Hyderabad: Literary lovers in the city had a great experience at the book launch of Gandhi: The Soul Force Warrior, authored by former diplomat Pascal Alan Nazareth at the Bella Vista campus of the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) on Monday.
Nazareth’s 30-minute thought-provoking speech was peppered with insightful anecdotes and witty analogies with references to Gandhi’s life history. The pleasant evening saw guests from different walks of life having an insight into Gandhian principles and their relevance to today’s social concerns.
Hoping that the book opens would new vistas in our understanding of Gandhi, his principles and their contemporary relevance, especially the youth, Nazareth regaled the audience with brilliant insights from Gandhian history.
Explaining on what drove him to pen the book, Nazareth says, “I have been following in the footsteps of Gandhi, quite literally. I hope the book helps the next generation to get an insight on how progressive Gandhi’s thoughts were even in today’s context.”
He said, “Gandhi has not only revolutionised but spiritualised political movements,” received a thunderous applause from the audience. Describing Gandhi as one of the world’s ‘greatest revolutionaries’, Nazareth said, “Gandhi revolutionised revolution from hatred and violence to love.”
To a question on whether Gandhi could contest and win an election today, Nazareth replied, “People say it is difficult to win with philosophy but none of them tried, so how can you say Gandhi can’t win?”
Asked why the khadi movement spearheaded by Gandhi was not making steady inroads, Nazareth contended it was not true, “besides growing sales within India, khadi industry is also finding greater sales overseas.” Former Union home secretary K. Padmana-bhaiah, chairman, CoG, ASCI, Prof Nirmala Apsingikar, ASCI director-general Richard B. Saldanha, were also present.
