ABSTRACT

Sarojini Naidu was a close associate, even an acolyte and disciple of Gandhi. For years Sarojini was also the unofficial ambassador of the Indian National Congress, travelling extensively to spread the gospel of the Indian freedom struggle under Gandhi's leadership. Sarojini, though full of sorrow and tears like all the bereft followers and admirers of Gandhi, imagines that Gandhi is not really 'dead'. It is her way of turning the colossal tragedy of the assassination into a sort of spiritual triumph, quite like Christ's resurrection. Sarojini next goes to the root of the hatred that resulted in Gandhi's slaughter, the internal strife and division in the nation, not only between Hindus and Muslims, but between Hindus and Hindus, whose far-reaching consequence was not just the Partition of the country amidst untold violence and bloodletting, but the very killing of the Mahatma whose idea of the nation was predicated upon unity and brotherhood.