Over the years since Independence from British rule; the Congress party in it's various forms has always projected Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (aka the 'Mahatma") as a paragon of virtue, a Saint of heavenly virtues and maybe 'God' himself.
But the reality of M.K. Gandhi was very different. He had his flaws and his negative character, as can be seen from the facts of history that the Congress Party has tried to suppress over the last 60 years.
1. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in a rich, stately and princely three-storied home in Porbandar, grandson of the chief administrator of the small Princely State in coastal Gujarat. He was not a poor man with no clothes or adequate food.
2. At a time when literacy in British India was barely 8%, Gandhi enjoyed the rare option of studying in Britain and spent the years 1888-1893 in London.
3. It is especially notable that at the age of 45, Gandhi saw in the British empire a "spiritual foundation" - a sentiment many in the Indian Freedom Movement would have found astounding, even nauseating. As early as 1884, the most advanced Indian intellectuals were already quite clear that British rule in India was built on a foundation of economic pillage and plunder - and was devoid of any high social or moral purpose.
4. Although Gandhi was critical of specific aspects of colonial rule, in 1914, his general outlook towards the British was more of the loyal subject than that of the most advanced of India's national leaders. Particularly onerous was his support of the British during World War I.
5. Gandhi's ideas on non-violence did not then extend to the British Imperial War and Gandhi put in big efforts to mobilize Indians on behalf of the British war effort (World War I). To return to London in wartime: Gandhi quickly raised his ambulance corps among the Indians in England. As before, he had offered his volunteers for ANY KIND of military duty, but the authorities preferred medical workers.
6. For Gandhi to demand of the poor, downtrodden, and bitterly exploited Indian masses to first demonstrate their unmistakable commitment to non-violence before their struggle could receive with Gandhi's approval (just a few years after he had apologetically defended an imperial war) was simply unconscionable. Clearly, Gandhi had one standard for the Indian masses, and quite another for the nation's colonial overlords.
7. Gandhi often engaged in tactical and ideological hypocrisy to suit his political needs. Although Gandhi's defenders may disagree, not only were Gandhi's ideas on non-violence applied very selectively, they were hardly the most appropriate for India's situation. At no time was the British military presence in India so overwhelming that it could not have been challenged by widespread resistance from the Indian masses.
8. The Chauri Chaura incident of 1921 exposed a crucial flaw in Gandhi's character. Gandhi's Chauri Chaura turnaround was indicative of his deep fear and distrust of the Indian masses - and that Gandhi feared the spontaneous energy of the poor and the downtrodden more than the injustice of British rule.
9. In much of Motilal Nehru's correspondence with his son Jawaharlal, (and with others in the Congress), there are expressions of frustration with Gandhi's tendency towards moderation and compromise with the British authorities and his reluctance to broaden and accelerate the civil disobedience movement. There are also references in Motilal Nehru's letters to how large contributions from the Birlas were enabling certain political cliques (led by Madan Mohan Malviya - a close confidante of Gandhi) to "capture" the Congress party. That Gandhi was close to the Birlas is widely acknowledged.
10. Motilal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose both complained of Gandhi's tendency to ignore party resolutions when they went against his wishes, and to work with cliques rather than consult and cooperate with all party members. In a letter dated March 28, 1939, from Manbhum, Bihar - Bose complained bitterly to Nehru of Gandhi's quiet campaign of non-cooperation with him after Bose had just won the position of President of the Indian National Congress, defeating Gandhi's chosen nominee, Dr Pattabhi.
11. Gandhi, along with Nehru formed a tactical block against Bose, and prevented him from functioning effectively as leader of India's preeminent national organization. Eventually, this led to Bose having to quit the Congress, and organize outside it's tedious confines.
12. On more than one occasion, Gandhi would begin with statements such as "God has warned me", or "...God has spoken as such to me.....". Coming from any ordinary person, such claims would normally be viewed with great suspicion and skepticism because they can only be accepted on faith, never independently verified. In fact, any ordinary person who claimed as often to have a 'hotline' to 'God' might even be seen as a lunatic, as someone prone to hallucinations, but Gandhi seemed to be an exception from humanity on this aspect.
13. In all other theories of democratic liberation, ethical and moral codes emanated from one essential principle - which is the fundamental right of enslaved people to be free from alien exploitation. But in Gandhi's moral framework, the need of the Indian masses to liberate themselves from a brutally unjust colonial occupation did not come first, it was subject to his kind of one-sided conditionality.
For instance, in the context of Bhagat Singh's hanging, even as Gandhi condemned the British government, he observed: "The government certainly had the right to hang these men." Whether Gandhi was confusing the term "right" with the term authority or might, or he actually granted the colonial government the "right" to execute Indian freedom fighters is hard to tell. But in general, it appears that Gandhi had not worked out in his mind the true essence of natural human rights, and desirable human duties in a civilized society.
14. While there will always be admirers of Gandhi, detailed study of his historical records reveals him to be a seriously flawed leader, popular more due to the particular conditions and circumstances of British ruled India; rather than an "enlightened visionary" that the Congress party likes to portray to the world.
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