An Odyssey through ghosts and resurrections

Controversial and provocative, Piyush's work is well researched even though some of the remarks and conclusions remain subjective. He has written in a language that the common man can understand easily and correlate themselves with the history of India from the time of Bal Gangadhar Tilak till date.

- RASHEED KIDWAI

In the current political heat on Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, spotlight is missing on his elder brother Dara Shikoh who had translated 51 Upanishads into Persian and its Latin translation first introduced the Upanishads to Goethe, Schiller, Schopenhauer, and Southey.

Author-Journalist Piyush Srivastava's new book, 'From Gandhi to New Gandhi' [Blu One Ink] reads like an Odyssey through ghosts and resurrections.

The 305-page book contains six chapters: Mahatma Gandhi, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nathuram Godse, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.

Piyush's writings are a candid account portraying both negative as well as positive characteristics of these public figures.

For instance, the author sharply criticizes Mahatma Gandhi for ignoring public views and his inability to protect the Congress from the criminals.

He quotes Gandhi writing in Young India on 7 May 1931, "The rise of goondaism (in the Congress) is a warning for all of us to be alert and look for its remedies." This still exists in every political party.

As a commentator, Piyush says now he fears that very soon Gandhism would be dragged out of India the way the Brahmanical forces did to Buddhism 2500 years ago or maybe Gandhi would exist in India as an incarnation of Vishnu, the way Buddha exists in the land of his birth for some.

In his assessment, BJP and other right-wing forces would assimilate Gandhi in their ideology because the Congress has dumped him.