ABSTRACT
Just when Gandhi was beginning to become Gandhi in South Africa, a book on him had come out. There can be no definitive objective answer to the question. More than on Gandhi, the answer would depend on the one seeking to comprehend that ‘something’. The power of that one discourse made it difficult for him to return to the Christian converts. True, Gandhi’s need is being increasingly felt all over the world. In a world threatened with unprecedented destruction, unrest and insecurity, it is only natural that people should remember him. In no time public perception of what was possible and workable was transformed. This was Gandhi’s success. Much has been written about that success, analysing it from a variety of viewpoints. Widespread distrust in the Gandhian politics of ahimsa (non-violence) was back. It was akin, but not identical, to the public scepticism that had greeted Gandhi in 1915–1916.
