Assassinating Gandhi’s Character

Today is Gandhi Jayanti, and as usual, there’s no shortage of people who people who are trying to take him down. Sex is the easiest route to do so, since the man spent so much time thinking and writing about his lack of involvement with it. There’s been a long tradition of people trying to show that Gandhi had inappropriate contact with women.

For example:

It turns out, it was an Australian actor. The ripped muscles should have given it away, but at least the photo was not a fake. It was a real life masquerade. This morning, I got a photo in several channels:

That photo came with a tagline: “jan jagaran laana hai to share zaroor karein,” i.e., if you want to awaken the people, do share. As in tell the whole world that the man was a fake. You can well imagine who in today’s dispensation would want the world to awaken to Gandhi’s sins.

Except that the fake is a really bad one. One look at the woman on the left and it’s clear that she is dressed as no one would have been in Gandhi’s lifetime. This is no masquerade; it’s a fake. Here’s the original:

Perhaps the single most famous picture of Gandhi and Nehru in one frame. Except that in the doctored version, the first prime minister of India has been photoshopped out of the picture and replaced by a smiling damsel. How Freudian! There’s nothing the right wingers wouldn’t like more than to write the Nehru dynasty out of India’s history, and even better if you can throw some mud on Gandhi while doing so. I don’t know why anyone cares about whom a leader sleeps with and where, but that’s the world we live in.

Saffron friends: you can do better; at least pick a lesser known photo.