Thread by @dhavalkulkarni

Heard #SambhajiBhide's unhinged rant against #MahatmaGandhi & #MahatmaJotibaPhule. Bhide claims that Gandhi and Phule were anti #Hindu & were given the 'Mahatma' title by the Christ Seva Sangh from Sweden. This thread is meant to set the record straight
#history

It was in a function on 11 May 1888 in the Koliwada hall at Mandvi in #Mumbai that the masses conferred the 'Mahatma' title on #Phule to honour him for his selfless service.
#JotiraoPhule

It was in 1910, the year of his assassin #NathuramGodse's birth that #Gandhi was first referred to as a 'Mahatma' by his friend Pranjivan Mehta in a letter to Gandhi's guru Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

On 27 January 1915, at a mass reception for the Gandhis at Gondal in Gujarat on #Gandhi's return from South Africa, local priest Jivram Kalidas Shastri presented Gandhi with a scroll referring to him as the ‘Mahatma.’ This was the 1st public occasion where the honorific was used

It is true that Phule was influenced by the egalitarian ideas of Christ and Christianity. But this held true for most social reform movements of that era like the Paramhans Sabha and the Prarthana Samaj.

Like #Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj, these movements were also monotheistic (they believed in a one formless god), anti-caste and did not believe in idol worship.

While becoming a member of the Satyashodhak Samaj, one had to perform a ritual called 'tali uchalne.' A bag containing bhandara (haldi), gulal, a piece of jaggery, dry coconut, dhania, paan and betel nuts had to lifted and gods like Khandoba and Biroba were hailed.

This was essentially a Hindu ritual.

There is no recorded evidence of Satyashodhak leaders converting to Christianity.

Phule did a yeoman's service to Hindu society by declaring war on its social evils. Gandhi too involved the masses and women in the freedom struggle and broad-based it. Is this pinching these demagogues?