Bapu was a Hindu patriarch: Scholars

Ramachandra Guha claims that Mahatma Gandhi was a typically overbearing Hindu patriarch was curiously blind to the pains of his sons

New Delhi, Oct 1: The father of the Indian nation was less than an ideal parent to his sons, much like global leaders such as Leo Tolstoy and Martin Luther King Jr who sacrificed their family lives for a greater cause, say scholars on Mahatma Gandhi.

As the nation celebrates Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary Tuesday, the debate around India's most influential leader whose writings, views and statements spawned a philosophy of their own rages on. While historian Ramachandra Guha and Iranian- Canadian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo believe Gandhi was less than the perfect father, author Sandhya Mehta treads a more middle path.

All three have recently come out with books on Gandhi — Guha and Jahanbegloo earlier this year and Mehta last year.

Every aspect of Gandhi's life has been under the scanner – from his views on non- violence that laid the foundation for India's independence to his family and married life.

“Gandhi was pretty much a typically overbearing Hindu patriarch. For all his empathy and concern for those outside his family, he was curiously blind to the pains of his own sons,” historian and author Ramachandra Guha said.

Guha recently launched “Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World, 19141948", his latest book on Gandhi after “Gandhi Before India”.

Gandhi, who married Kasturba at the age of 13, had four sons Harilal, Manilal, Ramdas and Devdas. According to Guha, Gandhi had a troubled relationship with his two “independent and strong willed” eldest sons, especially Harilal.

Harilal was first dismayed by his father when he firmly opposed his plans to go to England for higher studies and become a barrister like him. Later, the relationship became worse as “Gandhi disapproved of Harilal's marriage since he fell in love and chose his wife, rather than, as a custom, have his parents choose a wife for him”, Guha writes in the book.

Embittered, Harilal began drinking alcohol and started trading in foreign clothes for profit – the very thing his father was protesting against.

— PTI Students of a pre- school, dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi, participate in a function organised by Gujarat Vidyapith to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti, in Ahmedabad on Monday.