Thread by @shrikanth_krish

There is never any balanced take on Gandhi in India...

It is either uncritical adulation, or vilification as though all the ills of India begin with him

He was a a very great man with innumerable flaws. A product of his time, who hasn't aged too well.

We should stop at that.

Many people ascribe to him or expect from him far greater intellectual prowess than his mind was capable of.

Eg : Neoliberals scoff at his deification of the village, and his poor appreciation of IR

The Hindu Right scoffs at his simplistic understanding of the Hindu religion

Prudes are aghast at his "experiments"as though he were a Jack-the-Ripper in disguise

Left wingers are not enamored of his scepticism of centralization and his friendship with big business

But hang on...

Why do you even expect the poor guy to be an economist, a fine Hindu theologian, a policy maker, a maryada purushottam among other things?

He was a politician. And an incredible leader. Someone who helped create a national political consciousness in an age when India was more disconnected in several ways than it is today

But he was just a solitary man...

He was no intellectual. Not a formidable mind. But merely someone with enormous energy and verve in an era when precious few Indians had energy and verve

Let's not expect too much from people