Yes, there is quite a bit of Gandhi literature out there. One of the things I noticed was that everyone was looking at the previous biographies of Gandhi and reporting from what they had seen in the things written in the last decade or two. I was interested in looking at what Gandhi himself had actually said and what people close to him said when he was alive and immediately after his death. So I was looking at original source material and I thought that was a strategically different approach to justify a new biography.
In the book you reveal that the picture of the Dandi march that was released was not the one that was clicked on the day. Tell us more about Gandhi’s penchant for symbolism.
It’s not so much that the photograph was faked—Gandhi did go to Dandi and he did pick up salt. But the images of Gandhi at Dandi beach weren’t very good. The images that were used and went around the world were, in fact, taken at a later date. The point is, people like to see Gandhi conforming to a certain image and this was a better picture to demonstrate that image.
Gandhi himself knew very well what his image was. In England he wore a top hat. In South Africa, at the height of his success, he started to dress like the Indian labourers who he was fighting for. Back in India he started using khadi. And once he got everyone wearing khadi, in 1921, he appeared at a Congress meeting wearing almost nothing himself and it was met with disbelief at the time that he was clothed this way. He never encouraged anyone else to do it. It was his personal image. It was a brilliant PR move.
Gandhi was already a very famous man, but after this he was represented in newspaper cartoons, newsreels and pictures as this almost naked man challenging the empire. It’s a very powerful image and it made him one of the most recognizable people in the world.
Full interview here Mint
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