Gandhi would have put charkha aside, adopted change: Guj CM

Making a case for adoption of modern technology, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today said that had Mahatma Gandhi been alive today, he would have kept his charkha (spinning wheel) aside.
"If Gandhiji had been alive today, he would have put the 'takli' (the spindle of charkha) aside. Gandhi was the man of change. Many of us could not understand Gandhi properly. We should create such a system that we can change with the changing situation," Patel said at the inauguration of a cafe and art gallery at Gandhi's publishing house, Navjivan.
She backed the Navjivan's managing trustee Vivek Desai who criticised the Gandhian varsity, Gujarat Vidyapith, for making its students spin the charkha.

"When the entire world is using computers and we are still sitting with takli, it won't be useful. Gandhi has never said that because I use the takli, you must never stop using it. It (to use charkha) was only an idea," Patel added.
"Gandhi worked for cleanliness all his life, but what happened after the independence...Filth has increased, no attempts were made to implement his idea of cleanliness. But now Narendrabhai (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has connected the country with his idea of cleanliness, which is a work of Gandhian thought in real sense," she said.
She recalled Modi's appeal to buy Khadi and said it was not a mere cloth but an idea which can generate employment for many others. Every year on October 2 thousands of BJP workers buy khadi worth crores of rupees, she claimed.

Desai said the relationship between the two major Gandhian institutes -- his trust and Gujarat Vidyapith -- had worsened.
"If Gandhi had been alive today, he would not have allowed us to adopt such rigid ideas like students spinning the charkha. Charkha should be given only as a memento or put in the showcase," Desai said.