Father of Nation

Every single person born on this planet has his/her shortcomings. Every person makes mistakes and every person commits some or the other act which is seen as completely idiotic by his/her successors or others. We often ask, how come this so called great person did this stupid thing?

Mahatma Gandhi, even though is revered all over the world, also had his share of follies, mistakes and stupidity. Despite all this, Gandhiji was a person of conviction and positive attitude. He stood for the liberty and freedom of millions of people through means of non-violence. He motivated the Indian population to break the shackles of mental slavery to British and brought the Indian population at par with their foreign masters, to deal as equals. Revolutionaries like Bose and Bhagat Singh, who didn't like Gandhiji's ways of freeing India and vice-versa, were smitten by Gandhiji's charisma. Bose even going as far as to attribute the "Father of Nation" title on Gandhiji. This should remind everyone who want to bring down one great freedom fighter to prop another, that despite all their differences, Indian freedom fighters had respect for one another.

No matter what ax you have to grind about Gandhiji, remember that it was his leadership ability that motivated people from one end of India to another. Whether it was NWFP province of the now Pakistan or Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, none were left untouched by the storm called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. As per different books/reports, he may have been sexually deviant in his later years, racist in his early years, egoist & hypocrite all his life; but none of these negative qualities or reports can diminish his greatness as a leader of masses. His penchant for being devout Hindu in his personal life but multi-religious in his activities, increased his mass following among Indians. He gave up his life to stop the religious blood thirst that was fanned by the partition of India and sadly was killed in trying to do so.

No matter what, Gandhiji's legacy will always be ahimsa (non-violence), "Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sammati de bhagwan" and freedom for India. Father of Nation can't just be limited to holiday and dry-day, he has to be read, studied and his teachings implemented on the minds and spirit of every Indian!