At the book launch event, author Neelima Dalmia Adhar only to retract later ignited a controversy saying “some people may even call him a paedophile", in the discussion of Kasturba Gandhi relationship with Mahatma Gandhi.
At the launch of “The Secret Diary of Kasturba”, a historical fiction done by Adhar, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and journalist Barkha Dutt attends in an intense discussion with the author on evening of Friday. Here various aspects of Mahatma Gandhi's life discussed in which guests gave their opinions.
Author said “Everything aside he put his wife through a lot of injustices, in terms of sexuality, Gandhi took it to a maniac level,” Adhar also added “some people may even call him a paedophile.”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor gave controversial remark and said, “The one thing that we cannot doubt about Gandhiji is his commitment to truth.” Tharoor also said that “no evidence was found that suggests Mahatma Gandhi indulged in “sexual activities” with his devotees, during what Gandhi described as “My experiments with Truth.” “If there was any instance, one would surely find mention of it in his works. Gandhi ji's commitment to truth is one thing we cannot doubt.”
Adhar in response noted that “Gandhi Ji had occupied a cult status in the society” and that he was not “preaching by his example”.
Tharoor wanted to end the discussion and then said, “I do not think you would judge a person as a whole for this. But as a human being, I am sure one's perception about Gandhi Ji will be hardened after knowing this.”
Adhar continued and said “My endeavour was never to demonise Gandhi. I hugely revere Gandhi that we all know. But he would owe his sainthood largely to Kasturba. You will find a little bit of bias because a lot of me has come into the character. It is my voice primarily juxtaposed with Kasturba's.”
But after that Tharoor congratulated the author and said that she had “actually given life” to a character that “had long lived in the shodows of history.”
After the discussion Adhar, at launch regrets that her earlier remark “paedophile” was a mistake only and she didn't mean that, “I didn't mean that, that was a mistake. What I meant was that the experiments he carried out will be very offending and appalling to the sensibilities of today's world.” “In today's times, with the liberalized society that we live in, this behaviour would have been highly offensive to anybody. Even then it was offensive. I believe that there are certain aspects of Gandhi's character and on his path to becoming the param-yogi that we do not understand. There are many aspects of sexuality of Lord Krishna that find resonance in Gandhi's practices.”
At the launch, Delhi University's former Vice Chancellor, Dinesh Singh, was also there and expressed his views and said, “Even the most iconic figures from the history are actually unknown to us. We need to constantly examine them and improve our understanding about them. Kasturba Gandhi was largely an ignored figure in our history and therefore I feel the author has done a good job.”
The former DU vice chancellor expressed his views on the most controversial remark of the launch “paedophile” he said, “She didn't call him paedophile, she said people may call him paedophile but that is not so. Some people have even suggested that Gandhiji was homosexual and although it is not wrong to be a homosexual, there is no evidence to suggest so.”
Neelima Dalmia Adhar's “The Secret Diary of Kasturba” book is the fictional account of Kasturba's Gandhi's life and a narrative story
--with agency reports
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