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Gandhians across Gujarat have come down heavily on an advertisement issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for 8216;8216;i...

Gandhians across Gujarat have come down heavily on an advertisement issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for 8216;8216;its deliberate attempt to belittle Gandhi8217;s legacy of non-violence by quoting him out of context8217;8217;.

The official advertisement released on Gandhi8217;s birth anniversary quoted him as saying: 8216;8216;I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour.8217;8217;

Vadodara-based editor of Bhoomi Putra Jagdish Shah said: 8216;8216;They have murdered Gandhi. He was a firm believer of non-violence, they have quoted him without giving the reference.8217;8217;

Vedchhi-based Narayan Desai, who was in Ahmedabad where his four-volume biography on Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarati was released, said: 8216;8216;The same advertisement was issued by some other organisations also, they are using him to serve their purpose. They find him more important for selfish reasons, not for his ideals.8217;8217;

Veteran Gandhian Chunibhai Vaidya said that 8216;8216;Gandhi once said he would consider it non-violence if a woman while protecting her honour killed someone. Can such a statement be used to say he espoused violence?8217;8217;.

Vaidya said the advertisement amounts to dishonesty for it has excluded the reference. 8216;8216;They are doing this because they are in power, but Gandhi will survive,8217;8217; Vaidya said.

A group of human rights activists, including Rohit Prajapati, Nandini Manjrekar and Anand Mazgaonkar, said they 8216;8216;were horrified to see the advertisement. The mischievous intent of the advertisement is obvious. Given its preoccupation with reinventing history to suit its agenda and the discomfort of living with the internationally famed Gandhian legacy of non-violence, it8217;s no surprise that the present government will choose to select a line from Gandhi8217;s writings, totally removed from its context, to prove that even the great Apostle of Peace endorsed violence in the name of nationalism8217;8217;.

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The advertisement quotes a line from Gandhi8217;s article in Young India on August 11, 1920, titled, 8216;8216;The Doctrine of the Sword.8217;8217;

The article was written by Gandhi in the wake of countrywide violence following the passing of Rowlatt Bills and Jalianwallah Bagh massacre in 1919, and centred on the call for non-cooperation from August 1, 1920. It sought to explain his concept of non-violent non-cooperation and the spirit of non-violence itself.

Gandhi went on to explain how violence could be resorted to where there was only a choice between cowardice and violence.

However, the real intent of the article was made clear in the sections following the line quoted in the advertisement issued by the government on Gandhi Jayanti. Gandhi had said he believed non-violence was infinitely superior to violence.