The Glittering Aspiration that was India: Githa Hariharan in conversation with Nayantara Sahgal
Githa Hariharan (GH): I thought we would begin by recalling the idea of India that you were witness to through your own family—your parents, and in particular, your uncle Nehru–and, of course, Gandhi. You actually describe it as the ‘glittering aspiration called India’. Would you like to start with that so that we have a context for our talk today?
Nayantara Sahgal (NS): Yes, I think what I meant by that was
the struggle for freedom under Mahatma Gandhi in which my parents were
involved. In fact, my father died of his fourth imprisonment under British
rule. It was an amazing period in Indian history—it was the first time that
class and mass fought together under the same banner. It had never happened
before in any country. Gandhi brought together people in a way that cut across
religion, region, class, gender—all the divisions. That’s how he created what
became the foundation of independent India. Bringing together this rich
diversity into a strong political unity that overthrew the British Empire was
an extraordinary achievement.
GH: You describe the solidarity then as a rugged idealism;
you’ve used extracts from your mother’s prison diary in your novel When
the Moon Shines by Day. Since we also want to talk about what sort of
solidarity we need today, shall we recall how that solidarity, how that sense
of inclusiveness, happened at that time?
NS: There was the star of freedom and all these people were invited to join this march. It was a long march of twenty-five or twenty-six years in which people of all classes joined. I have to emphasise that it was the first classless venture that took place in any country. It was an achievement that was unique. It took place because it was through Gandhi that people like us, who had perhaps never had any communication with rural India, became involved in organising things together. My father and mother spent most of their time in rural areas, and my uncle, Jawaharlal Nehru, much like Mahatma Gandhi, travelled the length and breadth of India speaking to village audiences. ..
https://indianculturalforum.in/2020/10/04/the-glittering-aspiration-that-was-india/
Soutik
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The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)
Rabindranath Tagore's essay on the cult of the
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