Malappuram: Tushar Gandhi, author and great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that people only came to know about Gandhi when the film 'Gandhi' was released, stating that India, once known as the country of Gandhi, is now being rebranded as the 'Country of Godse'.
He remarked that since 2014, hate has become the official creed of India, and people have started to forget Gandhi. He added that the phrase 'We the People of India' in the Preamble has become irrelevant as the concept of 'We' has faded away from Indian society, except when India plays against Pakistan in a cricket match.
Tushar made these comments while inaugurating the national seminar on "India Against Intolerance" at the Calicut University campus, organised by the Mohammed Abdurahiman Chair for Secular Studies.
"We do not want to understand and accept another person's identity in present-day India. While our textbooks teach tolerance, they fail to emphasise the importance of understanding and accepting others with different ideologies or beliefs. The prevailing sentiment among those who promote hatred is that if a Muslim is seen with cows, he must be lynched. By remaining silent in the face of such atrocities, we are complicit in the crime. When we stay silent, hate prevails in society," Tushar Gandhi said.
He further commented that Indians remain silent even if someone sets fire to their neighbour's house. "Revolutions happen in the streets, not on social media platforms. Indians are now only agitating on their social media platforms, with no one willing to fight against injustice on the streets. If Mohammed Abdurahiman were alive today, he would be labelled a Jihadi for his fight against those in power," Tushar Gandhi said.
Mullassery Sivaraman Nair, the coordinator of the Mohammed Abdurahiman Chair, presided over the function. Aryadan Shoukath, a Governing Body Member of the Mohammed Abdurahiman Chair for Secular Studies, welcomed the gathering. Noted filmmaker Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Riyas Mukkoli, another Governing Body Member, also spoke at the function.
