Gandhi was a vaishnav jan. So were his followers then. Today we have a gallery of Vaishnavi jans – the patrons of the PR agency called Vaishnavi, run by Niira Radia. They all last came together on one platform in Vibrant Gujarat in January, praised Narendra Modi and at least one of them said he was the third greatest Gujarati after the Mahatma and Dhirubhai Ambani. Obviously, it’s time to upgrade the epithet from Chhote Sardar to Chhote Mahatma.

Thus encouraged, Modi told a gathering in Ahmedabad in early March: “I can say with pride that the present government in Gujarat has linked the Gandhian thought with today’s governance model very successfully.” The occasion was the release of a new edition of Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj. He said Gandhi was still relevant and his book Hind Swaraj offered solution to modern-day problems.

Also present was RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who advised all to read the original works of Gandhi. “These days, people just have shallow knowledge as they read abridged versions,'' he said.

There. Two quotable quotes. Worth a bit of thinking through.

First the Bhagwat puran. Among all great achievements of the Mahatma, this one might be the greatest: that the avowed followers of the ideology that killed Gandhi are today not only in competition to be called Gandhian but also very much trying to usurp his legacy. RSS (as well as the Congress and any other political organisation once can think of) has studiously ignored this 101-year-old text. If Bhagwat is inaugurating a rethink in his organisation, that should be welcome. But is he? Are Gandhi and Bhagwat on the same page, so to say? For example, in the non-abridged version he is extolling, has he read the following passages?

“Reader: ... Has the introduction of Mohammedanism not unmade the nation?
Editor: India cannot cease to be one nation because people belonging to different religions live in it. ... In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals; but those who are conscious of the spirit of nationality do not interfere with one another's religion. ... In no part of the world are one nationality and one religion synonymous terms; nor has it ever been so in India.”

The ‘reader’ (imagine Savarkar) is voicing the Hindutva concern and the ‘editor’ is advocating the very anti-thesis of that ideology. There is more, but before we end up quoting the whole text (unabridged), let’s hope Bhagwat’s advice is followed – especially by his followers.

Now for Modi’s claims of having realised Gandhi’s dreams.

Gandhi’s followers last week commenced a march from a village in Mahuva sub-district to Gandhinagar, protesting a cement plant coming up on the spot which is a check dam. The people of the area do not want the project (signed during a previous Vibrant Gujarat meet, incidentally). The state government has ignored all protests – when the last major one took place precisely a year ago, Gandhians like nonagenarian Chunibhai Vaidya were detained possibly because they are bigger threat to law and order then, say, Babu Bajrangi.

Here is what all entailed in Gandhi’s vision, according to Modi (and we will not even mention 2002)

* While Gujarat is the fastest growing state, on no human development parameter does it figure among even the top five, be it education or maternal mortality ratio. On the human development index, Gujarat is placed well after Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Haryana.

* Typical situation goes like this: milk production has increased, but all the additional produce has been lapped off by those who can afford it. So malnutrition among children has also gone up.

* When it comes to levels of hunger, Punjab, Kerala and Haryana are far better placed than Gujarat.

* Gujarat is placed almost at the bottom when it comes to reaping the benefits of the national rural employment guarantee scheme.

* The prohibition policy has been diluted to the extent that any visitor from outside the state can get a permit on arrival. This, according to Modi, would qualify as a step toward realizing Gandhi’s dream. Illegal liquor and hooch trade goes on unabated. In July 2009, as many as 122 people died after consuming moonshine.

* Three of the dozen-odd RTI ‘martyrs’ were killed in Gujarat, and in one case a BJP MP’s relative is the accused.

All of which makes one wonder if it is Mohandas Gandhi he is talking about or some other Gandhi. And, as you might have noticed, we haven't even mentioned 2002.