Gopalkrishna Gandhi said abolition of untouchability is one of the highpoints in India's journey
Former Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi cautioned that the mix of politics and religion is poison for the nation. Speaking at the Second Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Lecture in Kolkata yesterday, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi expressed his concern over this deadly concoction.
Mr Gandhi said: "There will be more religion in politics and politics in religion. But there are also more people, even though it is an intellectual minority, saying that this mix is poison for India."
Commenting on the state of the nation after 75 years of independence, the former diplomat said: "I cannot see the audience. The hall is rather dark, which is very much like how things are in our country. People are in the dark and the stage is lit up."
Prior to the lecture, the winners of the Chidananda Dasgupta Award 2022 for Best Debut Feature Film, the Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Award for Best Writing on Cinema and the Supriya Dasgupta Award 2022 for the Best Costume Design were announced.
The Chidananda Dasgupta Award 2022 for the Best Debut Feature Film went to Manikbabur Megh (The Cloud and The Man), directed by Abhinandan Banerjee.
Bauddhayan Mukherji, the producer of the film, told NDTV: "Winning in Kolkata is always special. Coming from the Chidananda Dasgupta Memorial Trust, this is a huge encouragement for Abhinandan, who is just beginning his filmmaking career."
Chidananda Dasgupta was an accomplished film critic, scholar, author, historian and filmmaker. He was also the co-founder, along with Satyajit Ray, of the Calcutta Film Society in 1947 and the Federation of Film Societies in 1960. His daughter Aparna Sen is an acclaimed actor, filmmaker, editor and activist.
Speaking about the importance of cartoons in a socio-political narrative, Mr Gandhi said cartoons are the saving grace of political satire and rued the fact that while earlier, cartoons of politicians resembled the originals, 75 years after Independence, "the originals are resembling cartoons".
Praising the highpoints of India's journey in the post-colonial era, Mr Gandhi said: "There are many things that need to be lauded about India at 75. The abolition of untouchability through Article 17 has to head that list. In cities, it has almost ceased to exist."
However, he added: "This does not mean Dalits enjoy all the privileges that they should. Of course not. There are social and economic torments in the Dalit community, but untouchability is gone. Thank God, thank [Mahatma] Gandhi and thank Babasaheb [BR Ambedkar]."
Hailing India's mass immunisation programme and the mobile phone revolution in the country, the former Bengal Governor added during his hour-long lecture: "The two stellar revolutions in India in developmental governance are the green and white revolutions - food grain and milk production."