Saffronising Gandhiji

Gandhi institutes – Navjivan Trust and Gujarat Vidyapeeth–wage bitter war over 'saffronised' symbols on reprints of Mahatma's Gita books

Symbols can mean a lot. Depending on how they are interpreted, symbols can lead to major controversies. And they can lead to a bitter turf war over Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy also, as it is happening in Gujarat.

At the centre of it are the books on the Bhagavad Gita penned by Mahatma that have been reprinted by Navjivan Trust with images of Sudarshan Chakra and conch shells — 'the Hindu symbols' — on the cover.

The publisher has been accused of 'saffronising' Bapu’s legacy by the Gujarat Vidyapeeth, but the Trust has been defending its action.

Both the Trust and the Vidyapeeth were founded by the Mahatma. The Navjivan Trust has copyright over all writings of Gandhi and is a custodian of all publications. The Gujarat Vidyapeeth was set up as an educational institute to promote Bapu’s philosophy. Over the years they have attained the status of premier institutions.

However, it seems, despite their common heritage these institutions are now miles apart ideologically. The tussle over the books has been going on for over a month. It all began when Vidyapeeth’s vice-chancellor Sudarshan Iyenger flagged the use of Sudarshan Chakra and conch shell on the book covers.

One of the books he was strongly against was a reprint of ‘Gita: According to Iyengar, a copy of which was gifted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to US President Barack Obama on Monday.

In his letter to the Trust, Iyenger said such symbols were against 'Gandhi’s aesthetic' and they depict 'violence', whereas the central theme of Gandhian thought revolves around 'non-violence.'

He said the original books did not have colourful visuals of the Hindu symbols or those depicting characters of the Mahabharata, such as Arjuna and Lord Krishna.

Conflict in ideas
Iyenger had categorically stated that the Vidyapeeth would stop keeping these revised books that went against the original Gandhian thought.

'In Gandhian thought ahimsa (non-violence) is the most important aspect. For him, Gita was never a message for war but for self-reformation and self-discipline. Putting any symbol on Gandhian literature doesn’t come under Gandhian aesthetic,' Iyenger said.

'Navjivan is not a commercial press. Its job is not to make profit, but to spread the thought. The whole issue is of self-reliance but not of profit,' the vice-chancellor added.

And that was good enough for the Trust to retaliate forcefully. The Trust’s Managing Director, Vivek Desai, has come out in the open against the Vidyapeeth. Desai, who recently launched autobiographies of Gandhi in Punjabi and Kashmiri languages, escalated the war of words and said: “Instead of pointing fingers at the books being published, the Vidyapeeth should better focus on teaching, which is its primary job”. He made it clear that there was no way that the Trust would retreat from the battle over books.

'If publishing Sudarshan Chakra is 'ahimsa’ (violence) then so be it. Such thoughts are of low-level. Vidyapeeth’s job is to impart education while my (Trust’s) job is to publish,' Desai added.

The battle raged as Iyenger countered, saying: 'If the managing director of the Trust has said that our job is only to teach, I would like to remind that our job is to follow the footprints of Gandhi… This is an unfortunate statement by the managing director.' While slugging it out over Mahatma’s ideology, the two institutions have also got into a battle over funds. 'We are not supposed to take any grant from outsiders. Instead, we have been donating to institutes. We donated Rs 85 lakh to the Vidyapeeth over a period of time for different projects in the early 1990s. 'The Vidyapeeth has spent it all on administrative expenses,' Desai said slamming the Vidyapeeth. According to Desai, the Navjivan Trust has written a letter to the Vidyapeeth asking the institute why the funds were not used for the purpose they were given, and that the Trust wants the money back with interest.

The Vidyapeeth’s Registrar Rajendra Khimani retorted by pointing out that the Gujarat Vidyapeeth is a charitable trust.

He asked if the Charity Commissioner had not raised any questions about the accounts, why are they being pointed out now. Observers say that the funds row indicates the two warring sides are in no mood to allow any space to the other side. It’s a fight that could continue in the coming days.

It remains to be seen whether they go by the words of Lord Krishna as documented in the Gita.