All of our politicians should read Mahatma’s writings

Jun 23, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
I want to compliment KN for the ad which quotes the Mahatma with his picture; all Guyanese should adopt Gandhi’s statement in KN as it would serve the nation much better. I would like to add a few quotes from that great man’s works which will live on for all time:
“Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side. We shut the doors of reason when we refuse to listen to our opponents or, having listened, make fun of them. If intolerance becomes a habit, we run the risk of missing the truth.
Whilst with the limits that nature has put upon our understanding , we must act fearlessly according to the light vouchsafed to us, we must always keep an open mind and be ever ready to find that what we believed to be truth was, after all, untruth. This openness of mind strengthens the truth in us and removes the cross from it if there is any.”
“I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are interested in them that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be consistent. In my search after Truth, I have discarded many ideas and learnt many new things. Old as I am in age, I have no feeling that I have ceased to grow inwardly or that my growth will stop at the dissolution of the flesh.
What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of Truth, my God, from moment to moment, and, therefore, when anybody finds any inconsistency between any two writings of mine, if he still has faith in my sanity, he would do well to choose the latter of the two on the same subject”.
Guyana has had the misfortune of abandoning Matahma’s vision and writings for the likes of Lenin and Marx whose theories have no resonance for our people.
Remember that Martin Luther King was a disciple of Matahma (the only picture in King’s dining room in his house was of the Matahma) and recently President Obama was asked if he could spend an evening of dinner and serious discussion with someone from the past who would be that person and he, without any hesitation, identified Mahatma Gandhi.
While a Senator from Illinois, Mr. Obama hung a portrait of the Mahatma in his Senate office.
All of our politicians should read Mahatma’s writings which were wide-ranging and very much relevant to our situation.
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr.)