MUMBAI: Historian and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Rajmohan Gandhi, who reached out to the Mumbai Bagh protestors at Nagpada in South Mumbai on Thursday said that the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have saved our nation. But he added that a larger responsibility still needs to be carried out, which is to save democracy.
He said that the protests have saved “our national honour” and that Gandhiji’s soul will be present at all the places where such protests are going on like Shaheen Bagh in Delhi and Mumbai Bagh.
Rajmohan Gandhi reached the venue of the protests in Mumbai at 9.30 am and spent more than a couple of hours interacting with the protesters. He hailed the women at the sit-in and boosted their morale. At a question-answer session, several women protesters asked him about various types of discrimination that the Muslim community faces in the country.
While replying to some of the questions, Rajmohan Gandhi told the protesters that they will have to follow Gandhi’s path with complete integrity – meaning they should not hate those against whom they are protesting.
“Gandhi’s style of protests and agitation was free from hatred and fear. We too should learn to do away with these two things. Fear leads to hatred and vice versa and ultimately both of them lead to violence,” Rajmohan Gandhi told the protesters.
He also said that Gandhi led several huge agitations but never deviated from his way of love and peace and appealed to protesters to follow the path of love and peace.
“He never hated the British though he held many huge agitations against them. All protesters need to practise that. They should hate the ills in the person or organization and not the person or the organization,” he said.
Rajmohan Gandhi also hailed the protesters as 'real Gandhians'. “I’m Gandhi’s grandson. But, you are real Gandhians because you are protesting what you think is wrong,” he said.