what piece of meat it was,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi said the guiding principles in his life had come from Bapu, but essentially he had his own set of ideologies too. “I am my own person and I can, like anyone else, have differences with Bapu’s ideologies and values. I know I will have to live first as his great-grandson and only then as an author or the journalist that I am,” concluded Mr. Gandhi.
