I don't think we should start a debate here on this controversial topic but the fact is all the countries under British government got their independence at almost the same time Gandhi or no Gandhi.

We all including Sadhwi should not forget, the seeds of freedom were sown as early as 1857 with Sepoy Mutiny. It was carried further by Laxmibhai of Jhansi.  This took several turns till we achieved freedom in 1947.

Gandhi has a special role in the independence struggle because he has invented Satyagraha, a war without bloodshed.

All those great men were patriots and played distinctive roles in securing freedom for Indi, not just Gandhi and the Congress party....But calling Gandhi a British agent is ridiculous of course and shd be taken with a pinch of salt since many of these sadhus and sadhvis come up with such irresponsible statements every now and then...

I question their  authenticity. I question their knowledge level. Intelligentsia is not ready to hear such trash from these self appointed Sadhus and Sadhwis.

Justice katju says Gandhi was a British agent but I can tell you he was not. Gandhi was only a person who came to India to fight against whites when attacked in South Africa. And I agree with you there is no use washing dirty linen in public while our image is on stake. But this is not so called sadhvis and sants but what will you say about this

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/sadhvi-prachi-does-a-katju-calls-mahatma-gandhi-a-british-agent/

Justice Katju or a Sadhvi or a Sadhuwhosoever say that Gandhi was a British agent is distorting the history. Simply because Katju has a suffix Justice, he cannot be hailed as the epitome of knowledge. What justice has done is a great injustice to the fact.

Sunil wrote:

I don't think we should start a debate here on this controversial topic but the fact is all the countries under British government got their independence at almost the same time Gandhi or no Gandhi.

True...World War II had inflicted serious havoc on the Britain's economy as well as the rest of the world. Even though the Allies won the war over Germany, USSR, Italy etc. the allied nations of USA, Great Britain had incurred severe losses in terms of money, men and kind. It was simply not possible for Britain to go on ruling the colonies, it was too expensive and infeasible for them to continue their hold over the imperial colonies scattered  all over  the world. Gandhiji's satyagraha proved to be a catalyst to their weakening process which had begun much that.

@Rambabu, while everyone firmly believes that the non-violent satyagraha led by Gandhiji freed up from the British rule, how can one then explain the loss of 55 crore rupees (one that we could not afford) and of the losses of millions of lives? Was that not bloodshed?

But I also agree with Sunil that it is pointless to keep discussing on the topic now.

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Sunil wrote:

I don't think we should start a debate here on this controversial topic but the fact is all the countries under British government got their independence at almost the same time Gandhi or no Gandhi.

 

True...World War II had inflicted serious havoc on the Britain's economy as well as the rest of the world. Even though the Allies won the war over Germany, USSR, Italy etc. the allied nations of USA, Great Britain had incurred severe losses in terms of money, men and kind. It was simply not possible for Britain to go on ruling the colonies, it was too expensive and infeasible for them to continue their hold over the imperial colonies scattered  all over  the world. Gandhiji's satyagraha proved to be a catalyst to their weakening process which had begun much that.

 

@Rambabu, while everyone firmly believes that the non-violent satyagraha led by Gandhiji freed up from the British rule, how can one then explain the loss of 55 crore rupees (one that we could not afford) and of the losses of millions of lives? Was that not bloodshed?

But I also agree with Sunil that it is pointless to keep discussing on the topic now.

 

I agree with you Kalyani. It was not only due to satyagraha, but also for building artificial Bhangi colonies  for Gandhiji's frequent vists cost the country more.

But , here I have a point. The cost of slavery is not less. We were paying taxes to the British and the British used our tax money for building their own industries. Not a single dime was utilized for the welfare of the tax payers. The famous textile industries in Britain were built with the taxes payer's money.

I also agree with Sunil that it's pointless to discuss on this point further.

 

Till recently there was a society in UK which believed and actively propagated that the earth is flat and not round, in spite of scientific proof since a few centuries. So in all societies such elements exist. Discussion should not be avoided, as it exposes them but one should not join in seriously as that helps them get attention. Also there is an agenda to run down Gandhi, Nehru by right wing supporters as they feel this will help them get a larger vote bank.

This thread may be treated as cancelled and deduct points awarded to me.