Gandhi Under Cross-Examination

This book is an enlightening examination of the sainted Mohandas Gandhi famous racial encounter. Readers will also learn about how Gandhi mistreated the South African blacks and even fought in a war against the Zulus. If you've ever seen the "Gandhi" movie, you'll know that when he first visited South Africa in 1893, Gandhi was supposedly forced off a train after refusing to move out of first class. The authors of this book insightfully point out, however, that no one even wrote about the incident until 16 years after it allegedly happened. In fact, Gandhi didn't even mention the incident himself in any of his writings until 30 years later! This is very odd considering that he constantly wrote letters to the editor and sent petitions to the government complaining about even minor things. Why would he stay silent about this incident for so long? After providing a lot of evidence and pointing out glaring contradictions in the various accounts of the incident, the authors pretty conclusively prove that Gandhi made the whole thing up. Why? Well, apparently he believed that every hero needs a good back story and so he came up with this one just as he was beginning to gain some notoriety and popularity. This book is solid and well-researched, but it's also startling and edgy. Most people will have a hard time accepting conclusions such as that Gandhi was extremely racist against black people for over 20 years and never showed any sign of changing his views. However, the evidence is very strong and the proof is taken directly from Gandhi's very own writings. The authors prove their accusation so completely that there's not really any choice but to accept it as a sad fact. Dr. Baldwin's foreword is perceptive. He says that this book will "undoubtedly evoke a range of responses from people worldwide." In particular, some people will be angry and condemn the book. That's understandable. People don't like to have their established opinions challenged, especially if they think it makes them look foolish that they've spent so long believing a racist person was actually a saint. But the truth is paramount and the record needs to be set straight. Like Dr. Baldwin says, as we face the problems and pain of this world, "We need to know if we should still look to figures like Gandhi for answers and/or solutions."

Tim's book review Mohandas K. Gandhi put on trial? That's exactly what Timothy Watson and G. B. Singh have in their critical analysis of Gandhi and his accounts of the infamous train ride through South Africa that changed his life about race relations and equality through their analysis of interviews and through Gandhi's own autobiography in the years 1909 and 1925. Essentially questioning the idea of Gandhi's "real" intentions to bring racial equality and Indian sovereignty that he became so famous for, Watson and Singh show proof of their analysis with extensive quotes from Gandhi's Satyagraha in South Africa as well as research into his interview by the Reverend Dole, their method of skeptical inquiry observes how one single person can take advantage of struggle and cash in through exploitation by changing the storyline a few times to suit the purpose of one's own time or from their perceived memory. While the title may seem disconcerting or perhaps marketed towards the intelligentsia of the community, a read through shows that anyone can who has a hero in their eyes, may not be the hero that they thought when learning and reading about him or her. Impressively, both Watson and Singh have shown their research in such great detail with just this one level of intrigue into the infamous story of Gandhi and his trials and tribulations traveling through South Africa. If much research can be done on this aspect of Gandhi's life, imagine other books written questioning on his other aspects while living and being a martyr for his fellow Indians. What our news media today lacks and ought to be, this book is. If you're looking for a good taste of skepticism served on a silver platter, this book just might be the one. Can a second volume of this book be written or far behind?

"Gandhi: Under Cross-Examination" is a powerful interrogative analysis of Mr. Mohandas K Gandhi and his "train incident" widely popularized by the "Gandhi Propaganda Machine" as the true life changing happening. The case against Gandhi is set for in the book and the verdict seems clear:"This incident is simply out of Gandhi's own imagination". As book takes us through the various accounts written by Mr. Gandhi, it finds that Mr. Gandhi's explanation of this one account of his life is "inconsistent", "discrepant" "inexcusable" and "inexplicably flawed". The book uncovers "glaring inconsistencies" present in Gandhi's own accounts, his mastery in double talk and the catch for all the gullibles who are inclined to the "Propa-Gandhi". It is interesting to note and worth mentioning that there is no mention of this so-called "life changing train incident" until 1909 in Doke's biography written for the cause of Gandhi's own "martyrdom". We don't find any mention of this "train incident" by Mr. Gandhi in any of his own letters and writings during his stay in South Africa either to the African Newspapers or in his own newspaper "Indian Opinion". Lets keep in mind also that Mr. Gandhi in 1890s was campaigning for the "rights of Indians" in South Africa and actively writing against the racial incidents happening with the Indians that were in Gandhi's words meant to degrade Indians to level of African Blacks. This raises an important question, why would Mr. Gandhi never highlight and address such an important "train incident" in his own literature after the incident is alleged to have happened?

It is much more difficult for leaders of influence today to create the same degree of mass adoration than it was for the great men and women of the past. The media, capturing lives moment by moment, places the myriad aspect of 'heroes' for immediate public inspection, and now with Blog sites so popular a means of adoring or debasing a personality, it is almost impossible to become a saint in our times. But figures of the past who have been all but canonized at times grew out of misconceptions or variations of truth. The purpose of this very well written book sets out to cross examine the source of Mahatma Gandhi's triggering episode in 1893 - an incident suspicious of racial injustice that Gandhi used as the focus of his fight for nonviolent resistance in the struggle for racial equality. Whether the reader of this book will have the perception of the 'Saint Gandhi' as the leader of the Civil Rights movement altered or not, there is no denying that authors G.B. Singh and Tim Watson do present a careful cross examination of Gandhi's own writings as well as those of his biographers that give healthy cause for thought. The authors summarize their case toward the end of the book as follows: 'Gandhi's biographies and autobiographies are probably the most shameless example of exhibitionism since St. Augustine's 'Confessions'. No one in history before or since Augustine has so successfully recorded the autobiographical events of a life to win over an audience. In the case of Augustine, the public relations campaign was a different kind of immaculate conception. In his case, the personage was sold to the public as a sinner turned saint, an individual sanctified by miraculous intervention. In Gandhi's case, the immaculate conception took a different form. In this case the avatar, prophet, and saint was already fully formed, a self-realized being from birth. All that was missing from an attempt to form a new religion was the miracles. The quintessential political opportunist, Gandhi soon hit on the formula to change all that. The immaculate conception was now born in his mind. He would invent a past. He would make himself into a martyr. He would give the world a biography that would show him not as a man of privilege, not as a high caste Hindu sent to the London Bar, but as a victim of persecution, a martyr, one who had endured the worst slights and insults a man can experience only to rise from these humiliations phoenix-like to forgive his enemies. In addition, he portrays himself as Buddha-like in his renunciation of worldly attachments.' Powerful words, powerful writing. And as with all belief systems, the opportunity to re-evaluate at the hands of researched writers such as Singh and Watson may serve to strengthen or perhaps alter the layers of dust that accumulate with generations passing. Books of this nature are healthy for historians and for academics and for the public at large. This reader has a particular quibble with the new pub