Butterfly Effect
I come to bury Gandhi,
Bury him deep,
Not to praise him.
It is fashionable nowadays—to decry him
As a racist, as a casteist.
Accuse him of discriminatory practices.
No one will challenge me.
Perhaps I may add that
He often fasted
Because he had constipation!
All that he did was to lie,
(Though he claimed to speak the truth)
Across the road,
Across the railway track,
Across any British move.
Attlee, unlike Churchill,
Was a liberal-minded man,
Eager to free India.
British economy was in shambles
In the wake of World War II.
Trade Unions were launching strikes
Across the subcontinent.
Jinnah demanded a separate state.
Indian Navy revolted.
All this is true.
But if the butterfly of a Gandhi
Had not fluttered his wings,
India would not have got her freedom
Without an armed struggle,
Which is also true—
More or less.
—Ram, R. V.
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