U.S. author tags Mahatma "Gay"
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 30 March 2011, 00:29 IST   |    64 Comments
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U.S. author tags Mahatma
New Delhi: Each and every facet of Mahatma Gandhi's life has always grabbed the eye-balls and much talked about. He is considered as the one of the main pillars of success in Indian Struggle for freedom. He is the man who taught India the principles of truth and non- violence. Yet another book on Mahatma Gandhi has created controversy which is doing the rounds in the market by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld titled "Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his Struggle in India". This biography claims Mahatma Gandhi to be bisexual and raciest. This has created an outrage not only among the Indian people but has also become a topic of big debate in all social sites. The book suggested that Gandhi, the father of the nation left his wife Kasturba in 1908 and went to live with Hermann Kallenbach, the German-born Jewish architect. It exposed a very close association between the Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach in South Africa. Gandhi's sex life has always been much talked about. And this book further strengthens this. Joseph Lelyveld picks two lines from a letter that Mahatma wrote to Kallenbach, where he writes, "How completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance". Again on another instance Gandhi writes "Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in my bedroom. The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed." These two lines have been most responsible in arousing a fury over the book as it highlighted an intimate physical relationship between Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach. However the author himself denies of making any such allegations in his book and says the word bisexual appears nowhere in the book. The word 'racist' is used as part of a chapter summarizing his statements about Africans and Gandhi's relations with them. Reacting to the claims Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tussar Gandhi said that he is not surprised that one more book has attacked on Gandhi's sexuality. And said it was only a cheap means of attracting attention and publicity. Many newspapers like Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph back in U.S. tried to take full advantage of the recent outrage and hence ran headlines like "Gandhi 'left his wife to live with a male lover' new book claims" and "Mahatma Gandhi 'racist and bisexual' claims new book". However these accusations are mere speculation since it is not verified and no material evidence is available to prove such claims. Jad Adams, the author of the book, "Gandhi: Naked Ambition" has spent much of his lifetime in researching about Mahatma and his life. In his period of research he has not come across a single material which suggests Gandhi's homosexuality. According to Adams, Gandhi who had a cerebral life could not have possibly snubbed about his sexuality. Adams further added that the truth might have altogether a have different meaning as completely opposite to what western authors perceive. Gandhi has always been genuine in his feelings and never had hiccups to express his feelings. Even after years passed of his demise Gandhi still continues to be the biggest sensation. This recent dispute takes it further more. And it will be interesting to see how many more such facets of this icon wait to be explored by the western writers.

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