Historian Irfan Habib remembers Gandhi

Noted historian Irfan Habib today remembered the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi on his 67th death anniversary.
Delivering a lecture titled "Gandhi's Finest Hour" at the Jawaharlal Nehru University here, he said Gandhi had provided a platform where all communities could come together.
Speaking about the issue of caste in India, Habib quoted Rajani Palme Dutt, counted as a critic and mentor of Gandhi, as saying that "only Gandhi could enter the huts of the poor which no other national leader could enter".
The historian said Gandhi always tried to abolish two taboos -- the caste system and the gender inequality -- prevalent in India.

"If we can learn any lesson from Mahatma Gandhi, we should stand up and create unity among society," he said, adding that Gandhi introduced the marriage of "social reform" and "political agitation" during the national movement.
Calling Gandhi as a 'special sort of Hindu', Habib said, "He was one of those leaders who tried to bring Hindus and Muslims together, he was a Hindu of a special sort, whose God was God of all people... ."
"Even in his last days he said that Quran and Bible to him were as sacred as the Gita. He changed the whole character of Hinduism," the historian said while recounting the main events from Mahatma Gandhi's life.