Mr Naidu, Gandhi has his place but not the kind of place that is being sought for him with excessive adulation and by making him a demigod which he was not. As you may have noticed fewer and fewer Indians are attracted to Gandhi compared to 20 years ago. The reasons for that are that Gandhi was not very rational (and yes I have read him!) and his policies towards Hindu-Muslim unity or the place of non-violence enfeebled the country and defied all logic and norms of human behaviour. But otherwise I have no problem with Gandhi and do not wish to hurt you or anyone else that might regard him highly. All I want is that he should not be given a higher place in Indian life than he deserves. There were far greater people in India who took and will take India much much farther than Gandhi ever could have. His role in India's freedom struggle is also highly exaggerated. Clement Attlee and Churchill have gone on record saying that if Gandhi was all they had to deal with, they would have been in India another 300 years.
