Did Mahatma Gandhi foresee the present age of Interment and communication? Is the Internet an avatar of the charkha? The connection between Gandhi’s spinning wheel and the Internet was the topic of discussion at the launch of a book by BJP activist Sudheendra Kulkarni at Gandhi Samriti in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The event saw an eclectic gathering that included BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati, Jaswant Singh, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and author Arun Shourie. Launching the book Music of the Spinning Wheel, former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam recounted his visit to South Africa. “The religion of non-violence is not just meant for the saints,” he said quoting Gandhi and added that the technology of the modern age was a great tool to this end.
Addressing the gathering, Mr L.K. Advani recalled his first brush with technology in 1985 when he came across a man using a digital diary which he mistook for a transistor. “There was a time when we were told that the wheel was the greatest invention in the history of mankind. But we can say today, that indeed there has been no invention greater than the Internet,” he said. He emphasised that nothing can empower the way Internet does and called for its use to create literacy.
Author Sudheendra Kulkarni said the book was an attempt to express his conviction that “Mahatma remains a force that still unites a badly divided India today.” He appealed to all political parties to understand the philosophy of Gandhi, “My own party, the BJP, and the Congress must understand the need to rediscover Gandhi,” he said, adding, “Gandhi is the Ganga that can dissolve all differences.”
The book, that is subtitled “Mahatma Gandhi’s Manifesto for the Internet Age”, pans a range of issues from a more daring parallel between jihad to a paradigm-defying analysis of Gandhi as a scientist and a saint who saw the coming of Internet. Talking to this newspaper, Sanjana Roy Choudhury, of Amaryllis the publisher of the book, pointed out that the book broke the myth that Gandhi was opposed to technology. Referring to the work that runs into 700 pages she said, “This is not just one book but several books put into one.”
Director of Gandhi Smiriti, Ms Manimala, also hailed the all-inclusive nature of Internet and its natural harmony with the Gandhian ideals. However, she questioned if the Internet as a tool could be as “productive” as the spinning wheel. She wondered if the Internet could pass is the Gandhian test of production by all verses production for all.